Islamabad, Aug 12 (IANS) Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) staged a protest outside the Supreme Court over concerns about former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s health and delays in his pending court cases, local media reported on Wednesday.
Later, the PTI called off the protest after the court registrar assured the party leaders that the cases would be fixed for hearing next week. The PTI had requested the Supreme Court for early hearings of PTI founder Imran Khan’s cases and to allow him to meet his family members and personal doctors, Dawn reported.
During the protest on Tuesday, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi voiced concern over reports about Imran Khan’s health and stated that people of Pakistan were concerned regarding the well-being of the PTI founder.
He said, “We neither politicise Imran Khan’s health, nor has Imran Khan ever raised the issue of his health with the objective of seeking any form of relief.”
He stressed that Imran Khan’s health should be treated with the seriousness that it demands and called for conducting PTI founder’s treatment under the supervision of his personal physicians and in the presence of his family, Dawn reported.
Speaking to reporters, Sohail Afridi recalled how Imran Khan, while serving as Pakistan PM, had allowed former PM Nawaz Sharif to travel abroad for medical treatment despite concerns raised over the legitimacy of his medical certificates. He stated that Imran Khan was not allowed to exercise fundamental human rights and denied access to justice, terming it “completely unacceptable.”
Imran Khan has remained in prison since August 2023 after convictions that his party, PTI, has termed politically motivated. Since his ouster from office in 2022 through a no-confidence vote, Imran Khan has faced several cases, including allegations involving state gifts and an unlawful marriage case.
Earlier, on August 5, PTI held nationwide protests to mark three years of Imran Khan’s imprisonment, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa CM Sohail Afridi announced that the party will again hold a march on September 27 if authorities do not lift the restrictions imposed on the party founder.
While addressing people in Peshawar, Afridi said that PTI demands included unrestricted meetings with Imran Khan, allowing the PTI founder to receive treatment from his personal physician and expeditious hearings of court cases against him, Pakistan-based another daily The Express Tribune reported.
Afridi said, “If these demands are not met, we will march on Islamabad on September 27.”
Last month, UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Alice Jill Edwards, expressed concerns over reports of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s detention conditions and his not getting access to proper medical care. She also urged Pakistan to restore humane conditions and allow the former PM to access medical examination and treatment of his own choice.
In a post shared on LinkedIn, Edwards mentioned that Khan has been kept in near-total solitary confinement for 33 months in a small, windowless cell and is often not allowed to have human contact for over two weeks continuously.
“…Imran Khan has now been held in near-total solitary for 33 months in a small, windowless cell under 24-7 CCTV. Often more than 2 weeks continuously, without exercise or meaningful human contact. This far exceeds the MANDELA rules,” Edwards wrote in a post on LinkedIn.
“I am also concerned about reports that he is being denied proper medical and is suffering from serious medical issues that have not been treated appropriately, compounding a spinal injury from a 2013 accident and bullet wounds sustained in a November 2022 assassination attempt. I call on Pakistan to restore humane conditions and allow him his choice of medical examination and appropriate treatment,” she added.
–IANS
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