Attock Jail Officials Cite Prisoners Act, 1978 to Deny Imran Khan Permission for Phone with Sons

LAHORE MIRROR — In response to a contempt of court petition regarding the refusal to allow a telephonic conversation between Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and his sons, Attock jail authorities submitted their reply on Friday.

The jail superintendent, in his response to Judge Abual Hasant Zulqarnain, argued that the prison regulations prohibit accused individuals facing charges under the Official Secrets Act from speaking over the phone. He further contended that the court order, which permitted Khan to contact his sons, had not been violated. According to him, the Prisoners Act of 1978 expressly prohibits prisoners from making calls to foreign telephone numbers.

The presiding judge has instructed the jail superintendent to present his arguments before the court on September 18.

Imran Khan has been in Attock prison since his arrest on August 05 following his conviction in the Toshakhana case. After the Islamabad High Court (IHC) suspended his sentence in the Toshakhana case, he was arrested in the cipher case and is currently in judicial custody until September 26.

Last month, a special court, established to handle cases registered under the Official Secrets Act, granted him permission to speak to his sons. However, on Monday, Khan filed a petition seeking contempt of court proceedings against the Attock jail superintendent, alleging that the court’s order had been violated by denying him permission to communicate with his sons over the phone.

Imran Khan, through his lawyers Umair Niazi and Shiraz Ahmed, had submitted a petition requesting permission to have telephone or WhatsApp conversations with his sons, Qasim and Sulaiman, who reside in London with their mother. This request was initially approved by the court.

It is noteworthy that during Imran Khan’s government in 2018, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was not allowed to communicate with his ailing wife, who was undergoing cancer treatment in a London hospital. Begum Kulsoom Nawaz tragically passed away in September 2018 in the UK capital. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leadership, including Nawaz Sharif himself, has criticized the PTI government on multiple occasions for what they perceive as cruelty in denying him the opportunity to speak with his wife during her illness.