By Anjali Sharma
WASHINGTON – Pakistan’s law minister Azam Tarar on Wednesday issued a video statement in which he claims that his government is moving a review petition, argued that this Supreme Court ruling was highly irregular and that Khan’s medical tests be conducted in a government hospital.
He added the suspicion over the actual state of health and well-being of former ace cricketer and ex-Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, which so far has been shrouded from the public.
Islamabad has said that it would contest the Supreme Court’s ruling that Khan be be moved “within the next two days” to Shifa International Hospital in the capital for medical tests.
The petition, according to Tarar, argues that such arrangements were unwarranted until government medical facilities were equipped to carry out the concerned medical tests.
Wajahat Saeed Khan, an Emmy-nominated Pakistani-origin journalist, who is based in the United States, claimed that at least three military officers had told him that Imran Khan “might have died in jail”.
Wajahat had added that he had not bee able to independently verify the claim.
Pakistani journalist said Pakistan Army ISPR had issued “proof of life of Imran Khan” in another video dated August 11.
He added that the Army may still be conspiring against Khan as GHQ Rawalpindi has 24/7 surveillance inside Jail on Imran Khan.
Three-judge bench of the Pakistan Supreme Court had ruled that Khan be moved to Shifa hospital in Islamabad “within the next two days” and that he would be allowed to meet his family once a week, while he could talk to his sons over telephone twice a week.
Pakistan’s apex court had also ruled that Khan’s personal physician Faisal Sultan, and sister and medical doctor Uzma Khan, “shall be permitted to remain associated with the prisoner’s medical examination and treatment”.
The judges put a caveat against any public gatherings in the hospital or using Khan’s medical situation for political gains.
The order would be rescinded in such case. The next hearing has been set for September 16.
Khan, his wife Bushra Bibi, had been sentenced late last year to 17 years in jail over a bundle of crimes, even as he has maintained his innocence and alleged that he was being targeted politically by the Shehbaz Sharif government with the backing of the all-powerful Army, media reported.
