Lahore (Sports Desk) Twenty-one former Test and international captains from around the world have written a letter to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, demanding a medical examination and appropriate treatment for former Pakistan captain and former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
According to the cricket website Cricinfo, the former captains said in the letter that the Supreme Court had directed that Imran Khan be transferred to a hospital for a medical examination and examined by a medical board that would include his personal physicians and his sister, Dr. Uzma Khan. The court had also ordered the restoration of weekly family meetings.
The letter expressed concern that Imran Khan’s stay at the hospital was limited to only a few hours and that, instead of the medical board directed by the Supreme Court, a government-appointed team examined him, declared him medically fit, and transferred him back to Adiala Jail.
The former captains demanded that, in accordance with the Supreme Court’s order, the medical board be allowed to conduct a complete and independent examination of Imran Khan, particularly regarding the alleged deterioration of vision in his right eye. They also demanded that weekly family meetings be ensured without interruption and that any treatment recommended on the basis of the medical examination be provided immediately.
Those who signed the letter include 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, and John Wright.
The former captains made it clear that they were making the appeal not as politicians but as Imran Khan’s former colleagues and opponents on the cricket field, and that they had no intention of interfering in Pakistan’s internal legal matters.
This is the second letter from former world captains to the Prime Minister in six months. In February this year, 14 former captains had also expressed concern over Imran Khan’s health and reports that the vision in one of his eyes had allegedly been affected.
On the other hand, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Atta Tarar said that the Supreme Court’s order had been fully implemented and that a transparent medical examination had been conducted. According to him, Imran Khan’s sister and doctors from Shifa were also present during the examination, and all conditions of the Supreme Court’s order were fulfilled.
Atta Tarar said that the examination was conducted transparently, all arrangements, including security, were completed, and the administration ensured implementation of the Supreme Court’s order in accordance with the Constitution and the law.