ISLAMABAD: Parliamentarians from opposition events, beneath the banners of PTI and Tehreek-i-Tahafuz-i-Ayin-i-Pakistan (TTAP), continued their sit-in at Parliament Home and KP Home in Islamabad on Saturday morning, demanding that Imran Khan be instantly moved to a hospital for therapy.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court docket (SC) was Knowledgeable that PTI founder Imran Khan’s proper eye had solely 15 % imaginative and prescient remaining, prompting a powerful response from the celebration. Subsequently, the TTAP introduced the sit-in exterior the Parliament Home on Friday (in the present day).
The sit-in began after Friday prayers and continued in a single day. Members within the sit-in are demanding that PTI founder Imran Khan be moved to Shifa Worldwide Hospital.
PTI Central Data Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram stated in a put up on X that the sit-in has entered its second day, including that the opposition leaders had been “trapped” inside Parliament Home.
“We additionally remained inside Parliament Home the whole evening,” he stated, including that the PTI and TTAP management was “exhausted from starvation”.
“The police didn’t enable dinner at evening and now breakfast within the morning to be taken inside,” Akram claimed.
TTAP chief Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar additionally tried to ship breakfast to the protesting opposition members from the rear aspect of Parliament Home however was stopped by police.
Khokhar wrote on X at round 11am: “Exterior the parliament to ship meals and water to buddies inside. Would not thoughts not being let in however the refusal to let meals and water go in is extremely insensitive.”
“There isn’t any different title for this heartless conduct however ‘Yazidiat‘,” he added.
TTAP spokesperson Akhunzada Hussain Ahmed Yousafzai advised Daybreak that the sit-in was persevering with at each areas. He stated it was unlucky that even breakfast was not being allowed inside Parliament and added that nobody was being allowed to enter the premises.
“Alternatively, those that are in Parliament usually are not being allowed to return out. The sit-in will proceed till TTAP’s demand is accepted,” he stated.
Based on Yousafzai, PTI Senator Falak Naz Chitrali was feeling unwell since final evening.
Yousafzai, criticizing the federal government for not contacting the protesters, stated TTAP Vice Chairman Allama Raja Nasir Abbas was additionally attending the sit-in.
The protest is being led by TTAP Chairman Mehmood Khan Achakzai and different outstanding leaders, together with PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Senator Ali Zafar, Asad Qaiser, Junaid Akbar, and others.
PTI chief Shandana Gulzar, talking to the media, stated it was unlucky that Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi gave 4 days to have Imran examined by a workforce of docs.
She questioned whether or not the identical timeframe would have been given if it had been the chief justice’s daughter or Nawaz Sharif. “The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister is staging a sit-in at KP Home and protesting in opposition to the federal government’s unjust behaviour. We’re demanding that Imran Khan be shifted to Shifa Worldwide Hospital.”
She alleged that the federal government was ready for additional injury to Imran’s eye.
Gulzar additional stated that the police had manhandled the parliamentarians and different leaders of the opposition.
It’s value mentioning that Achakzai had urged the prime minister to get Imran checked by docs of his selection; nonetheless, the federal government has not given any response.
Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) spokesperson Aslam Ghauri, in a press release, condemned the “violence” in opposition to the TTAP protest exterior Parliament.
“Revered members of Parliament and provincial assemblies had been dragged,” he stated, including that those that had “trapped the protesters inside Parliament name themselves democratic”.
“Making a mockery of democracy, enjoying round with the Structure and going in opposition to Islam are the actions of this authorities,” he alleged, quipping that the “faux compelled authorities had gone mad within the hearth of revenge”.
The JUI-F chief demanded that every one detained leaders be instantly launched.
He blamed the federal government’s perspective for the anarchy in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “Do the rulers wish to unfold this anarchy throughout the nation?” he requested.
KP CM urges voluntary protesters to stay peaceable
Individually, KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi urged protesters in different areas throughout the nation to stay peaceable.
Imran Khan sahib‘s well being is extra essential to me than politics. I’ll neither interact in politics myself over his well being nor enable anybody else to take action,” he affirmed on X.
He confused: “Right now, these employees who’ve stepped up on their very own with none official name — wherever you’re, keep peaceable, and close by employees, help them. All of you need to stay peaceable going ahead as nicely.”
“These opposing Imran Khan sahibwho’ve subjected him to medical terrorism, are able to going to any extremes. They are going to embrace their very own provocative components amongst us to divert our peaceable protest in one other path and goal us.”
The KP CM urged protesters to keep watch over “all provocative people and proceed the peaceable protest”. “Don’t imagine any destructive or false propaganda except it’s verified by Imran Khan sahib‘s household and celebration,” Afridi added.
“A mockery has been made out of his well being, which is unforgivable. Proper now, his absolute best therapy is our prime precedence,” the chief minister emphasised.
SC still has not provided written orders: Aleema
Earlier on Saturday, Imran’s sister Aleema Khanum criticized the Supreme Court for its alleged inaction to ensure its Directives are implemented by the government.
In a post on X, she recalled that lawyers waited “all day on Thursday the 12th and all day Friday the 13th for written court orders” from the SC.
“The order should have been for Imran Khan to be shifted to Shifa International Hospital. Emergency orders for his immediate examination and treatment by specialist doctors under the supervision of his personal doctors,” she asserted.
Citing information given to their lawyers, she claimed that CJP Afridi had left on an urgent tour to Punjab to “watch the jeep rally in Cholistan”.
“The urgent and pressing matter for our CJP (taking precedence over the extreme urgency to save Imran Khan’s eyesight in his right eye), we are told, is to watch the jeep rally in Cholistan. Of course this could be totally fabricated information!” Aleema said.
She added that the CJP would be back in office on February 16, noting it was the same date he had set as the deadline for Imran to be seen by specialists.
Aleema stated: “Without a court order for the Govt, Imran Khan is certainly not going to receive any emergency medical care. The court order has to wait until the CJP returns to office on Monday from the Cholistan jeep rally!”
“Since CJP didn’t give a court order for Imran Khan’s treatment, people will have to support us to ensure there is enough pressure on the [government]so they will allow him to be treated at Shifa International Hospital,” she added.
PTI leader Omar Ayub Khan also said CJP Afridi and the “courts should have acted well in time”.
“PM Imran Khan must be given immediate access to qualified doctors and medical facilities in Shifa International Hospital Islamabad to save the vision in his eyes,” he demanded.
“Every moment being delayed is criminal,” the former MNA contended.
Imran should be moved to Islamabad’s Shifa Hospital: personal physician
In a video statement issued on Friday night, Imran’s personal physician, Dr Faisal Sultan, suggested that the PTI founder be moved to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad so that the required expert care could be provided to him.
Dr Sultan, who is also the chief executive officer (CEO) of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital (SKMCH), referred to media reports about Imran losing 85 percent of vision in his right eye.
“This is obviously a matter of grave concern, but also lends great importance to the timeliness of treatment. In addition to timely and urgent treatment, it is crucially important that such treatment may be delivered by specialists in the field of retinal surgery,” the physician stressed.
He explained that retina was a subspecialty of ophthalmology, and such specialists are especially trained and qualified to manage this kind of illness in the eye.
“The other important aspect to consider is that many times retinal problems are a reflection of underlying illnesses, which also require management, diagnosis, and review. This is not only to make sure that the existing afflicted eye can be improved and, you know, vision restored if possible, but also that the good eye is maintained in its present health and is safeguarded,” Dr Sultan said.
He further emphasized that such specialists need to be able to “work in an environment, a hospital, or a center that maintains high standards of care, and also has the right equipment and infrastructure to provide the sophisticated and coordinated care required by Mr. Imran Khan at this time”.
“One such institution is the Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad, which is a joint internationally certified hospital, and I believe that they do have the right infrastructure and the specialists to be able to provide this care at high quality and at excellence, which is to ensure that Mr. Khan receives the care that he requires at this time.”
Dr Sultan expressed an additional request to the authorities, which was that he, Dr Asim Yousuf, or both of them be included whenever a medical team is formed for Imran’s care, to help provide all the necessary insight into the ex-premier’s medical history.
“This information and insight into his health care will provide additional value and put together the holistic team that is required at this time to deal with this very challenging problem,” he highlighted.
Imran will be taken wherever he prefers for medical treatment: Minister
A day earlier, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry spoke to the media ahead of the sit-in outside Parliament. He was asked about the blockade during the media talk, at which he maintained that the opposition had a right to protest. He went on to claim that the “blockade was not from the government’s side.”
He held that the government has “repeatedly” assured the opposition that “no negligence will be tolerated regarding Imran’s health”.
“There is no need to deal with it politically; it is a medical issue,” he added.
Chaudhry, during his media talk, gave assurance that the PTI founder would be taken “wherever he prefers” for medical treatment amid claims regarding the incarcerated leader’s vision, stating that there would be “no negligence in the matter”.
“Wherever he (Imran) wants to go for a check-up, he will be taken. If he wants to go to Al-Shifa Eye Trust, then he will be taken there. There will be no negligence in the matter.”
“If the CJP recommends a doctor, he will be taken there,” Chaudhry added.
He called on the opposition to refrain from politicizing the issue. “This is a sensitive issue; politicizing it and misrepresenting facts is completely unfair.”
He added that the incarcerated leader would “now be examined by eye doctors or super-specialists, and we will try to ensure he receives every possible treatment available”.
Addressing claims of Imran’s deteriorating vision, the minister dismissed the reports and stated, “The issue did not surface when Imran’s sister met him on Dec 2 or on Dec 9 when he was examined by a medical board or on Dec 20 when the Toshakhana verdict was announced.”
“The complaint was not brought up anywhere before,” the minister said.
He further recalled that, “On January 16, it was recommended by a doctor that Imran be shifted to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) for an eye checkup. It is also on record that he was not shifted at the request of PTI, but the jail authorities and the government”.
He said that following Imran’s procedure on Jan 24, a medical report was issued by the doctors, “and then there is a ‘report’ by the lawyer” — referring to PTI counsel Advocate Salman Safdar’s report submitted to the SC.
He added that a new medical report will be issued soon.
The minister said that the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Yahya Afridi, was “himself looking after the case”.
