Rawalpindi, July 1, 2025: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan has directed party leaders to prepare for launching an anti-government movement after the 10th of Muharram, according to his sister Aleema Khan.
Speaking to the media outside Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, Aleema said that she and her sisters were allowed only a 15-minute meeting with Imran Khan, while his lawyer Zaheer Abbas was granted just 90 seconds. Senior lawyers Salman Safdar, Salman Akram Raja, and Niazullah Niazi were reportedly denied visitation altogether.
Aleema claimed that deliberate efforts were underway to “minus” the PTI founder from national politics. She quoted Imran Khan as criticizing the 26th Constitutional Amendment, warning of its far-reaching consequences.
“If votes are stolen and people are told their votes hold no value, then it’s nothing short of martial law,” Khan reportedly said. He also criticized the judiciary’s treatment, saying that turning courts into extensions of the executive branch would mark the collapse of the rule of law and national morality.
Aleema further quoted her brother as stating that those sitting in the assemblies lack public mandate, the media has been silenced, and the proposed 27th Amendment would further erode democratic norms. “We might as well declare a monarchy,” he was quoted as saying.
Khan reportedly emphasized that Pakistan was founded in the name of the Kalima, and it is that spiritual foundation that still holds the country together. “A life sentence is preferable to living in this slavery-like system,” he said, according to Aleema.
She also stated that Khan praised the resistance shown by opposition lawmakers in the Punjab Assembly and urged PTI legislators to hold parallel assemblies outside the official provincial sessions, particularly in light of restrictions imposed on 26 PTI members.
Aleema said Imran Khan has conveyed a detailed protest strategy to the party leadership through senior lawyer Salman Akram Raja, which will be formally announced after Muharram.
She further alleged that the former prime minister is being kept in solitary confinement, denied access to books, and confined to his cell for 22 hours a day. “He is being deprived of basic rights,” she said.
The PTI is expected to reveal its full protest plan following the conclusion of Muharram observances.
