In another incident of authoritarian overreach, Pakistani officials denied former prime minister Imran Khan ‘s sisters Aleema Khan Noreen Khan and Dr. Uzma Khan a meeting with their brother while police manhandled and violently detained them in the dark evening outside Adiala jail.
Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek e Insaaf called it an assault on an entire nation’s conscience.
The sisters were protesting flagrant violation of court orders which directs authorities to let Khan’s family meet him at least once a week.
The current regime is not realizing that inhumane & disgraceful treatmen of Imran Khan’s family members is tarnishing the image of Pakistani state all over the world. It’s becoming difficult for our diplomats serving in the west to defend at public forums https://t.co/PwSqpcxLIe
— Hamid Mir حامد میر (@HamidMirPAK) November 19, 2025
Aleema Khan, visibly shaken, described how her 71-year-old sister Noreen Khan was dragged across the pavement by female police officers, pulled to the ground, and forced into a van — even as lights were switched off to sow chaos.
She said, their sit-in to register their protest over denial of court-ordered right was peaceful as they just want to meet their imprisoned brother.
گزشتہ رات اڈیالہ جیل کے باہر میری پھوپھیوں کے ساتھ ہونے والے شرمناک سلوک کی شدید مذمت کرتا ہوں۔ پاکستانی حکومت اور اس کے کارندے ہر اخلاقی اور قانونی حد پار کر چکے ہیں۔
بے گناہ خواتین پر حملہ کرنا، انہیں سڑک پر گھسیٹنا اور اندھیرے میں پولیس فورس چھوڑ دینا ایک ایسے حکمران ٹولے کا…
— Kasim Khan (@Kasim_Khan_1999) November 19, 2025
Khan, the world cup winning former captain and one of the greatest all-rounders joined politics in the 1990s. He was dislodged from the office of prime minister in 2022 through a parliamentary vote.
He has been in jail for the two years on corruption charges in a case, his followers say, did not fulfill requirements of a fair court trial.
Journalists, Khan’s supporters and human rights activists condemned the violent treatment of the sisters and the government’s “blatant” violation of court orders.
میں کھڑی تھی کہ پیچھے سے مجھے پولیس والی نے بالوں سے پکڑ کر زمین پر پھینکا باقی ویڈیو میں آپ لوگ دیکھ سکتے کیا کیا۔ اس پر افسوس ہی کر سکتے ہیں کہ یہ کس حد تک گر چکے ہیں۔ نورین خان نیازی pic.twitter.com/MpVZC2uwu0
— PTI (@PTIofficial) November 18, 2025
Senior journalist Shahzad Iqbal called the “dragging and manhandling of Imran Khan’s elderly sisters … a shameless act of oppression.”
Another, veteran anchor Hamid Mir, lamented that such inhumane treatment is damaging Pakistan’s global image, making it harder for Pakistani diplomats to defend the country on the world stage.
Aleema Khan, in a press conference, refused to be cowed.
🚨🚨
Shameful cowards ruling us, strongly condemn manhandling and use of force against sisters or @ImranKhanPTI https://t.co/e1pMOWxWkJ— Asad Ali Toor (@AsadAToor) November 18, 2025
“If beating us silences us,” she declared, “then we will return — because we are not afraid.”
PTI supporters says the former prime minister is deliberately being held in solitary confinement and deprived of human contact as part of designs to break his will.
Kiran Asim is a writer who covers the U.S., Europe, South Asia, and the Middle East. Her reports and analyses look at the geostrategic issues and contemporary developments and their economic and political implications. She also writes about society and education.
