Cricket icons appeal for Imran's treatment

Twenty-two former international cricketers, including 21 ex-captains, have appealed to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to ensure that former premier and PTI founder Imran Khan receives medical treatment in accordance with recent Supreme Court directives, ESPN Cricinfo reported on Sunday.

The former cricketers urged the government to allow the medical board ordered by the SC, including Imran's personal doctors and sister, Dr Uzma Khan, to conduct a full and independent assessment of his health, particularly the reported loss of vision in his right eye.

They also called for the restoration of weekly family visits without interruption and for any recommended treatment to be provided without delay.

In a letter cited by ESPN Cricinfo, the cricket greats said the SC had ordered Imran's transfer to hospital for examination by a medical board comprising his personal physicians and sister, while also reinstating weekly family visits. "These were very welcome steps," they said.

However, they said Imran's stay at the hospital 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," the letter said, according to ESPN Cricinfo.

The former cricketers called on the government to allow the medical board directed by the SC, including Imran's own doctors, to complete a comprehensive and independent assessment of his health, particularly his reported loss of vision in the right eye.

They also urged the authorities to honour the weekly family visits reinstated by the court without interruption or administrative delay and to provide Imran with any treatment recommended following the medical assessment.

The signatories included Michael Atherton, Alex Blackwell, Allan Border, Michael Brearley, Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, Belinda Clark, Alastair Cook, Michael Gatting, Sunil Gavaskar, Lee Germon, Adam Gilchrist, David Gower, Kim Hughes, Nasser Hussain, Clive Lloyd, Kapil Dev, Arjuna Ranatunga, Andrew Strauss, Dilip Vengsarkar, Steve Waugh and John Wright.

Explaining their appeal, the former cricketers said they were writing "not as politicians, but as former colleagues and rivals who share a bond forged on the cricket field" and stressed that they did not seek to adjudicate Pakistan's domestic legal processes.