- 7 weeks ago
In this episode of Newstrack, the focus is on intense speculation surrounding former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's safety inside Adiala Jail.
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NewsTranscript
00:00The government says safe. P.T.I demands show him.
00:18Zero Access, Maximum Suspicion
00:37Imran Khan Locked Up or Locked Away
00:49Power Games and a Prison Story
00:56Munir vs Imran, it's personal
01:03Who will unlock the truth?
01:08Hello everyone, you're watching NewsTrack with me, Maria Shakil.
01:11For the last 24 hours, the entire social media is abuzz with questions around Imran Khan.
01:17Is the former Pakistan Prime Minister alive?
01:20Rumours of illness are circulating, whispers of disappearance have grown louder
01:26and even false reports of his death have spread online,
01:30fueling anxiety among his supporters and followers.
01:33Family visits have been repeatedly blocked,
01:36leaving Imran's sisters and close relatives desperate for any sign of their loved one.
01:42PTI supporters have taken to streets demanding transparency, proof of life
01:47and the right of a family to meet the person who is in jail.
01:52The Adiyala Jail and Shehbaz government maintains that Imran is safe and healthy in custody.
01:58Yet there is no photo, no video, no direct confirmation, nothing that can definitely prove his condition or whereabouts.
02:07This lack of access has identified, intensified I would say, suspicion and created a climate of uncertainty in Pakistani politics
02:16where every move is scrutinized and every silence is being interpreted.
02:21And as the world watches anxiously, the central question hangs heavier than ever.
02:26Where is Imran Khan and what is really happening behind those locked doors inside the jail?
02:33Is he paying the price for his personal tussle with the Chief of Defence Forces now, Asim Munir?
02:38I will ask those questions to my guest who will be joining me shortly.
02:41But first, take a look at this report.
02:43Tonight, Pakistan is gripped by one chilling question.
02:59Where is Imran Khan?
03:02Rumours of ill health, whispers of disappearance, even fake news of death.
03:08His family says there have been denied meetings for weeks, protests outside his jail, and the hashtag
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03:50Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is demanding proof of life, clarity on Imran Khan's status.
03:57The PTI insists the state must issue a formal, transparent statement
04:03and immediately allow his family to meet him to end the speculation.
04:09Supporters warn that the nation will not tolerate uncertainty about its leader,
04:14stressing that the government is fully responsible for Imran's security and constitutional rights.
04:20PTI has vowed to take every legal and political step to expose the truth.
04:27As tension rises, Adhiyala Jail finally responded,
04:32claiming Imran Khan has not been moved from the jail and that reports of his transfer are false.
04:39Jail officials confirmed Imran remains inside the facility, is healthy and is receiving full medical attention.
04:47But here is the catch.
04:49There is still no visual evidence, no family meeting, no video.
04:55Instead of clarity, the government offered claims of five-star amenities.
05:01Defense Minister Khwaja Asif claimed Imran has TV, velvet bedding, private gym, gourmet meals.
05:08The controversy over Imran Khan's disappearance has now reached Pakistan's Senate.
05:14PTI has accused the government of denying Khan even basic family visits,
05:19demanding clarity on his health and legal rights.
05:22The Shahbaz government has hit back, calling Imran Khan a VIP prisoner
05:26and accused PTI of creating drama over the visits.
05:30The Shahbaz government has hit back, saying that the Shahbaz government has been in jail for 100-150 people.
05:42PTI lawmakers and senators have announced
06:11they will hold protests outside the Islamabad High Court and Adiyala jail every Tuesday.
06:41So tonight, the question remains, where is Imran Khan and what is his condition?
06:54Vera Report, India Today.
06:55And joining me first on the show is Favad Chaudhary, former Minister of Information and Broadcasting
07:04and a close aide of Imran Khan.
07:06Mr. Chaudhary, what is the truth behind the recent death rumours and Afghan media claiming
07:12that Imran Khan has been assassinated in Adiyala jail?
07:16Can you confirm Imran's current health and location given the three-week denial of family
07:24and lawyer visits?
07:28Well, I think the news has already been denied by the jail authorities and they have claimed
07:36that Imran Khan had a full breakfast and exercise routine.
07:40Obviously, he's an international athlete, so he never misses his exercise.
07:45He did that.
07:47And obviously, this rumour-mongering was, I think, more of a tit-for-tat for a news that
07:55was published in Pakistan that Mullah Haibadullah of Afghan Taliban had been assassinated.
08:01So I think they are just trying to, you know, equalise that.
08:05But that is obviously not true.
08:07Imran Khan is hailed and hearty.
08:09Though I believe that, you know, the ban on his meeting has been three weeks now that
08:15Imran Khan's sister, his family, political workers, leaders are not allowed to see him.
08:21And when you come up with such kind of stupid strategies, banning such huge leader meeting,
08:29then obviously rumours go through.
08:32And I don't blame the media for that.
08:34I think the government policy has led to that kind of rumours.
08:38Mr. Chaudhary, why has no official photograph or update on Mr. Khan being released for two weeks?
08:44And does this indicate a shift to a secret location there?
08:50No.
08:51You would be surprised to know that in two and a half months, two and a half years,
08:56since Imran Khan is in incarceration, not a single photo has been released.
09:00And once he appeared in the Supreme Court and his photo was actually leaked to the media,
09:09and half of the Supreme Court security officials were actually sacked.
09:13The reason is that Imran Khan is so big now in Pakistan that even his voice,
09:19his picture is a kind of fear.
09:24It's a fearful for the president's setup.
09:27So unfortunately, they are not allowing even his picture or voice to go into public.
09:33So they will never release the photo of him because that becomes a huge political crisis for them.
09:40Imran Khan won landslide on 8th February elections last year.
09:46If elections happen today, he will, I think, secure more votes than what he did in 8th February.
09:52And he is too big now, a leader.
09:55And obviously, the present Pakistani government is really fearful of him.
10:00Are efforts on for reconciliation?
10:02And what progress have you made in talks with the government for Imran Khan's release?
10:11You see, we have met with all the top ministers of the government.
10:17And what we think that they also now have this kind of feeling that temperatures should come down.
10:24Pakistan has earned huge successes in the international diplomacy.
10:29And now this is a time that this success should be translated in Pakistan's internal affairs.
10:35That, unfortunately, has not.
10:37Because the political temperature in Pakistan is so high that whatever success they get outside
10:44actually melts away when it comes to Pakistan.
10:46So some kind of, you know, re-approach between Imran Khan and the government is absolutely necessary.
10:56And we believe that by releasing political prisoners, they can create this environment where at least talks can begin.
11:04So, you see, we are not militants.
11:06We cannot take on guns against the government.
11:09The only thing we can do is we can request and we can try to gain space for us.
11:13And this is what I and many of my colleagues believe.
11:17And we are working on them.
11:18And our prime, you know, effort is that how to get relief for Imran Khan in the first instance and then go for his release also.
11:27A couple of more questions, Mr. Chaudhary.
11:29Is there a sense in your party that you need to step back from confrontation, as you have suggested,
11:34to secure Imran Khan's freedom and perhaps political stability?
11:40Yes, absolutely.
11:42We have met both PTI leadership and government leadership.
11:46And we feel that there is kind of an urge or desire for that.
11:51My suggestion is that government should take a step up towards the release of political prisoners.
11:58And PTI should take a step back from its confrontational politics because it will give them a space to go back.
12:05Unless government, you know, don't offer any relief to PTI leadership, obviously PTI will have nothing to gain.
12:15And their supporters, they have to satisfy their supporters as well.
12:19So they can only go back a step on confrontation if government offers some relief.
12:24And we are right now trying to get some relief for the political, especially the women prisoners.
12:30I mean, the woman as old as 78 years old of Yasmin Rashad is behind bars for now three years.
12:36There are other women who have been behind the bars.
12:38So we want a government to release women political prisoners in the first dance and followed by the Syrian leadership,
12:45who is aged more than 73 years old.
12:48You know, as many as 73 years old people are behind the bars.
12:51Mr. Chaudhary, let me ask the question that I had asked you earlier,
12:56that Imran Khan's sisters have been demanding access.
13:00They have not been allowed to meet him for weeks now.
13:03There are concerns and they have gone on record to say that there's something amiss,
13:08that they are suspicious about, something that may have gone wrong with Imran Khan.
13:12And yet you are saying that he's safe.
13:13Well, Imran Khan is safe, but meeting with his sisters is the key thing that can end these rumours.
13:23So I think government should take steps to ensure that the regular meeting with Imran Khan will keep on happening.
13:29Also, his sisters and, you know, the party leaders will be allowed to meet him
13:34because that is the only way through which they can, you know, come up as an evidence that he is OK.
13:41And obviously people are not going to believe very much on the jail authorities or the government.
13:46So it is important that the meeting should be allowed.
13:49All right, Favad Chaudhary, I appreciate your time.
13:51Thank you for joining us here on NewsTrack.
13:54Joining me now, Sushant Sareen, strategic affairs expert.
13:58Mona Alam is Pakistani journalist.
14:01Sushant Sareen, there are questions being asked because there is something amiss here.
14:08If the sisters are now being not being allowed access, these are images which are there of protests
14:14which have happened right outside Adiala jail.
14:16And we know who controls this jail.
14:22Yeah, Maria, look, according to his lawyer and a senior member of his party,
14:28he claims that for the last six weeks, nobody has been allowed to meet Imran Khan.
14:32So, clearly, rumours are now swirling around as to what has happened to him.
14:37Is he in good health?
14:40Has his health suffered a terrible setback?
14:43Who knows?
14:43Look, you know, he is over 70, probably 75, 76.
14:47I don't know his exact age.
14:49Yes, he was very fit, but who knows, you know, what prison has done to him.
14:54And then there are other rumours that he has been assaulted, he has been tortured,
14:59he has been kept in solitary confinement to torture him.
15:03All kinds of lurid rumours are doing the rounds.
15:07And these rumours are only gaining ground because there is no light.
15:11You know, the best way to defeat rumours is to bring everything in the broad public view,
15:18which they are not ready to do.
15:21So, clearly, these, and somebody as senior as the chief minister of Kaivar Pakhtunkhwa,
15:28despite court orders, has not been allowed to meet him.
15:31So, obviously, there is no law in Pakistan.
15:33And as Imran Khan himself said, the law in Pakistan is now Aasem law.
15:39Aasem Munir is the king and emperor of Pakistan.
15:42He has not been crowned as such, but everything else,
15:45the divine right of dictators has been given to him.
15:48By none other than the Pakistani parliament, which is in any case a rubber stamp,
15:53which is not even elected fully.
15:55So, clearly, these are people who are right now controlling the country.
16:00And they are terrified of Imran Khan and his popularity.
16:05So, quite clearly, a lot of things are not working out for that regime.
16:10They might be prancing around all over the world,
16:13trying to show that they are the centre of gravity of the rest of the world.
16:17But internally, the economy is faltering.
16:22It's not just anemic.
16:24It's literally unsustainable and unviable.
16:27And I do not have to take my word for it.
16:29There are World Bank reports, including Pakistani think tanks,
16:33have come out with reports saying that it's an unviable economy now.
16:36The state bank of governor has said it's unsustainable.
16:40They have two very, very hot fronts on the eastern and western front.
16:46Internally, there is two insurgencies taking place.
16:50So, there are very serious problems.
16:52And there are no political solutions,
16:55because everybody is kissing the top boss's posterior.
17:00So, you have a situation where things are not quite working out.
17:04And Imran Khan is looming large over the de facto dictator.
17:10The guy is so terrified that he is not even willing to allow him to meet his family members.
17:15Yes, but how is the civil society in Pakistan reacting to this?
17:19And what civil society?
17:20Let me ask that question to Mona Alam.
17:23Perhaps Mona will be able to explain that.
17:25Mona, what exactly is happening in Pakistan?
17:27No news whatsoever about Imran Khan.
17:32And the sense certainly is that he is extremely popular.
17:35And even if one image comes out in the public domain,
17:39that can really invoke reaction.
17:44Right. Thank you, Maria.
17:46Look, of course, I am not a part of the government,
17:48and neither am I a part of the opposition.
17:51So, but I have to go by my neutral sources.
17:55And, of course, this news was very worrying.
17:57It started off from Afghan news outlets,
18:00and then it was picked up by Indian news outlets as well, all of you alike.
18:04And this was a very worrying news piece.
18:06So, of course, I happened to check with all the sources that I had,
18:10with sources, very well-placed sources in Adiyala jail as well.
18:13And I was told exactly what even Fawad Chaudhary has told you in the segment before.
18:18Though he is a critic of the government and the government policies in present day,
18:22but he too is affirmative of the fact that Imran Khan is hale and hearty,
18:27and he is doing well.
18:28And that, of course, is a source of great, I think, encouragement for all of us,
18:35because we were, of course, worried and concerned about all these fake rumours
18:40that were being spread out by Afghanistan news outlets.
18:44And then thereby, it was also picked up by Indian news outlets.
18:48So, I think it's kind of a situation here, a local situation here,
18:53which is kind of being picked up to stir up a havoc in Pakistan.
18:56But, Mona, the larger question is that if Imran Khan is safe and healthy,
19:04then why are his sisters not being allowed the compulsory, allowed legal right
19:11of any prisoner, which is access to the family?
19:17That, yes, I presume would be your next question,
19:20because that is, of course, very logical,
19:22that if he is okay, why isn't he allowed to meet anyone?
19:26I think, because I also checked this,
19:29and we have been tracking his meetings in Adyala Jail since quite some time.
19:34His lawyers want to meet him, of course, his family wants to meet him.
19:38It started off with Chief Minister KP, the new Chief Minister KP,
19:42Suhail Afridi, who initially wanted to meet him and take some go-ahead
19:45as to on the running of the government,
19:48on the running of the provincial government.
19:49And I think this was indeed the starting point of the entire thing,
19:52because he was barred from meeting Imran Khan.
19:56And then, you know, everyone tried to add on to and augment his voice,
20:05augment his demand of meeting him.
20:06Because the pivotal point is regarding Imran Khan's health,
20:09and I am happy to share this with all of your viewers that he is doing well.
20:13And, of course, the government can put a stop to this entire rumour mill
20:18by enabling meetings.
20:20That, of course, is their right.
20:22I think even the people's party...
20:24Okay, I have just enough time for Sushant Sareen again now.
20:27Sushant Sareen, Imran Khan has not been seen for the past 25 days.
20:32And all these developments are coming at a time
20:35when Asim Munir has taken charge as the chief of defense forces
20:41and will enjoy the ultimate power,
20:44perhaps more than any president or prime minister of Pakistan has.
20:50Yeah, so, Maria, like I said, he is the de facto dictator.
20:54Now, Muna Alam has put a very valiant defense of the legal system in our country,
20:59but even she knows that it is not...
21:02There is no law in Pakistan except Asim law.
21:05Because, let Muna refute me to what I am saying.
21:08Hasn't the courts ordered the meeting of both the chief minister
21:12as well as the family members?
21:14And you mean to tell me a jailer, a jailer, a damn jailer in a jail
21:19can defy the high court's order and nothing happens to the guy?
21:25And if the courts are now so straight that they can't enforce their law?
21:28So, what law is this if this is not Asim law?
21:31That is one.
21:31Secondly, it's all very well to quote sources.
21:35And I can quote as many unnamed sources as Muna has quoted
21:38to claim that, you know, Imran Khan is, God forbid, no longer alive
21:43or has been terribly assaulted,
21:46which is exactly what the rumors are doing the rounds.
21:49And in fact, people from his own party and in his own family
21:53are fearing stuff like that.
21:54So, the best way of dispelling all these rumors
21:59is not through unnamed sources who are feeding all kinds of stuff
22:03to, you know, journalists and pliable journalists and wannabe journalists
22:07who are coming on television screens in Pakistan
22:10and trying to dispel these rumors on behalf of the state.
22:14The only way of doing it is let the family members go and meet him.
22:18What is the problem?
22:19Look, I am not a fan of Imran Khan.
22:21Let me be very honest with you.
22:23But the fact of the matter is the kind of brutality
22:25and the kind of cruelty that has been shown
22:27to a person who is an elected prime minister,
22:31I think it is a scandal of global proportions.
22:35Yes.
22:35And frankly, the kind of viciousness that we have seen,
22:39the Sharifs are notorious for this.
22:42When they are out of power, they fall on your feet.
22:44When they are in power, they grab your collar,
22:47grab you by the collar, that has been their style, right?
22:50But the kind of viciousness they are showing,
22:53not that Imran Khan was not as vicious.
22:55Only because Imran Khan perhaps has not compromised or reached...
22:59Everybody is compromised in Pakistan.
23:01In Pakistan, you can't do power.
23:03Fine, Sushant Sareen, I get your point.
23:05Thank you so much for joining us.
23:06Thank you, Mona, for sharing your views.
23:08That's all from me.
23:09Of course, there's a lot of suspicion,
23:10a lot of concern around what really is happening with Imran Khan.
23:14Where is he?
23:15Is he alive?
23:16This is a story we'll continue to track very, very closely.
23:19That's all from me.
23:21Thanks so much for watching.
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