ISLAMABAD: After being denied permission to meet his chief of staff Shahbaz Gill at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), PTI chairperson Imran Khan announced that he will hold rallies across Pakistan in support of his party official.
Khan made the announcement while speaking with the media outside PIMS.
"We will conduct rallies across all divisional headquarters," Khan said, inviting PTI supporters to join him in raising his voice against the torture and ill-treatment meted out to his chief of staff.
"They don't care about court orders," he said, criticising the government's treatment of Gill and their disregard in relation to his health.
Amid strict security within PIMS' premises, Khan earlier reached the hospital to meet his chief of staff Shahbaz Gill, who has been admitted as per court orders. The former PM was, however, denied permission to visit his party member.
Earlier, Khan reacted to videos of Gill circulating on social media, where he could be seen crying in pain and unable to breathe when brought to court from the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) earlier on Friday.
Khan, in his tweet, claimed that all the pictures and videos of Gill clearly show that he was tortured both mentally and physically, also citing sexual abuse “most too gruesome to relate”.
“He was humiliated to break him down. I now have full detailed info. ICT police says it did not inflict any torture,” Imran Khan tweeted.
Questioning the alleged torture on Gill, which has been denied by the Islamabad Capital Police and Punjab’s Home Minister Hashim Dogar, Khan wrote “Who tortured Gill?”
“There is a general perception in the public at large & in our minds too as to who could have carried out the gruesome torture,” he tweeted, warning the authorities and government to expect public reaction.
“We will leave no stone unturned to find out those responsible & bring them to justice,” Khan wrote on his official Twitter account.
Earlier today, Shahbaz Gill was taken out of the PIMS at 7:30am on Friday accompanied by a heavy police contingent for a hearing of a sedition case filed against him.
He came out in a wheelchair with an oxygen mask put on from the rear gate of the health facility.
A Geo News correspondent present at the court shared that Gill was coughing in the ambulance and apparently was having breathing issues.
A doctor was also present all the time to monitor Gill's health.
Ahead of the start of formal proceedings, Gill's counsel Faisal Chaudhry went to inquire after him as well.
When asked, the lawyer remarked "how can he go to the second floor in this condition?"
When Gill was coming out of the ambulance, he was seen crying and saying that he is unable to breathe.
An Islamabad court earlier ordered another medical examination of PTI leader Shahbaz Gill, saying his "condition is not well".
The court issued the order which was reserved earlier today after the police sought an 8-day extension in his physical remand in a sedition case filed against him at the Kohsar Police Station over anti-army remarks issued on television.
"Shahbaz Gill's condition is not good, he should undergo a medical examination again," the court said, and ordered authorities to keep him at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Science (PIMS) till Monday.
Rejecting the plea of Gill’s lawyer that the two-day remand granted on August 17 has been completed, Judicial Magistrate Raja Farrukh Ali Khan said the remand has not even started yet and directed the prosecution to submit a medical report at the next hearing.
“Shahbaz Gill is an asthma patient, conduct medical tests,” the judge said.
A PIMS medical board declared the PTI leader “fit” and “healthy” and able to be discharged anytime.
As per the report, 10 different medical tests and x-rays were conducted on the PTI leader at the hospital and all of them were declared “clear”. Sources said that the report did not find any torture marks.
A district and sessions court, on August 17, ordered Gill — who was behind bars since August 9 — into police custody for a further 48 hours. However, PTI challenged the case in the Islamabad High Court.