ISLAMABAD: “The jailed former prime minister Imran Khan and the ex-foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi were not allowed to offer Eid prayers.”
This was stated by the daughter of former foreign minister Qureshi, Meher Bano Qureshi, who said that both Khan and her father were not allowed to offer Eid prayers at Adiala jail.
Former president Dr Arif Alvi, in a series of posts on X, condemned the highhandedness of the jail authorities for not allowing the former prime minister and the foreign minister to offer Eid prayers.
He further said that another party member Ejaz Chaudhary wasn’t allowed to do so either but “he led the prayer with Omar Cheema in their cell.”
On April 9, Dr Arif Alvi posted that Imran Khan’s ban on Eid prayers reminded him of the British rule. He wrote about a famous leader in India’s freedom struggle when he was sentenced by the occupying authorities.
He remarked, “He [Indian leader] remained in prison for four years and during that time Eid prayers were not even allowed. Because these oppressive rulers wanted to destroy the leadership of Muslim India, one of the various tactics to weaken their patriotism was to ban Friday and Eid prayers as well.”
The Adiala jail could not be reached for comments despite several attempts at his cellphone for comments.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024