PTI leaders on Friday once again expressed grave concern over the health of jailed party founder and former Prime Minister Imran Khan and demanded his immediate treatment at Islamabad’s Shifa International Hospital. Speaking to the media, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Sohail Afridi said the party had made all possible constitutional and legal efforts to ensure that Imran received treatment in the presence of his family and doctors, but their demands were not met.
"Imran Khan is no ordinary individual; he is a former Prime Minister of Pakistan," » said Afridi. The former prime minister has been detained at Adiala Prison in Rawalpindi since September 2023. He criticized the government for lacking a clear economic policy and accused it of preventing Imran from receiving medical treatment and restricting his meetings with family members and doctors. PTI leader Junaid Akbar said the current regional situation is tense and warned that growing hostility between the public and state institutions could be dangerous.
"If Imran Khan’s health condition is not serious, why are his sisters not allowed to meet him?" » he questioned. Former Federal Law Minister Babar Awan has alleged that Imran Khan’s illness was covered up for almost two-and-a-half months, which he termed as a criminal act. He claimed that the delay in medical treatment had caused serious damage to the former prime minister’s eyesight.
"In the past, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif sought treatment abroad, but we only demand that Imran Khan be shifted to Shifa Hospital in Islamabad," he said. PTI leader Shahid Khattak said the party had little confidence in the current medical arrangements and demanded that Imran Khan receive treatment at Shifa Hospital with access to his family and personal doctors. Former provincial minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra also warned that the regional situation had become serious, referring to tensions between Iran and Israel. He stressed that providing proper medical treatment to Imran Khan in the presence of his family and doctors was his fundamental right. Afridi concluded by saying that the PTI’s demands are constitutional and legal, adding that the party is looking to the courts for justice and that peaceful protest remains its constitutional right. A meeting of the opposition Joint Parliamentary Party on Wednesday passed a unanimous resolution demanding the immediate release of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan. The resolution expresses serious concerns over the health condition of Imran Khan, noting that he was allegedly transferred twice for treatment at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences due to lack of adequate medical facilities in prison. He also noted the absence of a retina specialist at the hospital and said that despite the deterioration of vision in his right eye, access to his personal doctors and family members remained restricted. In view of his deteriorating health condition and the need for immediate medical attention, he demanded his immediate release under Rules 143, 145, 146, 197 and 795 of the Pakistan Prison Rules, read with Section 401 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, citing precedents where similar relief had been granted to a convicted former Prime Minister.
