LAHORE -UNS: Bushra Bibi, the wife of former prime minister Imran Khan, has voiced concerns about the possibility of her husband being “poisoned” while he is incarcerated at District Jail Attock, it emerged on Friday.
On Aug 5, an Islamabad trial court had convicted Imran in a case pertaining to concealing details of state gifts and sentenced him to three years in prison. Soon after the verdict, he was arrested by the Punjab police from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore and taken to the prison in Attock.
Imran’s lawyer, Naeem Haider Panjutha, has on several occasions criticised the conditions the PTI chief is allegedly being kept in.
On Aug 7, he told the media about the conditions after meeting his client in the jail. “I asked Khan sahib about the situation in jail after his arrest. He said he is being kept in a dark, small, C-Class, chakki wala (manual labour) room. He said there is an open washroom there, which does not have a shower.
“He said the jail has flies in the morning and insects in the evening,” Panjutha had said.
In a letter dated August 17, addressed to the Punjab home secretary — a copy of which is available with Dawn.com — Imran’s wife sought the ex-PM’s transfer from District Jail Attock to Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail and expressed fear he could be poisoned in lock-up.
According to the letter, the life of the ex-prime minister was in danger as “he was previously attacked twice whereby once he was hit by bullets shots (sic) on his body.”
“Moreover it is apprehended that he may be poisoned in the jail through food as the ones responsible and perpetrators of previous attacks are still at large and have not been captured by the law enforcement agencies,” Bushra feared.
She questioned her husband’s detention at Attock jail, citing the lack of apparent justification.
The letter highlighted that Imran was eligible for B-Class facilities within the jail premises due to several reasons. These reasons encompass his “leadership as the former captain of Pakistan’s national cricket team, his distinguished status as an alumnus of Oxford University in the UK, and his past role as the prime minister of Pakistan”.
She pointed out that it was against the jail rules to “keep the person of my husband’s stature at a place which lacks even the very basic amenities”.
Bushra wrote that her husband was not even being allowed homemade food “which is against the rules and in violation of fundamental rights”.
“It was duty of the jail authorities to provide him all the facilities within 48 hours but even after lapse of 12 days no facility whatsoever has been provided which is disgrace to the leader of the largest political party,” she added.
She asserted that there exist ample grounds to accord Imran the B-Class facilities as outlined in the rules.
“An exhaustive legal inquiry be undertaken to elucidate the legality of his current detention within your jurisdiction,” she appealed to the provincial home secretary.
Among other requests, the politician’s spouse said her husband be promptly provided with “B-Class facilities,” the option to have home-cooked food, and the opportunity to consult his “personal physician”.
