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Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Friday approached the Supreme Court to request the chief justice to facilitate a meeting between incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan and his personal physicians.
“The whole nation is concerned about the health of the country’s most popular leader, Imran Khan,” said Afridi while speaking outside the apex court, adding that he would try to arrange a meeting between the PTI founder and his personal physicians with the help of the chief justice.
The KP chief executive said the party would announce its future course of action if its attempts to arrange a meeting with Imran don’t bear fruit after approaching the apex court.
He lamented that while the courts are issuing decisions on petitions, “we are not getting justice”.
“Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi’s cases have not been listed for one year. If the cases are listed today and we are provided justice, Khan sahib and Bushra Bibi, along with other leaders, will be released from prison within half an hour,” he claimed.
“We were left with no option, so we opted for the only one available,” he added.
In response to a question on concluding the protest outside Adiala jail, where the KP chief minister, along with other lawmakers and party workers, had camped, he said, “I have come here.”
Following their arrival at the SC, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja and party leader and lawmaker Sardar Latif Khosa met the registrar of the apex court and the attorney general of Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Afridi and other party leaders staged an impromptu sit-in outside the apex court, saying they would sit there till they received a response from the registrar.
A large contingent of police, with prisoner vans, was deployed outside the SC premises.
‘Secrecy is cancer to democracy’
PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan and party leader Babar Awan, addressing the media on Friday at Islamabad’s KP House, said the “one-point agenda” for the press conference is Imran’s health.
A day earlier, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar confirmed that incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan underwent a medical procedure for an eye ailment last week at a hospital in Islamabad.
Tarar said the former premier was taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) in Islamabad for a “20-minute” medical procedure on the night of January 24.
Referring to the former prime minister’s brief stay at Islamabad’s Pims hospital, he said, “Secrecy is cancer to democracy. His (Imran Khan’s) family is worried due to his health.”
Gohar demanded that doctors from Shaukat Khanum Hospital be allowed to examine the former prime minister. “Dr Faisal and Dr Asim should be allowed to meet Khan sahib.”
The party chairman added that neither the party nor Imran’s family was informed about his health or treatment.
Awan, addressing the media, said if the report regarding Imran’s health is not made public, “it will have grave consequences” and added that the party and its supporters were anxious regarding the former premier’s health.
On Thursday, Afridi rushed to Adiala jail in Rawalpindi after a report that Imran was taken briefly to Pims hospital for a medical procedure. The KP CM said he would be camping at the spot overnight outside the prison, along with the party’s general secretary, Salman Akram Raja.
However, Afridi, along with the party’s leadership, left the spot at around 3am.
Afridi, has been seeking a meeting with the incarcerated prime minister since he assumed office of the provincial chief executive in October last year, but to no avail.
However, he, as well as Imran’s sisters and lawyers, have been barred from meeting him for the past several weeks — a restriction that has made sit-ins and protests near the prison a usual occurrence. On several occasions, police have also used force to disperse the protesters, who often camp at Factory Naka.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, Afridi announced his plans for an overnight stay and said “most of [PTI] parliamentarians have also reached the spot and some others will be arriving in some time”.
The KP CM said if Imran’s sisters were allowed to meet him, the situation could be prevented from worsening.
CM Afridi’s visit comes after the PTI on Tuesday raised concerns about Imran’s health. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar confirmed earlier in the day that the PTI founder had undergone a medical procedure for an eye ailment at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) in Islamabad on Saturday night.
Referring to Tarar’s statement, Afridi said he had “serious reservations” about the former premier’s health.
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