Washington DC [US], September 25 (ANI): A senior US State Department official said that Washington continues to follow former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s case and health status closely.
“We continue to follow his case closely. We follow the status of his health. But really, that’s as much as we engage on the case,” the State Department official told ANI.
Imran Khan has been in Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi since being convicted in the Toshakhana case in 2023. Since then, he has also been convicted of land corruption.
His party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has held several portests, demanding his release and raising concern over his health condition. However, recently, Imran Khan’s son Kasim Khan warned supporters against marching towards Adiala jail during the planned September 27 protest, alleging that the mobilisation could be used as a pretext for a “counter” assault by the Pakistani authorities on the prison, which could endanger his father's life.
The provincial government in Pakistan's Punjab region has imposed Section 144 across the province from September 23 to October 5, prohibiting gatherings of five or more people in public places and roads. Authorities have also sought the deployment of Pakistan Rangers in Rawalpindi, Attock, Jhelum and Mianwali.
Amid the calls for a protest on September 27, three of Imran Khan's sisters were detained by the police. Aleema Khan was detained last week, followed by the detention of Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi for 30 days under the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance.
On Thursday, the Lahore High Court declined to immediately suspend the detention orders against Uzma and Noreen while issuing notices to the respondents and seeking their responses before proceeding with the plea.
The Pakistani authorities have maintained that the preventive detention measures and restrictions are connected to public-order and security concerns. (ANI)
"Following Imran Khan's case closely": Senior US State Dept official
