A meeting between jailed PTI founder Imran Khan and his lawyer, Barrister Salman Safdar, at Adiala Jail has produced competing accounts of what the former prime minister knew and how he reacted to the imposition of emergency and governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The differences matter because the meeting was one of the few direct contacts with Khan in months, and because the province in question is PTI’s main political stronghold.

The meeting took place on Monday at 4:30pm and lasted about 40 minutes. Safdar said on X that he met both Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, after repeated requests for access, describing it as his first meeting with Khan in seven months and with Bushra Bibi in 11 months. His previous meeting with Khan was on April 9. Safdar said the couple shared fresh instructions about their legal proceedings. The meeting followed a September 2 Islamabad High Court direction to jail authorities to ensure meaningful human interaction, family visits and basic provisions for the couple. PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja said the meeting was a procedural necessity because cases against Khan were not progressing, and that Safdar had told the court he would not present arguments until he could meet his client.

One account came from Minute Mirror, which cited sources saying Khan was informed during the meeting about the possibility of governor’s rule and an emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including the possibility of PTI losing power in the province. The same sources said he did not react strongly and did not discuss the matter at length, directing the party instead to concentrate on his legal cases and on efforts to secure his transfer to a hospital. That wording sits awkwardly with the timeline, however, since the federal government imposed the emergency and governor’s rule on October 11, more than three weeks before the meeting. The “possibility” phrasing appears to be out of date, and other accounts describe Khan as already aware of what had happened.

PTI leaders gave a different version. Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said Safdar had told him that Khan was aware of the emergency and governor’s rule, and that the two did not talk much about politics. Raja said the same, adding that Khan was in high spirits and remained firm in his position, and that he was aware of developments in the province, including the end of the provincial government. PTI’s Noreen Niazi said Safdar had also told her Khan knew about the measures. A separate report said that Khan was already aware of developments outside the prison, although his lawyer did not specifically brief him on these matters.

Gohar went further in rejecting a claim that had circulated on television. Speaking to the media in Rawalpindi, he said the report that Khan had called it very good that his government in the province had ended was completely false, and that Khan had never used such words. He said Khan did not say it was a positive step, and that Safdar had not brought back any major political message. Gohar also said that if meetings with Khan had been allowed earlier, tensions might have eased and the situation might not have reached the point of emergency and governor’s rule. He said no discussion had taken place yet about shifting Khan to an Islamabad jail or to Bani Gala.

There are also discrepancies about how long it had been since an earlier meeting. Gohar called the meeting a welcome step after about 380 days, while he and Safdar elsewhere referred to the last meeting as April 8 or 9. Those dates are about seven months before Monday, so the figure of 380 days does not match, and the reason for the difference is not explained in the coverage reviewed.

Also Read: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Under Governor’s Rule: Two Weeks On, Where Things Stand

Other details from the meeting, according to sources cited by The Destination, were that Khan raised concern about Bushra Bibi’s health, particularly an eye problem, and directed his lawyers to seek relief from the courts, while his own health was described as satisfactory. The Minute Mirror sources said Khan’s priorities were his court proceedings and a possible hospital transfer.

The access question remains contested. On Tuesday, the day set by the Islamabad High Court for meetings at Adiala, Khan was again denied a meeting with his family and lawyers, according to Dawn. A son of his sister, Abdullah Khan, reached the jail as a family member but was not permitted to see him, said Advocate Awais Younas Chaudhry, who had submitted a list of lawyers and party leaders. Dawn also reported that PTI is open to a possible alliance with the JUI-F, a sign that the party is looking at political options even as its leader remains in jail.

The competing accounts leave a few points unresolved. Was Khan briefed on the measures during the meeting, or had he learnt about them earlier through other channels? How significant is the reported instruction to prioritise legal cases and a hospital transfer over the KP situation, and does it reflect a change in the party’s strategy? And with a Peshawar High Court hearing on the governor’s rule petitions due on November 10, how much influence will Khan’s views have on PTI’s response? For now, the meeting has produced more questions than answers, and the party’s leadership has taken care to say that Khan neither welcomed the loss of the province nor sent a major political message about it.

Compiled by the Weekly PK Political Desk.