TTAP stands with Imran's sisters after Adiala episode

Achakzai accuses the government of resorting to 'vengeful measures even against women and children'

ISLAMABAD:

Senior leaders of the Tehreek Tahaffuz Aeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP) on Wednesday deplored the alleged mistreatment of incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan's sisters outside Adiala Jail, expressing full solidarity with them.

Addressing a joint press conference after meeting them at Bani Gala, the opposition alliance expressed serious concerns over the country's political climate, the future of democracy, and "repeated violations of constitutional boundaries".

PTI leaders, including Salman Akram Raja and Shahid Khattak, were also present as well as the former premier's sisters.

The Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen Pakistan (MWM) central chairman Allama Raja Nasir Abbas Jafri called the alleged assault on the PTI founder's sisters outside Adiala Jail "tragic and inhumane".

He worried that the prevailing political situation had placed not only the masses but also the "guardians of the Constitution" in a state of deep anxiety.

"The person who founded Pakistan would be ashamed of the situation today," invoking country's founder Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Referring to the 27th Amendment, he warned that constitutional tweaks being pushed in the hurried manner risked weakening the state structure, adding that that the TTAP had "serious reservations" about the ongoing changes.

Similarly, the movement's chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai accused the government of resorting to "vengeful measures even against women and children", saying they were unprecedented and shameful.

Furthermore, he deplored the "undemocratic and clear violations of human rights". "It was because of the elite mindset that East Pakistan was broken, and today the same attitudes are again pushing the state towards harm."

Achakzai stressed that the country's crisis could only be resolved if all political forces adopted a joint and principled position.

He announced that if all parties agreed on five fundamental points, he would personally secure Imran Khan's formal signatures on them.

'Not intimidated'

PTI founder's sisters – Aleema Khan, Uzma Khan and Noreen Khan – also spoke at the press conference, condemning the alleged violence against women and asserting they would not be intimidated.

They thanked the TTAP leadership, saying the support from Achakzai and Allama Nasir Abbas Jafri had given them strength during an exceptionally difficult time.

Relaying Imran's message, the sisters declared that Imran has urged the nation to "prepare itself" because the time has come for "freedom or death", as they accused authorities of placing him in solitary confinement and subjecting women, children and lawmakers to violent treatment outside Adiala Jail.

They further said they had long avoided speaking publicly, but the situation had reached a point where silence was no longer possible.

Aleema said they were only exercising their legal right to demand a meeting with their brother, yet "the PTI founder has been put in solitary confinement" and even peaceful protest was met with force.

She said their demonstrations had never harmed anyone, yet they were repeatedly denied permission to meet him. "Last week, my sister - who is a doctor - was detained for several hours," she said.

"We were sitting on the footpath. First, the lights were switched off, then water was released. We sat in the water. First, media personnel were pushed, then ministers from K-P were shoved," she said, recounting scenes from Tuesday night.

She said a 12-year-old boy who warned them water would be released "was also arrested".

She alleged that women had been "dragged by their hair" and "shawls were pulled off", after which men and women were "locked together in the same prison van".

"This country is ours too. Why are we being treated like this?" she asked.