Former Cricket Captains Urge Proper Care for Imran Khan in Custody
A group of 21 former national team captains from India, England, Australia and Pakistan have sent a letter to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, demanding that former prime minister Imran Khan receive the medical care he is legally entitled to.
The signatories—among them Sunil Gavaskar, Sir Alastair Cook, Greg Chappell and Michael Atherton—point out that the 73‑year‑old “has spent more than three years in custody and has been allowed only a few hours in a state hospital last week.” They stress that his eyesight, reportedly reduced to 15 % in his right eye, needs assessment by a Supreme Court‑directed medical board including his personal physicians.
The letter also requests that the court‑ordered weekly visits by Khan’s family proceed “without interruptions or administrative delays” and that any treatment decided by the medical board be provided promptly.
Similar demands were made in a February appeal for humane treatment; fourteen of the former captains had already supported that appeal. Khan, who led Pakistan’s cricket team and served as prime minister from 2018 to 2022, has been jailed since 2023 on corruption charges that he and the Pakistan Tehreek‑e‑Insaf claim are politically motivated.
The Supreme Court had ordered transfer to a private hospital, but authorities instead examined Khan at a government‑run facility that deemed him medically fit before returning him to prison. The call for medical care now echoes across nations, highlighting the cross‑border respect among former teammates.
