ISLAMABAD: Twenty-one former international cricket captains on Sunday appealed to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to allow an independent medical board to examine jailed former premier Imran Khan, allowed weekly family visitation and ensure that he is provided treatment without delay.
Khan, who remains in jail since August 2023 on charges he says are politically motivated, took up politics as a profession in the 1990s after leading Pakistan to its only 50-over World Cup glory in 1992. A prolific cricketer, he took the field against some of the biggest names in international cricket from the late 1970s till his retirement in 1992.
In February, 14 former captains had written a letter expressing deep concern for Khan’s health following reports of an eye ailment that the former cricketer’s family said had left him almost completely blinded in one eye amid accusations of medical neglect in prison. The government denies the allegations and says Khan is being provided medical treatment in prison.
Pakistan’s top court ordered this week that Khan be taken to the private Shifa International Hospital for a specialist examination and treatment. Khan, however, was taken to the state-run Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) on Thursday night, with the government citing “security reasons” for the change of venue. Khan’s family and party have accused the government of violating court orders. The government denies this.
“We do ask, again, respectfully that the medical board directed by the Supreme Court — including Mr.Khan’s own doctors — be permitted to complete a full and independent assessment of his health, particularly the reported loss of vision in his right eye,” a copy of the letter seen by Arab News read.
The letter was signed by former cricket captains and icons from England, Australia, India, Sri Lanka and other countries. The signatories included Michael Atherton, Alex Blackwell, Allan Border, Michael Brearley, Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, Belinda Clark, Alastair Cook, Michael Gatting, Sunil Gavaskar, Lee Germon, Adam Gilchrist, David Gower, Kim Hughes, Nasser Hussain, Clive Lloyd, Kapil Dev, Arjuna Ranatunga, Andrew Strauss, Dilip Vengsarkar, Steve Waugh, John Wright.
It also appealed to Sharif to ensure that weekly family visits reinstated by the top court for Khan be honored “without interruption or administrative delay.”
“That whatever the outcome of that medical assessment, the treatment recommended by it be provided without delay,” the letter read.
The signatories said they were not writing the letter as politicians but as “former colleagues and rivals who share a bond forged on the cricket field,” saying that they do not seek to adjudicate Pakistan’s domestic legal processes.
Khan has been imprisoned since August 2023 and has faced scores of legal cases since leaving office, ranging from corruption allegations to charges related to violence by his supporters following his brief arrest in May 2023. Khan denies wrongdoing and says the cases are politically motivated, while the government denies persecuting him.
He served as Pakistan’s prime minister from 2018 tom April 2022 before he was ousted via a parliamentary vote. Khan’s health remains a sensitive political topic, as he has previously been taken from prison to PIMS for treatment of central retinal vein occlusion in his right eye, a condition that can impair vision. The government denies the family’s allegations that his health has worsened during incarceration due to neglect.
