Former international cricket captains have written another letter to Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif, renewing their appeal for medical treatment for jailed former PM and World Cup winning captain Imran Khan.
“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,” the 22 captains stated in the letter that comes amid fresh developments surrounding Khan’s medical treatment.
“The Court also reinstated weekly family visits. These were very welcome steps. Concerningly, Mr Khan’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,” it added.
The letter made three specific requests, asking that the medical board directed by the apex court, including Khan’s own doctors, be allowed to complete a full and independent assessment of his health, particularly his reported loss of vision in his right eye.
It also asked that the weekly family visits reinstated by the court continue without interruption or administrative delay and any treatment recommended by the medical assessment be provided without delay, regardless of the outcome.
This marks the second appeal from former captains to the Pakistani premier in six months.
In February this year, 14 former captains wrote a similar letter expressing deep concern for Khan’s health, following reports of an eye complaint that his family said has left him almost completely blind in one eye. The family also raised accusations of medical neglect in prison.
The signatories describe themselves as writing “not as politicians, but as former colleagues and rivals who share a bond forged on the cricket field”. They add that they do not seek to adjudicate Pakistan’s domestic legal processes.
The list of signatories includes Michael Atherton, Alex Blackwell, Allan Border, Michael Brearley, Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, Belinda Clark, Alastair Cook, Michael Gatting, Sunil Gavaskar, Lee Germon, Adam Gilchrist, David Gower, Kim Hughes, Nasser Hussain, Clive Lloyd, Kapil Dev, Arjuna Ranatunga, Andrew Strauss, Dilip Vengsarkar, Steve Waugh and John Wright.
Earlier, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar said that the government had fully complied with the court’s directives regarding Khan’s medical examination, urging the party to refrain from “politicising” the issue.
Addressing a presser in Islamabad on Saturday, Tarar said health was a medical and legal issue that should not be turned into a political controversy.
He said the government’s position had consistently been that politics should not be brought into health-related matters, including when his party was in opposition.
The information minister’s remarks came a day after Khan, who was shifted to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), was taken back to Adiala jail after medical examination. The SC, in its August 18 order, had directed the authorities to transfer the former prime minister to Shifa International Hospital for a medical examination.
