State Minister for Interior Affairs Tallal Chaudhry on Friday said that the PTI could not “dictate” meetings with incarcerated party leader Imran Khan by staging sit-ins.
The statement came as the party camped outside Adiala jai, where he is imprisoned, and the Supreme Court after the government confirmed Imran underwent a medical procedure for an eye ailment last week at a hospital in Islamabad.
Speaking on Geo News programme ‘Naya Pakistan’, the state minister replied to a question about the secrecy of Imran’s treatment, stating that there was nothing secret about it.
“Their (the PTI) problem is that the glass is always half-empty to them; they cannot be realistic or positive,” Chaudhry said.
“They previously said that there were no health facilities and nobody was paying attention,” he explained. “If there has been a health issue, then he (Imran) was immediately taken to the best hospital nearest to the prison. He was taken, examined and then left after everything was fine.”
Chaudhry noted that upholding the rights of all inmates and ensuring their care was the government’s responsibility. At this point, the host asked why the government did not comment on the issue earlier.
“Do you know how many prisoners avail these facilities or how many decisions are made by the jail administration? There isn’t a press release or press conference about those,” he replied.
Pressed on why Imran’s family was not informed about the procedure, Chaudhry said that this was the “prime responsibility” of jail authorities, who had fulfilled their role.
“I’ll confirm, once again, that he (Imran) is absolutely healthy,” he said, calling Imran “privileged”. “Not every prisoner has a personal physician, or cook or an exercise machine.”
Chaudhry reiterated that “there cannot be a press release or press conference for everything”, stating that matters were confirmed publicly when the need arose.
At this point, Iqbal recounted the state minister’s comments on the matter on Wednesday, when he had neither confirmed nor denied reports about Imran undergoing treatment.
When asked if he knew of the treatment, Chaudhry replied that there were standard operating procedures (SOPs) for everything.
“State ministers, ministers and prime ministers are not told everything, which is why there are SOPs and rules in place among the various institutions,” he responded. “It happened according to those and it was very smooth.”
Questioned again about why the family was not informed, Chaudhry replied, “They don’t care; they only care about their politics. What do they do? They use meetings [with Imran] for political point-scoring.
“They come out [after meeting Imran] and use whatever is said inside to control the party and build their narrative,” he said. Chaudhry added that the PTI could not dictate prison meetings by staging sit-ins.
“You cannot get a meeting by dictating. They do not even consider the law and order situation in that area, where there are thousands of people and prisoners,” he added.
Adviser to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister on information, Shafiullah Jan, also a guest on the programme, responded to Chaudhry’s claims by stating that the party had requested that Imran be allowed to meet his personal physician.
“We only have one request, which we made before the Supreme Court today; please allow him to meet his personal physician,” Jan said.
Jan said that Imran was “not an ordinary prisoner” and said that his health was paramount for the PTI. “We cannot compromise on his health; it is the most important thing for us,” the adviser said.
Jan then stated, “He was taken to Pims, but his family wasn’t informed. Tallal sahib is not talking about it. Why did you hide it for five days? Tallal sahib is not talking about it. Your own minister confirmed the matter but Tallal sahib is not talking about it.”
‘He needs to see a retinal specialist’
Separately, Dr Aasim Yusuf — Chief Medical Officer at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital and Imran’s longtime personal physician — said in a video statement that he had been denied access to examine the PTI founder, adding that he needed to see a retinal specialist.
He noted that he has no confirmation about the nature of his condition or what kind of treatment has been provided.
“We have every confidence in the abilities and professionalism of the physicians at the hospital in Islamabad, where Khan sahib was taken for treatment, but nevertheless, this is a serious condition and requires expert medical care,” Dr Yusuf said.
“This is ideally provided by an ophthalmologist with sub-specialty experience and training in diseases of the retina,” he added. “To the best of our knowledge, there are no retinal specialists at this hospital in Islamabad. If there are and it was a retinal specialist who saw Khan sahib, then that’s all well and good. But that remains a serious concern from our point of view.”
Dr Yusuf noted that Imran could have underlying medical issues, which may have caused the condition. He noted that alongside an ophthalmologist, a general physician would need to examine the PTI founder.
“Yesterday evening I received a phone call from Khan sahib’s legal team, in particular Salman Akram Raja, suggesting that it might be possible that it might be possible that we would get permission to see Khan sahib late last night,” Dr Yusuf said.
He added that he asked an ophthalmologist to accompany him to Adiala Jail.
“We got there just before 11pm. Unfortunately, permission could not obtained and we were not able to see Khan sahib on this occasion,” the physician recounted.
“It goes without saying that we are happy to go again as many times as necessary and whenever the legal team feels permission might be forthcoming or when, in fact, permission is obtained.”
