Pat Cummins backs Greg Chappell on petition seeking humane treatment for Imran Khan

New Delhi: Australia’s Test and ODI captain Pat Cummins on Friday threw his weight behind a petition led by former international captains, including ex-Australia player Greg Chappell, which demands dignified treatment and proper court-directed medical care for jailed former Pakistan captain and Prime Minister Imran Khan.

In the petition raised by Chappell and addressed to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, which includes signatures from Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Dilip Vengsarkar, it has urged Pakistani authorities to grant family access and independent medical checks for Khan.

“Adding my support here to GC and the other former international captains. I hope the court-ordered medical assessment be allowed to run its course, and that family visits continue. I hope Imran Khan is treated with the dignity anyone deserves,” Cummins wrote on his ‘X’ account on Friday.

The petition was signed by 21 former international captains, including Sir Alastair Cook, Michael Atherton, Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist, and Nasser Hussain, and expressed grave concern over Khan’s health, particularly reports regarding significant vision loss in his right eye, after he spent over three years in custody.

“Imran Khan is 73 years old and has now spent more than three years in custody. 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 letter stated.

The signatories laid out three primary demands: a comprehensive health evaluation by a Supreme Court-directed medical board that includes Khan’s personal physicians, uninterrupted weekly family visitation rights, and immediate implementation of any recommended medical treatment.

The petitioners described themselves as ‘former colleagues and rivals who share a bond forged on the cricket field’ that ‘transcends the borders and disputes that too often divide countries’.

Khan led Pakistan to their maiden Men’s ODI World Cup triumph in 1992 and served as the country’s prime minister from 2018 to 2022, before being jailed in August 2023 on multiple charges, which his party and aides maintain are politically motivated.

The joint appeal follows a recent controversy where Khan was examined by a state-appointed team at a government facility rather than being transferred to a private hospital for evaluation by his personal doctors, as ordered by Pakistan’s top court.

Furthermore, in a recent episode of The Grade Cricketer podcast, Chappell raised serious concerns over Khan’s failing health. “I mean, 73 years of age, so obviously, you know, he’s getting older, but I met up with him in Pakistan six years ago, and he was still a strong, robust older man. That’s not the case anymore. His right eye apparently has developed a disability… he’s struggling. He’s been in isolation for three years.

“At the moment, he’s not getting any better. From a physical point of view, it’s hard to get information, but I saw a video clip the other day, I’m assuming of his latest trip to hospital, where he was put into a wheelchair to get him from wherever he was to wherever he was going. He didn’t look well at all. He didn’t look robust. He didn’t look like he could really get around very much.

“I don’t think he is allowed to read books. He’s pretty much just got to sit there by himself. And he’s in the dark most of the time. So that’s not good for your mental health. And as your mental health deteriorates, your physical health is going to deteriorate. Imran is as strong physically and mentally as anyone that I played cricket against. But I don’t know how you deal with absolute isolation for three years.”

IANS