LONDON: Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram has urged authorities to give Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder and World Cup-winning captain Imran Khan “fair treatment”.
Cricketer-turned-politician Khan, 73, has been in jail since August 2023, convicted in a string of cases that he says were politically driven following his ouster in a 2022 parliamentary vote.
Akram told the ‘Old Boys, New Balls’ podcast co-hosted by another ex-England captain, Ian Botham: “We would like to thank all the captains that recently signed a petition for Imran. “I feel for skipper, I miss him as a friend, I miss him as a mentor, we miss him as a leader. We haven’t seen his picture for three years,” added outstanding left-arm fast bowler Akram, a key member of the Pakistan team led by Khan that won the 1992 World Cup. “What we want from this government is to give him fair treatment, like other politicians had before. “Fingers are crossed, Insha’Allah [God willing] the whole nation is behind him and he’ll be out [soon].”
His statement comes weeks after twenty-one former international cricket captains renewed their appeal to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for the medical treatment of incarcerated PTI founder, in line with the Supreme Court’s directives, ESPN Cricinfo reported.
