Pakistan: Jailed PTI leaders urge SC to provide legal, medical access to Imran Khan
Islamabad, Feb 26 (IANS) Incarcerated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders have written a letter to Chief Justice of Pakistan, expressing serious concerns about alleged hindrances in providing legal and medical access to PTI founder and former Prime Minister of the country, Imran Khan. The leaders, in their letter to Chief Justice Yahya Afridi, urged him to intervene in the matter to ensure justice in this issue. They also requested Afridi to take notice of the matter and ensure Imran Khan is allowed to meet personal doctor, legal counsel and family members as per the law, local media reported on Thursday.
In a letter issued through their lawyers, PTI leaders Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Yasmin Rashid, Ijaz Chaudhry, Omar Sarfraz Cheema and Mahmood-ur-Rashid, stated that Imran Khan was not being allowed to meet personal doctor, family members and legal counsel during treatment, Pakistan’s leading media outlet Geo News reported. The PTI leaders wrote a letter to Chief Justice after Imran Khan was given a second dose of injection at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad on Tuesday.
In the letter, the PTI leaders drew a comparison of Imran Khan’s medical treatment with Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s medical treatment in 2019. They stated that government ensured Nawaz Sharif was taken to Services Hospital in Lahore and was given proper medical care when he had low platelet counts. They further said that Nawaz Sharif’s personal physician attended all meetings of the medical board and his family and lawyer could meet him.
The PTI leaders stated that Nawaz Sharif was allowed to travel to England for treatment of his heart ailment, where he had received medical care previously. The PTI leaders claimed that sitting government was engaged in “cloak-and-dagger” conduct and did not initially allow Imran Khan to access medical area when he was unwell and later issued statements when reports surfaced about his CRVO diagnosis.
In the letter, the PTI leaders stated that treatment rights of Imran Khan were ignored and his family, personal lawyer and consultants were not allowed to meet him. It further said that Imran Khan’s family was informed about his second injection after procedure was conducted on Tuesday at around 2 am. They alleged that government was intentionally creating hindrances to maintain political control and urged Chief Justice Yahya Afridi to ensure that Imran Khan is allowed to meet his personal doctor, legal counsel and family members, as per the law, Geo News reported.
On Wednesday, PTI filed a petition in Pakistan’s Supreme Court requesting the medical treatment of former Prime Minister Imran Khan at a hospital of his choice and permission for consulting his personal physicians, local media reported.
PTI lawyer Sardar Latif Khosa filed the application in Supreme Court on behalf of Imran Khan and Islamabad district election commissioner has been named as the respondent, Pakistan’s leading daily Dawn reported. In the plea, Imran Khan has requested that he should be immediately taken to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad for proper treatment of his eyes from a retina specialist.
–IANS
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