Reporting snapshot · 19 March 2026. Access to Imran Khan has been contested for months; this account rests on PTI and opposition statements and does not include a jail administration response.
What happened
PTI leaders were again refused a meeting with the party’s jailed founder, Imran Khan, at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi on Thursday, the latest in a series of failed attempts to see him.
Advocate Niazullah Niazi said PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja had submitted a court-approved list of six people to jail authorities for the meeting, but no approval came. “We waited till after 3pm during Ramazan visiting hours but received no response from the jail administration,” he said.
Niazi said the delegation also asked for the medical report of a medical team that examined Khan at the jail on Wednesday. Officials told them the report would be handed to the Islamabad chief commissioner and then submitted to the court, and that the party should approach the court for access. Niazi said he had not been permitted to meet Khan since April 2025 and that 70 to 80 days had passed since his family or party leaders were allowed to see him; he said only lawyer Salman Safdar had been granted access.
Major (Retired) Latasub Satti, whose name was also on the list, said the group was stopped outside the jail from 12:15pm despite prior intimation, and left after the 3pm cut-off without any word on approval.
Why it matters
The denied visit reinforces PTI’s central complaint that Khan is being held incommunicado despite court orders and prison rules. Niazi demanded immediate access for family members and personal physicians so they could assess his health, saying the party has severe concerns about it and no independent picture of his condition.
Separately, leaders of the opposition alliance Tehreek Tahaffuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan held a press conference in Islamabad accusing the government of making Khan’s health “controversial”. Former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa finance minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra called for Khan to be shifted to Shifa International Hospital and for transparency comparable to the treatment given to Nawaz Sharif during his imprisonment. Other opposition figures criticised the government’s economic management and what they called a lack of parliamentary briefing on regional policy, while welcoming China’s mediation role.
Dawn reported that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi wrote to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif asking him to direct authorities to facilitate Eid visits by Khan’s close family members, citing the jail manual and the Prisons Act.
What is still uncertain
Jail authorities have not publicly explained the refusal, and the medical report’s contents have not been released. The government has not responded to the opposition’s demand to move Khan to hospital. It is also unclear whether the intervention requested by the KP chief minister will produce access before Eid.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a synthesis of published material, not eyewitness reporting. Sources were reviewed on 20 March 2026.
- Pakistan Today — "PTI leaders denied Imran meeting again, raise alarm over health and secrecy"Published 19 March 2026 · What this source supports: the denied visit, Niazullah Niazi's and Latasub Satti's accounts, and the TTAP criticism of the government.
- Dawn — "PTI leaders yet again denied meeting with Imran"Published 20 March 2026 · What this source supports: the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister's letter to the prime minister seeking Eid family visits.
