A group of former international cricket captains has written to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for a second time, calling for the implementation of the Supreme Court’s order for the PTI founder to be shifted to hospital for medical treatment.
The latest appeal, initiated by former Australia captain Greg Chappell, follows a brief hospital visit last week that Khan’s family maintains did not fulfil the terms of the court order. Among the 21 signatories of the appeal are India’s Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Dilip Vengsarkar; Australia’s Allan Border, Ian Chappell, Greg Chappell and Steve Waugh; England’s Michael Atherton, Alastair Cook, Nasser Hussain and Andrew Strauss; West Indies’ Clive Lloyd; Sri Lanka’s Arjuna Ranatunga and New Zealand’s John Wright.
According to the letter, the signatories are particularly concerned about reports of Khan suffering significant loss of vision in his right eye.
“We write again now, joined by seven further former captains, because of what has reportedly just occurred,” states the letter, referring to an earlier appeal from February. Stressing they were not writing “as politicians” but as former colleagues and rivals who share a bond forged on the cricket field, they emphasized they did not intend to intervene in Pakistan’s domestic legal proceedings.
Noting that Khan was examined by a state-appointed medical team, declared “medically fit” and returned to prison before the court-directed medical board could complete its work, they forwarded three requests to the Government of Pakistan. These comprise a full and independent assessment of Khan’s health by the medical board ordered by the Supreme Court; weekly visits between Khan and his family without interruption or administrative delays; prompt provision of any treatment recommended by the assessment.
“We’re not asking Pakistan for anything unusual, just that a court order most countries would take for granted is actually carried out,” said Chappell in the appeal. “Whatever the legal and political arguments surrounding his case,” they continued, should not impact the medical process as a matter of basic decency. “We hope this matter can be resolved expeditiously and with the dignity Mr. Imran Khan deserves,” they added.
The appeal follows an interim order of the Supreme Court directing authorities to transfer the incarcerated Khan from Adiala Jail to Islamabad’s Shifa International Hospital within two days for examination and treatment by a medical board that includes his sister, Dr. Uzma Khan, and personal physician Dr. Faisal Sultan.
The court also ordered the authorities to facilitate regular family contact while barring the family or party from sharing any of his medical reports or “politicizing” his health.
Subsequently, the government shifted Khan to PIMS rather than Shifa for a medical examination and then returned him to jail. The PTI insists this is contempt of the court’s orders and has filed a petition making the prime minister, law minister and information minister as respondents.
Government officials have defended the decision, citing security concerns. They have also accused the PTI of contempt for conducting a press conference on Khan’s health in which his sister Dr. Uzma Khan described him as “very fit,” with improving vision, and a blood pressure of 120/80.