The opening day of the second Test between England and Pakistan at Lord’s was quite eventful. Not for cricket, for stuff far beyond. Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan has been in jail for more than three years now, and recently, after the apex court in the country directed that he be taken to hospital for check-ups, he made it back to the headlines. However, it was reported that his check-up was a rushed affair, after which a bunch of former cricketers wrote to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and urged him to provide Imran with humane treatment.
Some of these former cricketers had urged the authorities in Pakistan earlier this year too, after it was reported that Imran was losing vision in his right eye due to medical negligence. Former England captain Michael Atherton is one of them. So, what happened was this: Sky Sports, broadcasters for the ongoing series, decided to run a pre-recorded interview of Imran’s sons Kasim and Sulaiman with Atherton during the lunch break on day one, after which the Pakistan cricket team threatened to boycott the match.
However, the interview was run after an intense dialogue and the Pakistani team took back its threat. Be that as it may, PTV, Pakistan’s government channel showing the match with the feed from Sky, ran a series of advertisements the moment the sneak preview went on air. Needless to say, they wouldn't have run the full interview at the lunch break either.
Deep Dive
What specific health concerns have Imran Khan's sons raised about their father's condition in prison?
Why did the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) lodge a complaint with Sky Sports regarding the interview with Imran Khan’s sons?
How have former cricketers responded to Imran Khan's situation while in prison?
“Just look at the PTV channel. As soon as Kasim and Suleman appeared on the screen during the Pakistan-England match, PTV Sports started running commercials. They have just proved that they are personal servants of this 17-seat government and its handlers,” a user wrote on X. Going by the wording, he should be an Imran sympathiser.
{{/usCountry}}“Just look at the PTV channel. As soon as Kasim and Suleman appeared on the screen during the Pakistan-England match, PTV Sports started running commercials. They have just proved that they are personal servants of this 17-seat government and its handlers,” a user wrote on X. Going by the wording, he should be an Imran sympathiser.
{{/usCountry}}“They [Khan’s captors] are not even acting with any kind of strategy any more. It is not very clear what they are doing, just blatantly trying to kill him in there. Keep him in as long as possible, and silence him.
“The last time he was able to speak to our aunties and anyone else, he said the conditions have severely worsened recently. He has been relating it to other political prisoners who have been killed or who have died in prison. Right now, it is worse than ever, completely isolating him more than 23 hours a day in a cell.
“Right now, it’s really crucial for us that he gets proper treatment. He had an eye patch on for the eye situation, seemed visibly stressed, and that is something that is very hard for us to imagine because he embodies a very calm, assured presence, every time I have ever seen him, including being at gunpoint. A car we were in was robbed, and he was the calmest person there, including the robbers,” Kasim said in the interview.
Sulaiman added: “Our fears were confirmed when, instead of being taken to the private hospital, where he was meant to be taken, he was just taken to a government medical facility for a few hours, and then taken straight back to jail.”