- 21 ex-international cricketers write letter to PM Shehbaz.
- Cricket legends say Imran’s hospital stay lasted only few hours.
- “SC-directed board should be permitted to complete assessment.”
Twenty-one former international cricket captains on Sunday renewed their appeal to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for the medical treatment of incarcerated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan, in line with the Supreme Court’s directives, ESPN Cricinfo reported.
A three-member SC bench on August 18 ordered Adiala jail authorities to transfer Khan, 73, who has remained in prison since August 2023 following convictions in several cases, to Shifa Hospital for medical assessment and treatment within two days.
However, he was taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), where doctors from Shifa International Hospital were also present, according to Information Minister Attaullah Tarar. He said Imran’s medical examination was conducted in the presence of his sister and his doctors.
Tarar said a team of qualified doctors, including an ophthalmologist, cardiologist and physician, conducted a detailed medical examination and declared Imran “medically fit”.
Following the government’s move, the party filed a contempt petition in the Supreme Court over the alleged violation of its order concerning the party founder’s hospital transfer.
Meanwhile, 21 former international cricket captains wrote a letter to PM Shehbaz that stated: “Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered that Imran Khan be transferred to hospital for examination by a medical board that was to include his own personal physicians and his sister, Dr Uzma Khan.”
However, the cricket legends said Imran’s hospital stay lasted only a few hours.
“He was examined by a state-appointed team rather than the board the Court had directed, declared ‘medically fit’, and returned to Adiala Jail before that board could complete its work. His family and legal team say this falls short of what the Court ordered,” they claimed in the letter, cited by Cricinfo.
The former captains made three requests in their latest appeal:
- That the medical board directed by the Supreme Court, including Mr Khan’s own doctors, be permitted to complete a full and independent assessment of his health, particularly the reported loss of vision in his right eye.
- That the weekly family visits reinstated by the Court be honoured without interruption or administrative delay.
- That whatever the outcome of that medical assessment, the treatment recommended by it be provided without delay.
“Imran Khan is 73 years old and has now spent more than three years in custody. Whatever the legal and political arguments surrounding his case, the basic decency of ensuring a court-ordered medical process is actually completed is not, in our view, a controversial request,” they concluded.
The latest appeal follows a letter sent in February by 14 former captains, who had expressed concern over Khan’s health following reports of an eye complaint.
The signatories include Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, Allan Border, Sunil Gavaskar, David Gower, Clive Lloyd, Arjuna Ranatunga, Steve Waugh and John Wright, among others.