Incarcerated PTI leaders call for halt of protest activities during Ramazan

Five incarcerated senior leaders of the PTI urged the party to halt protest activities during the holy month of Ramazan, according to a joint letter sent to the media on Friday. The letter was written by Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Omar Sarfraz Cheema, Dr Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Chaudhry and Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed, all incarcerated in Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore. It was sent via their lawyer, Advocate Rana Mudassar Umar. The letter also criticised President Asif Ali Zardari’s recent comments on incarcerated PTI founder and ex-premier Imran Khan. Last week, President Zardari had said it was the duty of leaders to fight and go to jail to protect their party and safeguard the people. Without naming Imran, he added that they had already started complaining about conditions in jail after an 18-month detention, while he himself had spent 14 years in prison without losing courage. “We strongly condemn Asif Ali Zardari’s recent rhetoric on the founder of the PTI,” the letter said, adding that Imran was currently serving his jail term “in difficult conditions” with dignity. “The government should stop politicising the health of the PTI founder,” it added. The letter further stated that Imran’s sisters and personal doctors should be taken into confidence and that he should be treated. The PTI leaders requested the opposition alliance Tehreek-i-Tahafuz-i-Ayin-i-Pakistan (TTAP) to “fully engage in politics” in Parliament. The PTI leaders, in the letter, further said that “officials at all levels of PTI should reorganise the party”, taking the organisation to the grassroots level for local body elections across the country. The letter called for the issues of rising terrorism in the country, rising inflation, unemployment, out-of-school children and corruption to be highlighted “everywhere”. On February 12, Imran, currently incarcerated at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, claimed that his right eye had only 15 per cent vision remaining, following which the Supreme Court (SC) ordered the formation of a medical team to examine him. The SC also directed that Imran be allowed to speak to his children. The opposition alliance, TTAP, had staged a six-day sit-in at Parliament House over Imran’s health. It also doubled down on its earlier demands, including the PTI founder’s “complete and confidential access” to his personal physicians Dr Aasim Yusuf and Dr Faisal Sultan and copies of his medical tests and diagnostic reports. In January, the five PTI leaders had written another open letter demanding that the government provide proper medical treatment to Imran when it was reported that he was suffering from an eye infection. The inmates also appealed to the chief justice to look into the matter personally and ensure that the recommended treatment was given as soon as possible.

By none@none.com (Rana Bilal)