‘Imran wants movement for his release expedited’

• Dr Uzma says Imran being denied ‘human interaction’; suffering from anxiety, fears dying in isolation ‘like Egypt’s Morsi’
• Pims statement says eye doctors from Shifa participated in PTI founder’s medical check-up

ISLAMABAD: Fearing that he will be ‘killed th­­r­ough isolation’, PTI foun­der Imran Khan has cal­led on Khyber Pakhtun­k­hwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi to expedite the movement for his release, Dr Uzma Khan said on Friday after a brief meeting with her brother during his checkup at Pims in the early hours.

Addressing a press conference alongside her sisters and PTI leaders, Dr Uzma said that her bro­ther had complained that he was not allowed any human interaction, which he described as a form of ‘mental torture’.

She said that her bro­th­­er was suffering from an­­xiety, and feared the same end as former Egyptian ruler Mohamed Morsi.

Imran was not aware of anything, especially current developments, as he does not have access to ne­­­wspapers or television for the past 10 months, she said.

In response to a query about his he­­alth, she said he was “fit”, with no­­rmal blood pressure and imp­roved vision. “Just a small haemorrhage is left,” she added. However, she quo­ted her brother as saying that a doctor who examined him on Aug 10 said that he had severe anxiety due to “mental torture in solitary confinement”, and that anxiety caused high blood pressure.

Dr Uzma added that Imran said when he would complain about his health to prison doctors, “no one would listen or care”.

Narrating what he had told her, Dr Uzma said Imran Khan had asked her to request KP CM Afridi to expedite the movement for his release.

Consequently, the PTI-led opposition alliance announced its plans to hold a full-fledged protest on Sept 27.

Separately, PTI Cent­ral Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram also assailed the government for defying SC ord­ers, say­­­ing: “Declaring the PTI founder medically fit after a few hours of what appe­ars to have been a merely symbolic exercise and then shifting him back to Adiala jail before dawn raises serious questions”.

However, in a late-night statement, the administr­ation of the Pakistan Ins­titute of Medical Sciences (Pims) said that two specialists from Shifa Inter­national Hospital participated in Mr Khan’s eye assessment, while other exa­minations were carri­­ed out by the concerned Pims specialists.

“The clinical input ari­sing from the ophthalmological assessment was taken into account alongside findings of the investigations conducted at Pims,” the statement said.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2026