Afridi demands family and personal doctors be allowed access to PTI Founder
DLP Report
ISLAMABAD
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Muhammad Sohail Afridi on Monday expressed serious concern over reports regarding the health of PTI founder Imran Khan and demanded that his family and personal physicians be granted immediate access to him.
Addressing a press conference at KP House, the chief minister said Mr Khan’s health had become a “matter of grave concern” and that public apprehensions could only be addressed through a comprehensive medical examination at a leading hospital, in the presence of his family and under the supervision of his personal doctors.
Mr Afridi announced that all PTI parliamentarians would stage a sit-in outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday. If access was not granted, he said, the party would proceed to Adiala Jail on Thursday.
“If access is still denied and the authorities persist with their intransigent position, on Thursday, every chowk across the country will be turned into a D-Chowk,” he warned.
The chief minister said the planned march on 27 September remained on schedule. “The entire country will come out on 27 September. After that, no one will have an opportunity to manage the situation,” he said.
He alleged that Mr Khan was being held in “unlawful and unjust detention” despite not having committed any crime, and held those who ordered his arrest, the prison administration and the “current illegitimate government” responsible for his present condition.
Mr Afridi also raised concerns about the health of Mr Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, stating she was being detained “solely to exert pressure on and break Imran Khan.”
Appealing to the judiciary, the KP CM said the nation continued to look towards the courts for justice. “If the judiciary is also unable to provide justice, then where is the country headed?” he asked.
The chief minister said Pakistan’s youth were experiencing “profound anxiety about its future” amid unemployment, inflation and what he termed continued oppression. Citing recent visits “from Khyber to Karachi,” he said he had witnessed widespread anger and a desire for change among young people.
“The passion, energy and determination currently evident among Pakistan’s youth, if allowed to intensify further, will become difficult for any single political party or its leadership to contain,” he cautioned.
Mr Afridi maintained that the demand for medical access was not unconstitutional and should be addressed on “humanitarian and medical grounds rather than through confrontation.” He urged the Chief Justice of Pakistan to issue an immediate decision to ensure Mr Khan’s family and personal physicians are allowed to meet him.
