PNN: Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and former finance minister Miftah Ismail have announced that their party, Awaam Pakistan, will participate in the sit-in planned by the opposition alliance Tehreek-i-Tahafuz-i-Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP) outside Parliament House on Friday.
In a statement posted on X, the two leaders said Awaam Pakistan would fully join the peaceful protest after Friday prayers. They said the decision was taken during a TTAP meeting attended by the party’s leadership.
According to the statement, the sit-in is being staged in response to reports that former prime minister Imran Khan has lost significant vision in one eye and is allegedly being denied access to his personal doctors and family.
“Denying any prisoner timely and proper medical care is unethical, inhumane and illegal,” the statement read, adding that Imran Khan is not only a former prime minister but also the leader of the country’s largest political party.
The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the rule of law, constitutional rights, free and fair elections and democracy, saying they would stand with the people in their struggle for these principles.
Earlier, PTI leaders in the Senate and National Assembly, including Opposition Leader Mehmood Khan Achakzai and Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, announced the sit-in after the Supreme Court of Pakistan was informed that Imran Khan’s right eye had only 15 per cent vision remaining.
Dr Zafar Mirza, central spokesperson of Awaam Pakistan, said the party would remain part of the protest until Imran Khan receives the medical care he “legally deserves.”
PTI seeks CJP’s intervention
Meanwhile, PTI called on the Chief Justice of Pakistan to issue formal written directions for Imran Khan’s medical examination.
In a post on X, the party urged that he be examined by specialists and treated under the supervision of his own doctors at Shifa International Hospital, stressing the need for urgent eye treatment.
Separately, Imran Khan’s sister Aleema Khan said the family had not yet received a written order from the Supreme Court regarding his eye examination and reiterated the demand for formal written directions to ensure treatment under his personal doctors’ supervision.