Adiala jail admin rejects PTI’s claims over facilities for Imran

RAWALPINDI: The Adiala jail administration on Friday denied reports about withdrawing facilities from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan, while the party is insistent he is facing hardships citing a lack of due facilities.

The superintendent of Central Jail, Rawalpindi, famously referred to as the Adiala jail, said all the facilities as per the jail manual were available to Khan, with special attention on his security and health. “The PTI founder is supplied one English newspaper daily. He has an exercise machine and place for walk [to keep him fit],” he said.

The jail official added that the former prime minister and his incarcerated spouse, Bushra Bibi, had been allocated a separate kitchen, while prison staff was present 24/7 for his security. The Adiala jail superintendent said books were also available for him to read.

The official repudiated the report about an open sewer in Khan’s cell and rats in Bushra Bibi’s cell, saying: “There is no veracity in the news of an open sewer in Khan’s cell or rats in Bushra’s.”

The official said the PTI founder was allowed to meet family, lawyers as well as hold political meetings twice a week. Also, on the occasion of case hearings, the PTI founder met those who attended the hearings in the jail, the official maintained. The jail official said Khan also had the facility of television in his prison cell.

The jail’s stance comes in the wake of claims made by PTI Senator Muhammad Ali Khan Saif who told the media about a spectrum of “facilities” his leader was being deprived of. The senator said he called on Khan at the prison and found he was encountering adversities there.

The PTI founder was not given the facilities that President Asif Ali Zardari and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif enjoyed during their respective jail terms, he maintained. “The PTI founder is suffering from ear pain. He’s not being provided an electric toothbrush and a dumbbell for exercise,” he said. Saif said the ex-premier was not being allowed to talk to his sons over the phone.

He conveyed the workers’ sentiments to the PTI supremo, saying that they were dejected after the August 22 public rally was postponed abruptly. The PTI founder directed him to make the party leaders sit down and resolve their grievances, he said.