By Staff Reporter
LAHORE: Five jailed senior leaders of Pakistan’s opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Friday urged the party to suspend all protest activities during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and shift focus to parliamentary politics, while condemning President Asif Ali Zardari’s recent remarks about the party’s incarcerated founder, Imran Khan.
The leaders, including former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Dr Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Chaudhry, Omar Sarfraz Cheema and Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed, issued a joint letter from Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail, where they are held, calling for a deferral of protests in deference to the sanctity of the month. “In view of the sanctity of the holy month, every form of protest movement should be deferred,” the letter said, according to a copy sent to media via their lawyer, Advocate Rana Mudassar Umar.
The call comes amid heightened tensions over Khan’s health, with the former prime minister, jailed since August 2023 at Rawalpindi’s Adiala prison, recently diagnosed with central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) in his right eye, resulting in an 85% loss of vision, according to a report filed by his lawyer. Khan, 71, has claimed only 15% vision remains in the eye, prompting Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Feb. 12 to order a medical examination and allow him contact with his children.
This followed confirmation of a medical procedure Khan underwent on the night of Jan. 24, details of which emerged days later without apparent prior knowledge by his family. A government-formed medical board that examined Khan on Feb. 15 reported that, without aids, his right eye had 6/24 partial vision and his left eye 6/9. With glasses, the vision improved to 6/9 partial in the right eye and 6/6 in the left.
The opposition alliance Tehreek-i-Tahafuz-i-Ayin-i-Pakistan (TTAP), which includes PTI, staged a six-day sit-in at Parliament House demanding full access for Khan’s personal physicians, Dr Aasim Yusuf and Dr Faisal Sultan, along with copies of his medical reports. The jailed leaders’ letter demanded the government “stop politicising the health of the PTI founder” and ensure treatment in consultation with his sisters and doctors.
It also sharply rebuked Zardari’s comments last week, in which the president, without naming Khan, said leaders must endure jail to protect their parties and noted his own 14 years in prison without complaint, contrasting it with those “complaining about conditions” after 18 months. “We strongly condemn Asif Ali Zardari’s recent rhetoric on the founder of the PTI,” the letter said, adding that Khan was serving his term “in difficult conditions” with dignity. It termed Zardari’s statement inappropriate for the office of head of state.
The leaders appealed to TTAP to “fully engage in politics” in parliament and use its forums to expose what they called the government’s poor performance. They urged PTI officials at all levels to reorganise the party structure down to the grassroots in preparation for local body elections nationwide, and to activate all party wings for a “disciplined and dynamic organisation.”
The letter called for the party’s core and political committees, nominated by Khan, to deliberate on the political situation and make decisions by consensus or majority, documented in writing and binding on all. Party policy should be communicated only through the chairman, secretary general and information secretary to ensure a unified narrative, it added.
The leaders also stressed highlighting national challenges, including rising terrorism, inflation, unemployment, out-of-school children and corruption “everywhere.” This is the second such letter from the group; in January, they demanded proper medical care for Khan amid reports of an eye infection and appealed to the chief justice to intervene. Khan’s health has fueled recent unrest, with TTAP’s sit-in and PTI workers blocking roads in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The PTI, ousted from power in 2022, has faced a crackdown with hundreds of leaders and workers detained following violent protests in May 2023 over Khan’s arrest.
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