As former cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s health deteriorates in prison, several renowned cricketers from across the world have written a letter to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, renewing their appeal for Khan’s medical treatment.
Why did cricketers write to Pakistan PM?
According to reports, 22 former international cricket captains, including India’s Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev and Australia’s Greg Chappell and Ian Chappell, have signed a second letter to Sharif in the past six months.
The latest appeal from the former captains comes days after former Pakistan PM and cricket star Imran Khan was taken to a government hospital in Islamabad for a medical examination, with one of his sisters present for the examination. He was later returned to Adiala prison in Rawalpindi, with doctors declaring him 100 per cent medically fit.
However, the cricket luminaries questioned the procedure followed during Khan’s check-up and wrote, “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 letter further read, “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.”
The former captains noted that, by writing the letter, they did not seek to interfere in the country’s domestic legal process and had only written to Shehbaz Sharif “not as politicians, but as former colleagues and rivals (of Khan) who share a bond forged on the cricket field.”
Previous concerns over Khan’s health
The letter comes roughly six months after a group of 14 former international cricketers expressed concerns over Khan’s health. The letter, sent in February, came after Khan’s family claimed that the former PM had lost roughly 85 per cent of the vision in his right eye, a claim disputed by the government. Later, authorities said Khan’s condition was improving following medical treatment.
Imran Khan’s family alleges violation of court’s order
The former cricketer’s family had also accused the Sharif-led government of violating a court directive requiring him to undergo a medical examination at Islamabad’s private Shifa International Hospital. The government denied the claim over the weekend, saying doctors from the hospital had examined Khan and that security concerns prevented him from being taken there.
The government, however, claimed that Khan’s supporters had begun assembling outside the private hospital despite a court directive barring them from gathering there to prevent inconvenience to other patients.
Pakistan government rejects allegations
It also rejected allegations levelled by Khan’s family that he was being subjected to “cruelty, mental torture, punitive solitary confinement and medical neglect.”
Pakistan’s Ministry of Information told AP earlier this month that the former cricketer was not being held under a government order but as a “convicted prisoner” serving sentences handed down by courts following judicial proceedings.
The government also rejected claims that the former prime minister was being kept in solitary confinement or prevented from communicating with his family. The ministry said Khan had received more than 900 visits from relatives, lawyers, doctors, political representatives and other authorised visitors since his imprisonment in 2023. It added that he had been permitted weekly meetings with his wife, along with phone and WhatsApp communication with relatives in Pakistan and overseas.
(with AP inputs)
