ISLAMABAD : In an unprecedented show of solidarity, 21 former international cricket captains from around the world have written a second letter to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, urging his government to ensure “humane treatment and proper medical care” for former Pakistan captain and prime minister Imran Khan, who has been in custody for over three years.
The letter, dated August 23 and titled “Appeal by 21 Former International Cricket Captains on the Medical Treatment and Welfare of Imran Khan,” comes six months after an initial appeal signed by 14 former captains. Seven additional former skippers have now joined the group, expressing growing concern over the 73-year-old’s deteriorating health, particularly the reported loss of vision in his right eye.
The signatories include some of cricket’s most legendary names: Michael Atherton, Alex Blackwell, Allan Border, Michael Brearley, Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, Belinda Clark, Sir Alastair Cook, Sunil Gavaskar, Lee Germon, Adam Gilchrist, David Gower, Kim Hughes, Nasser Hussain, Sir Clive Lloyd, Kapil Dev, Arjuna Ranatunga, Sir Andrew Strauss, Dilip Vengsarkar, Stephen Waugh, and John Wright.
The former captains pointed to a Supreme Court order issued on August 18, which directed that Khan be transferred to a hospital for examination by a medical board that was to include his personal physicians and his sister, Dr. Uzma Khan. The court had also reinstated weekly family visits.
However, the cricketers expressed deep concern that Khan’s hospital stay lasted only a few hours. He was examined by a state-appointed team rather than the board the court had directed, declared “medically fit,” and returned to Adiala Jail before the board could complete its work. Reports also indicated that he was taken to the government-run Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) instead of the private Shifa International Hospital as ordered by the court, and could not undergo a recommended CT angiography due to unavailable facilities.
In their appeal, the former captains made three specific requests: first, that the Supreme Court-directed medical board — including Khan’s own doctors — be permitted to complete a full and independent assessment of his health; second, that weekly family visits be honored without interruption; and third, that any recommended treatment be provided without delay.
“We do not presume to adjudicate Pakistan’s domestic legal processes. That is not our place,” the letter stated. “Whatever the legal and political arguments surrounding his case, the basic decency of ensuring a court-ordered medical process is actually completed is not, in our view, a controversial request.”
The cricketers stressed that they were writing “not as politicians, but as former colleagues and rivals who share a bond forged on the cricket field — one that transcends the borders and disputes that too often divide countries.”
This marks the second such appeal this year. In February, 14 former captains had written to PM Shehbaz expressing “deep concern” over Khan’s health and prison conditions. Khan, who led Pakistan to its only Cricket World Cup victory in 1992, has been imprisoned since August 2023 following his ouster in a 2022 parliamentary vote — a conviction he has consistently decried as politically motivated.
