A day after the government imposed a ban on meetings with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and holding elaborate news conferences outside the jail premises owing to security considerations, lawmakers backed by Imran's party have sought a parliamentary order to meet with the party supremo.
"We (the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) backed members sitting in the house with the representation of Sunni Ittehad Council) want to meet our leader," said Leader of the Opposition and Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) member Omer Ayub Khan while speaking on the floor of the National Assembly on Wednesday.
Ayub urged the NA Speaker to issue an order directing the Adiala Jail Superintendent to make the necessary arrangements for lawmakers to meet with their leader.
"The National Assembly Speaker should issue orders to the jail authority," Ayub further urged, demanding that the NA Speaker give clear instructions to jail authorities on arranging the meeting.
Political observers said that raising such a demand on the floor of the lower house of Parliament would only create another controversy. They were of the view that Imran does not currently hold any public position which falls within the domain of the National Assembly.
For security reasons, the government on Tuesday banned Imran Khan and other inmates at the Adiala prison from receiving visitors for two weeks.
The instructions were issued after intelligence reports suggested there were serious security concerns in allowing large groups of the media and party activities to gather outside the jail for extended periods.
A letter to the Punjab Police from the Provincial Home Department the other day [Tuesday] did not indicate which militant group wanted to target the prison.
It merely observed that "some anti-state terrorist groups supported by the enemies of Pakistan have planned to conduct targeted attacks" on the prison, with an aim to "create lawlessness and anarchy within the whole country."
Earlier, Gohar Khan, the chairman of Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, denounced the ban imposed on the incarcerated former prime minister from hosting visitors.