New Delhi/Islamabad: Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev are among a group of former international cricket captains, who have made an appeal to Pakistan prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, urging the government to ensure “humane treatment and proper medical care” for former Pakistan captain and prime minister Imran Khan.
Issued on Sunday, the appeal comes amid concerns surrounding Khan’s health and follows reports that a court-directed medical examination was disrupted. The former Pakistan captain, who is 73, has spent more than three years in custody.
This comes six months after 14 former international captains had written to the Pakistani government seeking appropriate medical treatment for Khan. Seven more former captains have now joined the appeal, taking the total number of signatories to 21. The captains stressed that their intervention stemmed from their shared connection with Khan through international cricket.
“Dear Prime Minister, six months ago, fourteen former international cricket captains wrote to you and the Pakistani government appealing for humane treatment and proper medical care for Imran Khan. We wrote then not as politicians, but as former colleagues and rivals who share a bond forged on the cricket field, one that transcends the borders and disputes that too often divide countries. We write again now, joined by seven further former captains, because of what has reportedly just occurred,” the 21 cricketers wrote in their letter, a copy of which is in possession of Hindustan Times Digital.
“Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered that Imran Khan be transferred to a hospital for examination by a medical board that was to include his own personal physicians and his sister, Dr Uzma Khan. The Court also reinstated weekly family visits. These were very welcome steps. Concerningly, Mr Khan’s hospital stay lasted only a few hours. He was examined by a state-appointed team rather than the board the Court had directed, declared “medically fit,” and returned to Adiala Jail before that board could complete its work. His family and legal team say this falls short of what the court ordered,” the letter added.
The letter has outlined three specific demands. First, they have called for the medical board, directed by Pakistan’s Supreme Court, to conduct a complete and independent assessment of Khan’s health. The former captains have also urged the authorities to honour weekly family visits that were reinstated by the court, without interruptions or administrative delays.
The third request is for any treatment recommended following the medical assessment to be made available to Khan without delay.
“We’re not asking Pakistan for anything unusual, just that a court order most countries would take for granted is actually carried out. We do not presume to adjudicate Pakistan’s domestic legal processes. That is not our place, and it was not the spirit in which we wrote in February. But we do ask, again, respectfully: 1. That the medical board directed by the Supreme Court, including Mr Khan’s own doctors, be permitted to complete a full and independent assessment of his health, particularly the reported loss of vision in his right eye. 2. That the weekly family visits reinstated by the Court be honoured without interruption or administrative delay,” the letter stated.
“3. That whatever the outcome of that medical assessment, the treatment recommended by it be provided without delay. Imran Khan is 73 years old and has now spent more than three years in custody. Whatever the legal and political arguments surrounding his case, the basic decency of ensuring a court-ordered medical process is actually completed is not, in our view, a controversial request. It is one we believe every nation that plays this game would recognise as fair. We hope this matter can be resolved expeditiously and with the dignity Mr Imran Khan deserves. Yours in cricket,” the cricketers added.
England captains Michael Atherton, Michael Brearley, Sir Alastair Cook, David Gower, Nasser Hussain and Sir Andrew Strauss are among the signatories. The list also includes Allan Border, Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, Kim Hughes and Steve Waugh, from Australia.
Apart from the country’s 1983 World Cup-winning captain, Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar has also signed the letter.
The full list comprises Michael Atherton, Alex Blackwell, Allan Border, Michael Brearley, Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, Belinda Clark, Sir Alastair Cook, Sunil Gavaskar, Lee Germon, Adam Gilchrist, David Gower, Kim Hughes, Nasser Hussain, Sir Clive Lloyd, Kapil Dev, Nikhanj Deshamanya, Arjuna Ranatunga, Sir Andrew Strauss, Dilip Vengsarkar, Stephen Waugh and John Wright.
