Khayam Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar confirmed on Tuesday that party founder and former prime minister Imran Khan was in good health and his fresh medical reports would be available soon.
The development came after he said doctors were allowed to meet Imran at Adiala jail after the PTI complained that its incarcerated leader was facing health-related issues.
Previously, Gohar had said that since October 3, no lawyer, family member or party leader had been allowed to meet Imran despite his being ill. He added that the PTI had applied to the interior ministry to allow a party leader, family member, or health professional to meet the founding chairman.
Speaking to media Gohar said that “government doctors, along with medical specialists and an ENT specialist (otolaryngologist), had arrived at the jail.”
He later said in a post on X the two doctors met Imran at 4pm.
“We were informed a while ago that thank God, Khan sahib is in good health and had exercised for an hour today. We shall get medical reports from them soon and I will share with you,” Gohar said.
“I express my gratitude to every worker and supporter of PTI who were concerned about Khan sahib’s health. God bless you all,” he added.
A day earlier, the PTI had called off a planned protest in Islamabad after receiving assurances about Imran’s health and that a medical expert would visit Adiala Jail today to examine him.
The protest would have coincided with the ongoing Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit for which dignitaries of several countries are in Islamabad amid very high security.
The government, which had earlier refused to back down from its tough stance on dealing with PTI protesters with an “iron hand” if they tried to protest amid the SCO moot, agreed to most of the party’s demands, including arranging a meeting between party leaders and founding chairman Imran Khan and facilitating his medical checkup.
Jemima Goldsmith, the former spouse of Imran, on Tuesday, voiced concern over his treatment in prison and called for his release.
Taking to the X platform on Tuesday, she claimed that in the last few weeks, there have been “serious and concerning developments regarding my sons’ father, Imran Khan’s treatment in prison.”
She claimed that Pakistan authorities had stopped all visits to Imran from his family and his lawyers while also postponing his court hearings.
“In addition to cutting off in-person visits, and in defiance of a court order, his weekly calls to his sons, Sulaiman and Kasim Khan, who are British and who live in London, were stopped on 10th September,” she wrote.
She claimed according to some reports, Imran was being mistreated by jail authorities.
“He is now completely isolated, in solitary confinement, literally in the dark, with no contact with the outside world. His lawyers are concerned about his safety and well-being,” she added.
“These actions come in the context of ongoing targeting of Imran’s family, as well as his party (PTI) members and supporters in an attempt to silence them and all political opposition in Pakistan,” adding that Imran’s nephew was detained and his sisters, Uzma and Aleema Khan, were arrested.
“As a matter of urgency, we are calling for Imran Khan’s release, and for the release of his sisters and nephew as well as for his sons’ contact with their father to be re-established, so that they may have assurance first-hand that he is well and not being mistreated.”
