LAHORE, Feb 17: Pakistan’s incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan’s family claimed on Tuesday that he is enduring “unimaginable mistreatment” in prison under the directives of Field Marshal Asim Munir as the country is under “illegitimate and un-Islamic rule”.
Khan’s lawyer, Salman Safdar, told the Supreme Court last week that the 73-year-old former cricketer-turned-politician had lost 85 per cent of vision in his right eye in jail.
His party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, has cut off Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province from the rest of the country by road blockades demanding that Khan be immediately shifted to the hospital and allowing his doctors to see him.
Khan has been in jail since August 2023 in multiple cases.
“Imran Khan, a global celebrity, a philanthropist, and former prime minister of Pakistan, has endured unimaginable mistreatment in prison under the directives of ‘Asim Law,’ now facing irreversible damage to his right eye as a direct consequence,” Khan’s sister Noreen Niazi said in a post on X, referring to Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Munir. Â
She said it has been established that Khan’s medical complaints were ignored “unduly and unjustly” for three months while he was kept in “illegal solitary confinement”.
“The jail’s poor conditions have severely impacted his health, leading to devastating effects on his eye, now diagnosed as retinal vein occlusion. This isn’t mere negligence. It’s deliberate cruelty, executed through an evil and conniving master plan of Gen Asim Munir.
“Under the vengeful instructions of Asim Munir, Imran Khan’s due treatment is being handled inside the poor conditions of the jail,” she said.Â
Despite the Supreme Court’s orders that Khan must be taken to a specialist eye hospital for treatment promptly, “that illegal regime has once again tossed away the ruling of the highest court of the land like trash”, she said.
Noreen added that given the nature of Khan’s eye condition, where he’s already lost 85 per cent of his vision, proper treatment “simply isn’t possible in a prison setting”.
“Our sole constitutional and legal demand is that Imran Khan be immediately transferred to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad for treatment under the supervision of his personal physicians,” she demanded.
Noreen further criticised Field Marshal Munir for portraying himself as the leader of the Islamic world.Â
“You (Munir) declare yourself the chief of a Muslim armed forces, quoting Quranic verses in your speech, but you refuse to abide by them. The nation is wide awake, and the whole world is watching this brutality and inhumane and despicable treatment of Imran Khan.
“This ushers in concerns about Imran Khan’s legal rights; it rather underscores the gravity of lawlessness now prevalent in Pakistan under illegitimate and un-Islamic rule. It represents a profound trial of your beliefs, your command, and your impending judgment,” Noreen said.Â
Meanwhile, Khan’s close aide Zulfi Bokhari said the former premier told his wife Bushra Bibi on Tuesday that he remains deeply concerned about his eye.
“His first and only priority is an immediate emergency meeting with his personal physicians -Dr Faisal Sultan and Dr Asim. Let’s put politics aside for a moment and only focus on this one, extremely reasonable demand,” Bokhari said.Â
Meanwhile, Indian cricket greats Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev joined a dozen other former international captains in signing a petition demanding better prison treatment for “one of the finest all-rounders” of the game, Imran Khan.
A team of doctors on Monday reported an improvement in Khan’s eyesight as well as the condition of his eye after examining him.
Khan has been in jail since August 5, 2023, when he was arrested at his Lahore residence after his conviction in a corruption case. Currently, he is incarcerated at the high-security Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi. (PTI)
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