Sourav Ganguly, Mohammad Azharuddin add to calls from ex-India captains for better treatment of Imran Khan

Sourav Ganguly and Mohammad Azharuddin have joined fellow former India captains Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar in voicing their concern for the health of former Pakistan prime minister and cricket great Imran Khan. Imran has been held in detention since August 2023 on a slew of charges that his supporters maintain are politically motivated, and is currently serving two separate sentences of 17 years and 14 years.

On Tuesday, 14 former international captains, which included Kapil and Gavaskar, signed a joint appeal demanding that Pakistan’s government treat Imran with basic dignity, provide urgent medical care and guarantee fair access to courts. "They have done the right thing (on former captains appealing for fair treatment of Imran)," Ganguly told reporters. "I hope his health recovers and I hope he gets the right treatment because he has taken Pakistan to the world map being captain of the Pakistan cricket team and then Prime Minister of Pakistan, so he should be looked after and I expect him to."

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Azharuddin, meanwhile, expressed his anguish on X. "Deeply saddened to hear about Imran bhai. Cricket has given us many shared moments, and as a fellow sportsman who has shared the platform and learned from him, I sincerely appeal that he be treated with dignity. Praying for his good health and strength for his family. @ImranKhanPTI #ImranKhanHealthEmergency," he said.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest all-rounders of all time, Imran, 73, led Pakistan to their only World Cup victory, in 1992 in Australia, a triumph that cemented his status as a national icon. He later entered politics, founding the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, and served as prime minister from 2018 to 2022, when he was removed from office in a no-confidence vote.

He is currently being held at Adiala prison in Rawalpindi where, according to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Alice Jill Edwards, he has been subjected to extended periods of solitary confinement, confined to his cell for 23 hours a day with severely restricted access to the outside world and under constant camera surveillance.

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