LAHORE — Noreen Niazi, a sister of jailed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan, was taken from Kot Lakhpat jail to the Punjab Institute of Cardiology on Wednesday night after she developed chest pain and heart-related discomfort in detention, her lawyer said, according to The News.
Her lawyer, Rana Mudassar Umar, said she experienced discomfort in her heart while detained at Kot Lakhpat, and that jail doctors recommended the transfer. She arrived at the hospital at about 7:30 p.m. and doctors began initial medical tests, according to Dawn. Reports said she had high blood pressure and that an ECG reading was abnormal, with blood tests pending. Umar said her family was not informed about the transfer. PTI, in a statement reported by Pakistan Point, said Noreen Niazi is 70 years old, called her detention illegal, and demanded that she receive the best available care, that verified information about her health be shared with her family at once, and that the family be allowed to meet her.
A senior jail officer disputed the family’s account of medical care in detention, telling Dawn that inmates are allowed daily-use items and medicines and that all three sisters have been receiving them. The lawyer has alleged the sisters were denied medication and visits, and that Uzma Khan, who is a heart patient, received her medicine only after her husband obtained a Lahore High Court order, according to Dawn’s reporting.
All three of Khan’s sisters are being held under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, 1960. Aleema Khan was detained on September 20, and Noreen Niazi and Uzma Khan were taken into custody on September 21 and moved to Kot Lakhpat jail, The News reported. The detentions came ahead of PTI’s planned nationwide protest and long march on Islamabad on September 27, which sought Khan’s release. The Punjab government has since extended the sisters’ detention by another 30 days, according to a report it submitted to the Lahore High Court, which disposed of a release petition filed by Aleema’s son Shahrez Khan after reviewing the extension, The News reported.
Khan, 74, has been in prison for more than three years, and his sisters have been among the most visible campaigners for his release, leading protests and speaking to reporters outside courts and jails. PTI’s planned march was halted inside Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the federal government imposed emergency and governor’s rule in the province on October 11, removing the party’s provincial government — a move PTI has challenged in court and describes as a coup in all but name, while the government defends it on security grounds.
No official medical bulletin on Noreen Niazi’s condition had been issued by Thursday morning, and it was not clear whether she would remain at the cardiology institute or be returned to jail. PTI said the government would be responsible if her health worsened. The News report is available from The News.
