THE Islamabad High Court earlier this week ruled on two petitions challenging the conditions in which former prime minister Imran Khan and former first lady Bushra Bibi have been kept in Adiala Jail, ordering the jail superintendent to ensure they receive the privileges they are entitled to as prisoners and that neither is kept in isolation.
It is disturbing to note that though jail officials and government representatives have consistently denied allegations that the two prisoners are being held in solitary confinement for extended periods, medical records submitted by the authorities indicate that the former prime minister has started suffering physically from the effects of isolation. Indeed, the court noted that “the admitted fact remains that access of the general prison population to his place of confinement is substantially restricted and his meaningful social interaction is consequently limited”, and that the record “prima facie recognises the adverse impact of restricted social and familial interaction upon the prisoner’s psychological and physical well-being”.
As the court rightly noted, a prisoner’s right to life, dignity and humane treatment “are not extinguished at the prison gate”. This, in particular, seems to be something that those running the Pakistani penal system have never quite wrapped their heads around. Human beings cannot be mistreated, even when they have erred. The law may prescribe the most severe punishment for their crimes, but that does not mean prisoners can be treated by their jailers as they see fit.
Unfortunately, most Pakistani prisoners are frequently made to suffer far more than what is just or right. The injustices done to them are also very rarely remedied. Therefore, for a once powerful leader to be made to suffer in this manner is merely a symptom of a much larger disease. Our penal system needs much more than one-time interventions to address its maladies; it needs to be rebuilt as an instrument of justice rather than remain a means of inflicting pain.
Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2026
