LAHORE: Five senior PTI leaders incarcerated in Lahore’s Koth Lakhpat Jail have written an open letter, urging the chief justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi to again look into the matter of PTI founder Imran Khan’s health and treatment and “see that justice is done”.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Dr Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Chaudhry, Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed and Omer Sarfraz Cheema made the appeal in a joint handwritten open letter, which was shared by their counsel Rana Mudassar on Wednesday.
They also drew a comparison between the events surrounding the jailed ex-prime minister’s treatment today and that of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif in 2019.
Nawaz, who was serving a prison sentence granted by an accountability court that found him guilty of corruption in the Al Azizia case in 2019, had been allowed to travel to London for treatment after he was diagnosed with an immune system disorder. Prior to that, he was also provided treatment at the hospital in Pakistan.
The five PTI leaders said in their letter that in 2019, “when Nawaz Sharif was shifted to Services Hospital, Lahore for low platelet count, we as the sitting government ensured that he should get proper treatment for his ailment”.
“His personal physician Dr Adnan was part of all meetings conducted by the medical board. We even personally asked Mian Nawaz Sharif whether he was satisfied with his treatment,” the leaders said.
They added that Nawaz was also asked whether he wanted to be treated by a physician of his choice and assured that the relevant doctor would be called.
“His family and legal counsel had free access to him,” the letter further stated. “We are sure that if you ask Mian Nawaz Sharif personally, he will not refute our claims,” it added.
The leaders recalled that Nawaz was also permitted to go to England for treatment.
Comparing those events with the situation today, the five leaders said that Imran, a former premier, has “faced obstructions of all forms in his treatment”.
They accused the incumbent government of carrying out a “cloak and dagger activity”, saying: “First, the present government did not accept that he was unwell and then when the news was leaked from Pims about his central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO), the government blustered around with all sorts of obnoxious statements. His consultants’ rights were trampled […] and his family was not granted access [to him]; his lawyer and personal physicians could not meet him.”
The jailed leaders said that Imran was taken to the hospital for the administration of a second injection on Tuesday, “but his family was not informed.“
Only PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan “received a message at 2am that he had been given his second injection”.
“The government should be ashamed of itself. This callous attitude will never improve the situation. We, however, think this Form-47 government does not want any political stability as they know that they never won the [2024] elections, and they do not want to lose their chairs (positions) as they have no chance of winning again,” the leaders maintained.
The health condition of Imran, who is imprisoned at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail, has been garnering attention in recent days, with his family and party raising concerns since his eye ailment — right central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) — came to light in late January.
The concerns have been heightened with restrictions in place on meetings with Imran at the jail.
However, earlier this month, a two-member Supreme Court bench led by CJP Afridi had allowed Imran’s lawyer Salman Safdar to meet him, declaring him amicus curiae.
After the meeting, Safdar had submitted a report to the SC, which said “only 15 per cent” vision was left in Imran’s right eye.
Government, however, has been issuing statements to allay these concerns, with the law minister stating at one instance that “if he uses glasses for his eyesight, then one eye is approximately 70pc fine and the other eye is 6/6”.
Meanwhile, the government and the opposition have also been engaged in a blame game, with the latter accusing the former of a lack of transparency on the matter, not ensuring appropriate treatment for Imran and not allowing his personal physicians to access him. The government denies these allegations.
Today, the PTI approached the Supreme Court seeking the medical treatment of jailed party founder at a hospital of his choice, along with access to his personal physicians.
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