Former cricket skippers renew appeal to PM Shehbaz over Imran Khan’s health

WEB DESK: Twenty-one former international cricket captains from around the world have renewed their appeal to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, urging authorities to ensure proper medical treatment for former Pakistan captain and prime minister Imran Khan.

The latest appeal marks the former captains’ second letter to the Pakistani premier in six months, following their earlier appeal in February over concerns about Khan’s health.

In their latest letter, the former cricketers expressed concern over what they described as developments that fall short of a Supreme Court directive regarding Khan’s medical treatment.

The letter said the Supreme Court had ordered that Imran Khan be transferred to a hospital for examination by a medical board comprising his personal physicians and his sister, Dr Uzma Khan.

The court had also reinstated weekly family visits for the former prime minister.

However, the former captains said Khan’s hospital stay lasted only a few hours and that he was examined by a state-appointed medical team instead of the medical board directed by the court.

The team subsequently declared him “medically fit”, after which Khan was sent back to Adiala Jail before the court-directed board could complete its assessment, the letter said.

The former captains made three key requests to the Pakistani prime minister.

They called for the medical board ordered by the Supreme Court, including Khan’s own doctors, to be allowed to complete an independent assessment, particularly regarding reports of loss of vision in his right eye.

They also urged authorities to ensure that weekly family visits reinstated by the court take place without interruption or administrative delays.

The former cricketers further called for any treatment recommended following the medical assessment to be provided without delay.

In February, 14 former international captains had written to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, expressing concern over reports about Imran Khan’s deteriorating eyesight. Khan’s family had claimed that he was almost completely blind in one eye and accused authorities of medical neglect in prison.

The signatories of the latest letter said they were writing not as politicians but as former colleagues and rivals who shared a bond forged on the cricket field. They also stressed that they did not seek to interfere in Pakistan’s domestic legal proceedings.

The 21 former captains who signed the letter include Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, Allan Border, Sunil Gavaskar, David Gower, Clive Lloyd, Arjuna Ranatunga, Steve Waugh and John Wright, among others.

Imran Khan, who served as Pakistan’s prime minister from 2018 to 2022, has been serving prison sentences following convictions in several cases. His supporters have repeatedly described the cases as politically motivated, while the government has rejected such allegations.

International rights organisations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have also raised concerns over aspects of Khan’s trials and prison conditions. The Pakistani government has repeatedly denied allegations of mistreatment.