PTI LAHORE

Pakistan's jailed former prime minister Imran Khan has expressed optimism about his release saying he will spend next Eid with the masses as he asserted that the "dark clouds" overshadowing the country will "soon evaporate". The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) supremo has been incarcerated since August 2023 and is currently held in Rawalpindi's high-security Adiala jail.

A post on the 72-year-old Khan's X account on Wednesday said, "I have complete faith in Allah Almighty that the dark clouds overshadowing Pakistan will soon evaporate and our struggle will bear fruit. I am certain that God will grant me success and I will celebrate the next Eid with my people," Khan said. Khan said the "peon government" was determined to keep him imprisoned as they were obsessed with clinging to power.

"They (military-backed Shehbaz Sharif-led government) know that the day I walk out of prison, their illegitimate rule will crumble. That is why they are relentlessly trying to break me," he said. Khan said that he was denied political meetings, suggesting that the country's powerful military establishment fears that his party will announce its plan of action, which would threaten their grip on power.

The former Prime Minister said he wasn't allowed to speak to his children in England by phone on Eid, claiming that he has only talked to them twice in the past seven months. "...now, once again, I am being denied contact with them for several weeks. I was supposed to speak to my children on Eid, but even that was not allowed," he added. Khan alleged that his physician has also not been permitted to examine him, despite repeated requests.