By Staff Reporter
LAHORE: Five senior leaders of the opposition PTI, writing from inside a Lahore prison, have appealed directly to Pakistan’s chief justice to take another look at the medical treatment of the party’s founder, Imran Khan, and to “see that justice is done.”
The joint handwritten open letter, released Wednesday by their lawyer Rana Mudassar, was signed by Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Chaudhry, Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed and Omer Sarfraz Cheema, all incarcerated at Lahore’s Koth Lakhpat Jail. At its core, the appeal draws a sharp contrast between the government’s current approach to Khan and the care extended in 2019 to PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif, who was then serving a prison term after an accountability court convicted him of corruption in the Al Azizia case. Sharif had been diagnosed with an immune system disorder and was allowed hospital treatment in Pakistan before being permitted to travel to London for further care.
The letter writers, who were in office at the time, described how they had made sure Sharif received proper attention at Lahore’s Services Hospital when his platelet count dropped. They said his personal physician, Dr. Adnan, sat in on every medical board meeting. Officials even asked Sharif personally whether he was satisfied with the care and offered to bring in a doctor of his choice. “His family and legal counsel had free access to him,” the letter stated. “We are sure that if you ask Mian Nawaz Sharif personally, he will not refute our claims.”
The situation facing Khan, the leaders contended, could hardly be more different. The former prime minister has “faced obstructions of all forms in his treatment,” they wrote, accusing the current government of “cloak and dagger activity.” Authorities first refused to acknowledge that he was unwell, the letter said. Once word leaked from the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences that Khan had central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) in his right eye, officials responded with what the writers called “obnoxious statements.”
Consultants were sidelined, family visits blocked, and neither his lawyer nor his personal physicians were allowed to see him. The letter pointed to a fresh example. On Tuesday, Khan was taken from Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi for a second eye injection, but his family was not told. Only PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan received word — at 2 am — that the procedure had been completed. “The government should be ashamed of itself,” the imprisoned leaders wrote. “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.”
Khan’s health has drawn growing attention since his CRVO diagnosis became public in late January. His family and party have voiced repeated worries, especially as strict limits have been placed on meetings with him at Adiala Jail. Earlier this month, a two-member Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi allowed Khan’s lawyer, Salman Safdar, to visit after naming him an amicus curiae. Safdar later told the court that only 15 percent of vision remained in the right eye.
Government officials have pushed back against those accounts. The law minister has said that, with glasses, one eye functions at roughly 70 percent and the other at full 6/6 strength. The dispute has fed an ongoing blame game between the government and the opposition, with PTI accusing authorities of withholding information and denying proper care or access to Khan’s doctors. Officials reject the charges.
On Wednesday, the PTI took the issue back to the Supreme Court, asking that Khan be treated at a hospital of his choice and that his personal physicians be granted access. The letter from the five jailed leaders adds another public layer of pressure on the judiciary as the former prime minister’s condition remains a flashpoint in the country’s tense politics.
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