ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s opposition protest entered its second day on Saturday as its leaders demanded that jailed former prime minister Imran Khan be shifted to a private hospital for urgent eye treatment, amid the government’s assurance that his examination would be conducted at a specialized medical institution.
A group of leaders belonging to Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-e-Ayeen-e-Pakistan — or the Movement to Protect the Constitution of Pakistan — gathered outside Parliament House a day after its members started a sit-in, as police maintained a heavy security presence around the building and nearby roads.
Salman Akram Raja, the secretary general of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, called for the former premier’s early transfer for treatment at Islamabad’s Shifa International Hospital.
“We have been told that there is consent to take him to Shifa International,” he said in a video message. “If that is the case, there should be no delay. We are also being told that one member of Khan’s family will be allowed to accompany him.”
Raja said Khan’s treatment should come first, followed by his release.
