NATIONAL NEWS
RAWALPINDI: A late-night police operation at Factory Naka, located near Central Jail Adiyala, brought the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) sit-in to an end after hours of tension between security personnel and party supporters.
Witnesses reported that police deployed water cannons to break up the gathering, prompting PTI workers to respond by hurling stones. Several protesters were detained during the clash, according to people present at the scene.
The standoff began when PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar and the sisters of party founder Imran Khan were stopped at the checkpoint while attempting to visit him in jail. Their denial of entry triggered a spontaneous sit-in led by Aleema Khan, drawing a sizable crowd of PTI activists who chanted anti-government slogans despite the heavy police presence.
Addressing the demonstrators, Aleema Khan urged restraint and appealed to supporters not to view the police as adversaries, saying they were “acting under pressure.” She claimed that officials were blocking family visits to the former prime minister, calling the prolonged restriction “mental torture.” According to her, the family had been trying to secure a meeting with Imran Khan for more than a month and insisted previous visits had focused only on concerns regarding official conduct, not politics.
Aleema further questioned why her brother was being treated as a high-risk detainee and sought clarification over reports of his solitary conditions and who had ordered them.
Sources said that during negotiations, protest leaders demanded the return of all vehicles seized earlier in the day. Police reportedly handed back five of them, while a total of fourteen government and private vehicles—mostly belonging to PTI’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter—had been moved to a nearby police station.
Meanwhile, Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar maintained that meetings with the PTI founder were currently prohibited under the law, stressing that “there isn’t even a one percent possibility” of such access being granted after legal violations. He added that restrictions were enforced through legal procedures, not personal preferences.
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