ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Wednesday condemned what it called the “tyrannical” regime for unleashing a reign of terror against Imran Khan’s sisters, party leaders, lawyers and workers outside the Adiala Jail a day earlier, terming the incident “utterly intolerable and unacceptable”.
“We are confronting a power structure intoxicated by its own might, blind to morality and law,” the PTI leadership said in a statement. The party announced that the opposition alliance will observe a countrywide black day on Friday to demand the restoration of the Constitution, rule of law and ‘haqeeqi azadi’. According to the party, as Imran Khan has repeatedly stated, the nation is now left with no choice but to choose “between freedom and death”.
At a news conference, Imran Khan’s sisters — Aleema Khan, Uzma Khan, and Noreen Niazi — appeared alongside PTI Secretary General Salman Akram, Allama Nasir Abbas of MWM and other party leaders to denounce what they described as a brutal state crackdown.
Salman Akram condemned the “extreme acts of fascism” carried out on Tuesday night, warning the government to “abandon its reckless arrogance and act responsibly before it is too late”. He stressed that it is the unquestionable constitutional right of Imran Khan’s sisters to meet their brother, “a right no oppressive authority can take away”. He warned that no society can survive, let alone progress, without freedom of speech, press, conscience and an independent judiciary.
Aleema Khan alleged that police units “notorious for violence” assaulted women and elderly party members, claiming that a female officer had openly instructed male personnel to beat protesters. “Our people, including MPAs and MNAs, were subjected to violence,” she said.
Aleema alleged that police threw 71-year-old Noreen Niazi to the ground, dragged her, pulled women’s dupattas, slapped them and beat young girls before locking them in vans alongside male detainees.
Rejecting attempts at intimidation, she asked: “Do you think that by beating us you can silence us? We will return, and you cannot intimidate us. Is this country now being ruled by gangsters?” She vowed that the family will continue standing outside the jail for Imran Khan, “exposing oppression and injustice”.
PTI Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas also strongly condemned the manhandling of Imran Khan’s sisters, saying that such coercive and arbitrary tactics could never break the resolve of the family, party leaders or workers.
Noreen Niazi said the nation would never forget the tragedies of May 9 and Nov 26. “Those who have played with the lives of innocent people will never find peace”, she warned, while expressing gratitude to social media activists who continue to expose the truth despite immense pressure.
She noted that the PTI founder has urged the nation to prepare, declaring that the time has come to choose “between freedom and death.”
Speaking on the occasion, Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM) chief Allama Nasir Abbas strongly condemned the assault on women outside Adiala Jail, calling the manhandling and snatching of headscarves an “unforgivable national disgrace.”
Meanwhile, Tehreek Tahaffuz Aayeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP) chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai and Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM) leader Allama Nasir Abbas met Imran Khan’s sisters at Bani Gala. After the meeting, both leaders held a joint press conference alongside the PTI founder’s sisters.
Achakzai said a false narrative had been created that a single individual was a rebel who needed to be crushed. “This is not one man’s fight — it is the struggle of 250 million people. This government rests on money and power,” he declared. He added that invading people’s homes and humiliating them was a crime, and “standing up to a tyrant ruler is an act of jihad. We are at peace because Allah is with the oppressed.”
Allama Nasir Abbas said they had come to Bani Gala to express solidarity with Imran Khan’s sisters after “the grave injustice committed last night.”
TTAP Chairman Mahmood Achakzai also offered to sign the Charter of Constitution and Democracy. He said, “if any consensus is needed for the supremacy of the Constitution and Parliament, we are ready. If we follow the Constitution, we can move forward together, make a good social agreement and run Pakistan”. The head of the opposition alliance said that if the rulers and institutions sign the five points, then it is his responsibility to ensure that PTI supemo Imran Khan also signs it.