PTI leaders Shah Mahmood Qureshi (left) and Yasmin Rashid (right). PHOTO: ARCHIVE
LAHORE:
Five senior PTI leaders imprisoned in Lahore’s Koth Lakhpat jail have written an open letter, urging Pakistan’s Chief Justice Yahya Afridi to look again at the issue of PTI founder Imran Khan’s health and treatment and “see that justice is done”.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Dr Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Chaudhry, Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed and Omer Sarfraz Cheema made the appeal in a joint handwritten open letter, which was shared by their lawyer Rana Mudassar on Wednesday.
They also made a comparison between the events surrounding the treatment of the imprisoned former prime minister today and that of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif in 2019.
Nawaz, who was serving a prison sentence awarded by an accountability court that found him guilty of corruption in the Al Azizia case in 2019, was allowed to travel to London for treatment after he was diagnosed with an immune system disorder. Before that, he also received treatment in the hospital in Pakistan.
The five PTI leaders said in their letter that in 2019, “when Nawaz Sharif was shifted to Lahore Services Hospital for low platelet count, we, as the caretaker government, ensured that he received proper treatment for his ailment.”
“His personal doctor Dr Adnan participated in all meetings held by the medical board. We even personally asked Mian Nawaz Sharif if he was satisfied with his treatment,” the leaders said.
They added that they also asked Nawaz if he wanted to be treated by a doctor of his choice and assured him that they would call the appropriate doctor.
“His family and lawyer had free access to him,” the letter further said. “We are sure that if you ask Mian Nawaz Sharif personally, he will not refute our claims,” he added.
The leaders recalled that Nawaz was also allowed to go to England for treatment.
Comparing those developments with the current situation, the five leaders said Imran, a former prime minister, has “faced obstacles of all forms in his treatment.”
They accused the current government of carrying out “cloak and dagger activity”, saying: “First, the current government did not accept that he was unwell and then when Pims leaked the news about his central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO), the government blustered with all sorts of unpleasant statements. The rights of his consultants were trampled. [ ] and his family was not allowed access [to him]; “His lawyer and his personal doctors could not receive him.”
Jailed leaders said Imran was taken to hospital for a second injection on Tuesday, “but his family was not informed.”
Only PTI president Gohar Ali Khan “received a message at 2am that he had been given his second shot”.
