ISLAMABAD: The opposition alliance Tehreek-i-Tahafuz-i-Ayin-i-Pakistan (TTAP) announced on Wednesday it would end its days-long sit-in at Parliament House over ex-premier Imran Khan’s health concerns.
However, it reiterated the demand being voiced by Imran’s family to grant the PTI founder access to his personal physicians and allow jail meetings with his relatives.
Senate Opposition Leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas — flanked by National Assembly counterpart Mehmood Khan Achakzai, PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan and PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja — addressed the media in Islamabad after a Supreme Court hearing concerning Imran’s cases.
“Thanks to God, there is a minor improvement compared to the situation before, when the vision had gone completely — just a little bit,” Abbas told reporters.
However, he criticised the government for “not taking on board” Imran’s family or personal doctors. The senator reiterated that Imran’s longtime physicians, Dr Aasim Yusuf and Dr Faisal Sultan, should be allowed to examine the PTI founder.
Stressing that the opposition members would be glad to know about even the slightest improvement in Imran’s condition, Abbas said, “Therefore, as the month of Ramazan is also beginning, we will end our sit-in that we were staging in the parliament.
“And in the next stage, we can take different measures as TTAP and we will do so as we have time,” he added.
“If our rulers want to solve this issue, which has been raised across the world and the world has voiced concerns, then witnessing [is necessary],” Abbas said, calling for Imran’s personal physicians to be granted access to Imran.
“When Imran Khan sahib has said he has concerns, then it means there are concerns,” the Senate opposition leader emphasised, calling for the ex-premier’s jail meetings with his sisters.
“Whatever their demands are, which will satisfy them, should be taken,” he said, calling on the public to pray for Imran’s prompt recovery.
Abbas also termed the demand by Imran’s family to have him treated at Islamabad’s Shifa International Hospital as “genuine”, noting that there were independent and competent doctors there who were not subordinate to any government medics.
Recalling the “extremely worrying” previous reports of vision loss in Imran’s right eye, Abbas noted that the Adiala jail staff had not taken timely action to provide medical care to Imran.
“This was a crime. God-willing, we are about to approach the court about this,” he announced.
The senator stressed that the objective of the TTAP sit-in was to ensure that the “government does not commit any more mistakes”. “People across the entire Pakistan — whether opponents or critics — were worried.”
Claiming that Parliament House’s gates were closed off, Abbas alleged that the parliament was “made a jail”.
“Our MNAs were confined in the [Parliament] Lodges. The friends from KP were confined in the KP House,” he said, adding that cases under terrorism charges were filed against TTAP members.
Abbas further said that Achakzai had vowed to go on a hunger strike if the reports of “Imran completely losing his eyesight” had turned out to be true.
Earlier in the day, the TTAP leadership — including Achakzai, Abbas, Gohar and Raja — reached the SC to show solidarity with Imran during the hearing of his cases.
“They may announce further strategy regarding the protest and will also address the crackdown on PTI supporters,” TTAP spokesperson Akhunzada Hussain Yousafzai had told Dawn.
The TTAP also shared a video of Achakzai inside the SC premises and speaking to Imran’s sister Aleema Khan.
Ahead of the SC hearing, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi met with Imran’s three sisters — namely Aleema, Noreen Niazi and Uzma Khanum.
“A detailed discussion was held on Imran Khan’s health, judicial matters, other affairs and the challenges being faced in these,” the PTI said.
SC again denies Latif Khosa meeting with Imran
Meanwhile, the SC again denied PTI leader Latif Khosa a meeting with Imran, as the court indefinitely adjourned multiple cases concerning the ex-premier.
A three-member bench, headed by Justice Hashim Khan Kakar and including Justices Salahuddin Panhwar and Ishtiaq Ibrahim, resumed hearing a set of petitions regarding the PTI founder.
When the bench took up the matter of Imran’s eligibility to contest polls, Khosa requested that a meeting be arranged between him and the jailed party founder.
To this, Justice Kakar replied, “You have taken away the power of taking suo motu notice from us. How can we order a meeting in a criminal case?”
Justice Panhwar also questioned how the bench could issue directives in a case that was not fixed before it.
Therefore, the bench dismissed Khosa’s request for a meeting.
At one point, Justice Kakar told Khosa “not to speak about political matters while standing in the court”. “Speak on politics in the parliament,” the judge remarked.
He added, “Now that you have said such things, tickers will also be aired about this and vlogs will also be made.”
The SC then issued a notice to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and adjourned the hearing for an indefinite period.
During his conversation with Justice Kakar about an old judgment that he had cited, Khosa brought up the matter of PTI’s intra-party elections.
At this, ostensibly referring to Gohar, the judge acknowledged, “A big, living PTI chairman is sitting before us.”
The appeals against Imran’s acquittal in the cipher case were adjourned without any proceedings as the prosecutor general informed the bench that the detailed order of the case had not been submitted.
The prosecutor general sought more time to submit the detailed order.
Here, Barrister Salman Safdar, who had appeared as Imran’s lawyer, informed the SC that he had not been issued a notice in the case.
Justice Kakar observed that the court could issue a notice to him, but noted that the appeal’s maintainability was yet to be decided.
Separately, the SC also indefinitely adjourned Imran’s appeal against a Rs10 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during his time as the Punjab chief minister.
Imran’s lawyer stated he had challenged the additional sessions court hearing the case, contending that the district and sessions courts have the authority to conduct the trial. The court then issued a notice to PM Shehbaz’s counsel Mustafa Ramday.
TTAP ‘demands’ full medical access for Imran
In the early hours of Wednesday, the TTAP also shared a list of five “immediate and unconditional demands”.
The first was immediately granting Imran “complete and confidential access” to his personal physicians Dr Yusuf and Dr Sultan, so “they could conduct a medical examination independently”.
The alliance further asked for certified copies of Imran’s medical tests, diagnostic reports, X-rays, scans and laboratory results to be shared with his personal physicians.
The TTAP also demanded that the PTI founder’s personal doctors be “given full authority to formulate their independent medical opinion without the presence or pressure of the government’s medical board”.
It further sought “regular and continuous follow-up examinations” of the PTI founder by his personal physicians.
Lastly, the TTAP demanded that, for transparency and accountability, the government clarify in writing why “any obstruction or delay occurred in the provision of treatment, diagnosis, and medical facilities”, and also provide assurance that such negligence will not be repeated in the future.
The TTAP stressed that any kind of “delay, excuses or staged actions” would be unacceptable. “The matter of Imran’s health is not political, but a requirement of human and constitutional responsibility,” it added.
Family members and senior party leaders have repeatedly attempted to meet him at Adiala jail in recent weeks, but most visits have been blocked by authorities.
The SC’s intervention on February 10 allowed PTI lawyer Salman Safdar to meet Imran, with the ex-premier telling the counsel he had “15 per cent” vision left in his right eye. This followed a “medical procedure” that Imran underwent on the night of January 24.
A report prepared by a team of doctors who visited Imran on February 15 stated that, unaided, Imran’s right eye had 6/24 partial vision and 6/9 in the left. It said that with glasses, the ex-premier’s vision was 6/9 partial in the right and 6/6 in the left.
However, the PTI founder’s family and the opposition alliance rejected the report and demanded that Dr Yusuf and family members be allowed regular and confidential access to monitor his condition.
The TTAP framed their sit-in as a push against the government’s alleged negligence and lack of transparency regarding Imran’s treatment.
More to follow
