PNN: The PTI on Friday again approached the Supreme Court (SC) seeking party founder Imran Khan’s medical report and visitation rights for his personal doctors and family members.
Days after reports regarding the treatment of Imran emerged in mainstream media, the government last week admitted that the former premier was treated at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) in Islamabad.
Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, expressing concern over Imran’s health, said that the party had submitted a memorandum to the registrar requesting access to Imran for his personal doctors, as well as requesting his medical report.
The memorandum, a copy of which is available with Dawn, reiterated the PTI’s request that “immediate access to Mr Imran Khan be provided to his family, doctors, lawyers and friends”.
Gohar said that this was the “10th time” the party was approaching the apex court about Imran and that they had approached the high courts 16 times as well.
Gohar said that Imran’s health was a “very important issue, not just for PTI’s parliamentarians but for the whole country and every Pakistani”.
The party chairman said that until now, they had not received information on Imran’s medical reports and the procedure that he recently underwent.
“In the middle of this, Tuesday and Thursday passed by,” Gohar added. “Still, there was no meeting of Imran with either family members or lawyers, nor his personal physician or doctors.”
According to Gohar, although National Assembly Opposition Leader Mahmood Khan Achakzai had written a letter to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif seeking his “personal intervention” for Imran’s medical examination by his “trusted” doctors, there had been no answer.
Hence, he said, the PTI was again requesting the chief justice to make sure that not only would the party receive the report about the jailed leader, but his doctors would be able to meet with him as quickly as possible, for the peace of mind of “his family, the party and the whole country”.
“This is our minimum,” he said.
Speaking to Geo News last week, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar said the former premier was taken to Pims for a “20-minute” medical procedure on the night of January 24.
He added that at Pims, Imran’s “eyes were further examined, and after his written approval, a 20-minute medical procedure was performed”. He said the ex-premier was then taken back to the Adiala jail with “important instructions”.
The PTI had previously condemned the act of “secretly transferring” Imran to Pims, deliberately keeping his family and the party leadership uninformed and denying him access to personal physicians.
Special assistant to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister, Shafi Jan, said last week that the sudden transfer “was deeply concerning and raised serious questions”.
On Friday, PTI members had staged a day-long protest outside the Supreme Court in Islamabad, including KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, in an effort to facilitate a meeting between Imran and his personal physicians.
After the protest, the party said that Imran’s family would be provided a copy of his medical report.