Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan twice turned down "serious" deals for release, a top aide to PM Shehbaz Sharif said, as tensions simmer over his health crisis.
Adviser to the prime minister on political affairs Rana Sanaullah disclosed during a talk show on Wednesday that “two serious attempts were made to cut a deal with Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan in the past, but they failed.”
“The first attempt was led by Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and then-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Ali Amin Gandapur before November 26, 2024, and the second was made by a few people from abroad in the recent past. Imran Khan initially agreed but later backed out of the deal,” Sanaullah said, as quoted by news agency PTI.
“We want a political solution to this problem, but Khan is not willing to find a way out,” he added.
Sanaullah, a close aide to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) head Nawaz Sharif, further said Khan wants the incumbent government to be packed and he comes to power.
The claims were immediately met with a fierce rebuttal. Federal Minister Attaullah Tarar in a post on X on Thursday called any claim of leniency “entirely false.”
"There is neither any deal nor any leniency being offered to Imran Khan. Any impression of the government granting relaxation to Imran Khan is entirely false. Imran Khan is a convicted criminal,” said Tarar.
Imran Khan has been offered eye treatment at Shifa Hospital in Islamabad as his family and party raised concerns about his health in prison.
Khan's lawyer, Salman Safdar, told the Supreme Court last week that the 73-year-old former premier had lost 85 per cent of vision in his right eye in jail.
Later, Khan's sister Noreen Khan said, "Imran Khan is enduring unimaginable mistreatment in prison under the directives of Field Marshal Gen Asim Munir as the country is under illegitimate and un-Islamic rule."
The cricketer-turned-politician has been in jail since August 2023 in multiple cases.
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