RAWALPINDI: The Punjab government has banned all meetings inside Adiala jail till October 18 due to security concerns in the light of upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Islamabad, sources told Geo News on Monday.
They added that owing to the ban, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder and former prime minister Imran Khan — who is imprisoned there — will not be allowed to meet party leaders, lawyers and family during this time.
The jail meetings — including those involving common prisoners — have been prohibited in order to improve the facility's security ahead of the high-profile SCO event, which is scheduled in the federal capital from October 15 to 16, said the sources privy to the matter.
Meanwhile, the provincial government has sent a letter to Rawalpindi's district administration and the jail authorities which also provisions directions for additional security measures to be taken by the latter.
The letter, issued by the Punjab Home Department, attributes the security concerns to the threat alert issued by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) on October 6 and calls for strict security arrangements and preventive measures to deal with any untoward incident.
The SCO summit holds key significance as it will also be attended by India's Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar — the first visit by an Indian foreign minister to Pakistan in nearly a decade.
The federal government has called in the Pakistan Army as part of its comprehensive security plan with troops' deployment approved under Article 245 of the Constitution from October 15 to 17.
This is not the first time that the authorities have barred meetings inside the facility as such a ban was imposed for two weeks in March due to security concerns.
The compound has housed Khan for more than a year as the politician remained embroiled in multiple cases.
Earlier this year, the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) claimed to have arrested three terrorists and recovered a map of the jail facility, a hand grenade and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) from their possession.
The terrorists, as per Rawalpindi City Police Officer (CPO) Khalid Hamdani, hailed from Afghanistan.
Prior to that, in November 2023, police had found a suspicious bag laden with an explosive device near Adiala Road in Gorakhpur — located just one kilometre away from the facility.
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