November 20, 2025
By Kaleem Ullah
LAHORE
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan on Thursday condemned the incident that took place this week outside Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, where police reportedly manhandled the sisters of former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf party leader Imran Khan’s sisters.
The human rights organization said that it took serious note of the incident when the women were both manhandled outside Adiala Jail while attempting to attend a scheduled meeting with the incarcerated leader.
“Witness and media accounts indicate that family members and party representatives were engaged in a peaceful protest when police intervened, allegedly using physical force,” said the statement. “The rights of prisoners’ families to meet their relatives and the right to peaceful assembly are protected under national and international human rights law. HRCP calls for a transparent inquiry and urges authorities to ensure the rights, safety and dignity of all involved are fully respected.”
As a response to this, PTI also held a protest outside the Adiala Jail on the same day, but the jail administration did not allow party leaders or his family to meet him. Subsequently, the party staged a sit-in outside the facility and criticised the prison administration for violating the court order in this regard.
In an official statement posted on social media platform X after midnight, the party said that Aleema Khan, Noreen Niazi, and Dr Uzma Khan were “sitting peacefully” outside the jail when the police action took place. It added that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Minister Meena Khan Afridi, MNA Shahid Khattak and other party workers — including several women — were (also) “subjected to violence and picked up by police.”
“What should be routine, weekly, court-mandated family visits — in accordance with Imran Khan’s rights as a prisoner — are being used as a tool of oppression and violence against his family members and supporters,” the party statement said.
Noreen Khan seemed to have had the worst of the violence. Videos shared by PTI on X showed Aleema and Uzma – flanked by party workers – gathered protectively around Noreen, who appeared visibly shaken.
“Those women were dragging her on the road,” Aleema was saying in the video as Noreen’s hands were visibly trembling.
In another video, Noreen said that female police officials grabbed her by the hair and forced her to the ground. “I didn’t understand it. I still don’t understand what happened,” she said, insisting that PTI workers had been sitting peacefully.
The party condemned what it called the “inhumane, unlawful, and disgraceful treatment” of Imran’s family members. It said that the PTI founder’s sisters, along with his legal team, had arrived at the jail to meet him on Tuesday but were denied the meeting and forced to wait until late at night.
“By 10pm, after spending 12 hours under severe distress, the Punjab government ordered an appalling operation that no civilised or democratic society could ever justify,” the PTI added.
PTI Secretary-General, Salman Akram Raja, held a press conference along with Khan’s sisters and other party leaders. He said they would approach the Supreme Court, adding that when Imran’s family and party workers were barred from meeting him, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) “remained silent,” despite having verbally ordered authorities to allow the meetings.
Aleema also spoke at the press conference, stating that all their protests outside Adiala Jail had been peaceful. She alleged that one of her sisters, a doctor, was detained by police for hours last week, and that police personnel outside the jail had been “misbehaving” with them.
Condemnations poured in as KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi criticised the police action against Imran’s sisters and a member of his cabinet. “The attempt to arrest MNA Shahid Khattak and other provincial and national lawmakers is also condemnable,” he said, adding that matters were now reaching a point of no return.
Former president Arif Alvi also criticised the incident, stating on X: “This is today’s Pakistan — where the sanctity of a woman’s veil is violated. The sisters’ only fault was that they came to meet their brother.”
Meanwhile apart from the PTI, other politicians, activists, and journalists also condemned the incident.
Senior journalist Nusrat Javeed noted that “During the PTI government, a ban was imposed on me, but ever since Imran Khan has been in jail, I have repeatedly said that he should be allowed to meet his people because it is his fundamental right.”
Senior journalist Hamid Mir also said that the current regime was failing to realise that the “inhumane and disgraceful treatment” of Imran’s family was damaging Pakistan’s global image. “It is becoming difficult for our diplomats serving in the West to defend this at public forums,” he said.
Mahmood Khan Achakzai, Chairman of the Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PKMAP) and head of the Tehreek Tahaffuz-e-Aain-e-Pakistan even visited Imran Khan’s sisters at home, to express solidarity over the incident.
Accompanied by Aleema, Noreen, and Uzma Khan, he addressed a press conference, saying the incident had deeply saddened them.
“Even in battlefields, women are spared,” he said. “Even today, in the tribal districts, if there is a family feud, a person is forgiven, only because a woman is accompanying them — because people show respect to the presence of a woman,” he said condemning the incident.