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08/24 06:11 CDT Cricket captains from around the world renew appeal for medical
treatment of Imran Khan
Cricket captains from around the world renew appeal for medical treatment of
Imran Khan
By RIZWAN ALI and MUNIR AHMED
Associated Press
ISLAMABAD (AP) --- Famous cricketers from around the world have renewed their
appeal for the medical treatment of former star player turned politician Imran
Khan in a letter to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
A group of 22 former international cricket captains, including Sunil Gavaskar
and Kapil Dev of India and Australian greats Greg Chappell and Ian Chappell,
signed a second such letter to the Pakistan prime minister within six months.
The latest appeal comes days after Khan was taken to a government hospital in
the capital for a medical examination. The examination was conducted in the
presence of one of his sisters, and Khan was then returned to Adiala prison in
the garrison city of Rawalpindi. Doctors declared him 100% medically fit.
However, the group of cricket greats questioned the procedure of Khan's medical
checkup.
" Pakistan's Supreme Court ordered that Imran Khan be transferred to hospital
for examination by a medical board that was to include his own personal
physicians and his sister, Dr. Uzma Khan," the cricketers said in a letter.
"Concerningly, Mr. Khan's hospital stay lasted only a few hours. He was
examined by a state-appointed team rather than the board the court had
directed, declared ?medically fit,' and returned to Adiala jail before that
board could complete its work."
Khan, 73, led Pakistan to the 1992 Cricket World Cup title and later served as
prime minister from 2018 until his ouster in 2022.
The 22 former national team captains said they don't seek to adjudicate on
Pakistan's domestic legal process and had written to the prime minister "not as
politicians, but as former colleagues and rivals (of Khan) who share a bond
forged on the cricket field."
In February, 14 former international cricketers expressed their concern over
Khan's health after his family said he had lost about 85% of the vision in his
right eye, a claim disputed by the government. Authorities later said his
condition was improving following treatment.
Khan's lawyers and family have also accused the government of defying a court
order that required him to be examined at the private Shifa International
Hospital in Islamabad. Pakistan's government rejected the allegations over the
weekend, saying Khan was examined by doctors from the private hospital and that
he could not be taken to Shifa International for security reasons.
The government said Khan's supporters had begun gathering outside the private
hospital in violation of the court order, which required them to stay away from
the medical facility to avoid inconveniencing other patients.
The government has also rejected allegations from Khan's family that he was
being subjected to "cruelty, mental torture, punitive solitary confinement and
medical neglect."
Khan is not being held under a government order but as a "convicted prisoner"
serving sentences imposed by courts following judicial proceedings, the
Ministry of Information said in a written response to The Associated Press last
Friday.
The ministry also rejected allegations that Khan was being held in solitary
confinement or denied meaningful contact with his family. It said Khan had
received more than 900 visits from family members, lawyers, doctors, political
representatives, and other approved visitors since his imprisonment in 2023. He
has also been allowed weekly meetings with his wife, as well as telephone and
WhatsApp contact with relatives in Pakistan and abroad, the ministry said.
It said his sisters had met with him as recently as Aug. 18 and 19.
___
See AP's full cricket coverage here
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