Rawalpindi (HRNW) Prison officials at Adiala jail Wednesday evening refused to hand over Shahbaz Gill to an Islamabad police party that arrived at the prison to secure custody of the PTI leader, who was earlier remanded into police custody by the court.
The refusal led to a standoff that continues for four hours. The federal interior ministry has sent Rangers and Frontier Constabulary (FC) to Adiala jail to ensure compliance with court orders.
The resistance from Punjab officials — under the Pervaiz Elahi government — came shortly after Imran Khan and other party leaders expressed fears that Islamabad police will extract from Gill a ‘false statement’ against Imran Khan during the interrogation.
Imran Khan also ordered the Punjab government to somehow move Gill to a hospital to evade his transfer to Islamabad authorities, even if it meant flouting court orders.