21 former cricket captains, including from India and England have jointly urged Pakistan to provide proper medical care to the incarcerated former Pakistani cricketer and former premier Imran Khan. These 21 cricket captains have written a unanimous letter to Pakistan’s current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif urging him to provide Khan with proper health care in custody.
Among the signatories were Michael Atherton, Alex Blackwell, Allan Border, Michael Brearley, Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, Belinda Clark, Alastair Cook, Michael Gatting, Sunil Gavaskar, Lee Germon, Adam Gilchrist, David Gower, Kim Hughes, Nasser Hussain, Clive Lloyd, Kapil Dev, Arjuna Ranatunga, Andrew Strauss, Dilip Vengsarkar, Steve Waugh, John Wright.
Imran Khan, 73, the world cup-winning captain of Pakistan, has been jailed for more than three years on corruption charges after he was dethroned through a No-Confidence Vote. Khan has repeatedly denied these charges and has described them as politically motivated to victimize him and his party Pakistan Tehreek-I-Insaf (PTI).
The signatories of both letters had described themselves as “former colleagues and rivals who share a bond forged on the cricket field”, adding that the bond “transcends the borders and disputes that too often divide countries”.
A similar letter was first written in February this year. On August 21st, he was taken to PIMS, a state-run hospital in Islamabad, for a medical check-up for a few hours,before returning to Adiala Jail, despite a Supreme Court order to shift him to privately run Shifa Hospital.
Khan’s lawyer claimed at the time that his client had only 15% vision left in his right eye after prison authorities failed to take action.
Read more: Uzma Khan Details Imran’s Hospital Transfer, Raises Concerns Over Jail Conditions
“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 letter says. “The Court also reinstated weekly family visits. These were very welcome steps. 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.”
The letter demands that Pakistan to implement Supreme Court order and consitute a medical board comprising Mr Khan’s own doctors – be permitted to complete a full and independent assessment of his health, particularly the reported loss of vision in his right eye. Former cricketers also demanded the weekly family visits to be reinstated without interruption or unnecessary delay.
The signatories of these letters say they are not writing this letter as politicians “but as former colleagues and rivals who share a bond forged on the cricket field.”
