Rift between family and party emerges over Imran Khan’s health

A dispute has reportedly emerged between the family and party leadership of PTI founder Imran Khan over the handling of information related to his health, 24NewsHD TV channel reported on Wednesday.

According to sources, Imran Khan’s elder sister, Aleema Khan, has issued directions that no party leader should hold meetings or provide updates regarding the PTI founder’s medical condition.

She is said to have maintained that the matter of his health concerns the family, not the party, so she barred the party leaders from meeting Imran Khan in jail or hospital.

Sources further claimed that Aleema Khan took strong exception to meetings held by PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan with doctors and questioned the capacity in which he had been engaging with medical professionals.

She reportedly asked under what authority he was seeking briefings on former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s condition.

She warned Barrister Gohar that from now on he should refrain from holding any meetings related to the PTI founder’s health at Adiala Jail or at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS).

According to the sources, Aleema Khan has made it clear that any policy statement regarding Imran Khan’s health would be issued solely by the family and that the party would not be authorised to release such updates.

Yesterday, speaking to the media at the Dahgal Checkpoint near Adiala Jail after her meeting with Khan's wife, Bushra Bibi, Aleema Khan said that Imran Khan had sent a message that he had lost his eyesight and demanded that his personal doctors be granted access to him.

Aleema said that Khan's family had informed the authorities that the doctors did not wish to examine him in jail, and instead they wanted him to be shifted to hospital for proper treatment.

She said the family had suggested transferring Khan to Al-Shifa International Hospital, adding that his medical data was already available with his personal physicians.

She expressed reservations over a report prepared by a government doctor, saying the family did not consider it accurate and demanded a complete medical examination in the presence of Khan's personal doctors.

She questioned why Imran Khan was being kept in solitary confinement and why family members and personal doctors were not being given access to him. “Until he is shifted to hospital and examined by his own doctors, we will not believe anyone’s assurances,” she said.

Separately, Dr Uzma Niazi, in her media talk, questioned why the cause of the illness had not been disclosed in the medical report, stating that treatment could not begin until the underlying issue was identified. She also asked why family members were not being allowed to meet him.

Meanwhile, Uzma Niazi urged the public to raise their voice for the PTI founder, claiming that meetings with him had earlier been restricted and that the matter should not be treated lightly.

Reporter: Tayab Saif