Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders and the sisters of party founder Imran Khan were denied permission to meet him at Adiala Jail on Tuesday, despite it being a scheduled meeting day, party officials said.

PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, senior leader Salman Akram Raja and other party figures reached Adiala Jail for the meeting. Imran Khan’s three sisters also arrived separately but were stopped at the marble factory checkpoint and not allowed to proceed to the jail premises.

Barrister Gohar later went to Gate No. 5 of Adiala Jail but was not permitted to enter and left without meeting the former prime minister.

However, jail authorities allowed members of Bushra Bibi’s family to meet her. Bushra Bibi’s sister-in-law Mehrun Nisa and daughter Mubashra Sheikh, met her in the jail’s conference room, according to PTI sources.

PTI workers raised slogans near the checkpoint, while a heavy police contingent remained deployed in the area. Party leaders and Imran Khan’s sisters stayed at the checkpoint for more than five hours.

Meanwhile, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja filed another contempt of court petition in the Islamabad High Court against the Adiala Jail superintendent over the denial of the meeting.

Speaking to the media after filing the petition, Raja said there appeared to be no constitutional, legal or parliamentary avenue left against what he termed coercive actions. He said jail rules require authorities to inform a prisoner’s family if the inmate is moved, adding that Imran Khan’s transfer to PIMS hospital had allegedly been kept undisclosed.

“Any restriction that stops a prisoner from speaking is unconstitutional. You can take away a person’s liberty, not their mind or voice,” Raja said, adding that denying meetings was aimed at silencing Imran Khan.

He also alleged attempts to divert attention from what he described as irregularities surrounding the February 8 elections, saying the PTI founder remained the country’s most popular political leader.