Muhammad Asim Gilani
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram has criticised the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) over its reported threat to boycott the Lord’s Test after Sky Sports aired an interview with the sons of imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan.
In a strongly worded statement issued by the PTI Central Media Department on Friday, Waqas described the PCB’s reported warning that Pakistan’s players would not return to the field after lunch if the interview was broadcast as an “alarming and shameful” example of state institutions being dragged into political victimisation.
He said it was deeply unfortunate that the PCB had allegedly interfered in a legitimate media interview instead of focusing on cricket simply because it involved Imran Khan’s sons, Kasim and Suleiman Khan.
The PTI leader accused the PCB of abandoning its role as an independent sporting institution and becoming, in his words, “an obedient political puppet” of the government.
The interview, conducted by former England captain and broadcaster Mike Atherton, focused on concerns raised by Imran Khan’s sons about their father’s health and wellbeing.
“The PCB should answer the nation as to why an interview with Imran Khan’s sons became such a threat that it considered preventing Pakistan’s players from taking the field at Lord’s,” Waqas said.
He questioned whether the PCB was still functioning as a cricket board or had become “another arm of the political regime”.
Waqas said Imran Khan’s sons had made clear during the interview that they would continue supporting the Pakistan cricket team against any side in the world, including England, despite their concerns over their father’s safety.
He accused the government of treating their comments as a political threat rather than respecting their right to speak about their father’s health.
The PTI leader described Imran Khan as a World Cup-winning cricketer and internationally recognised political figure, arguing that neither the PCB nor the government could silence his voice or conceal his situation from the international community.
He also referred to concerns previously raised by international organisations, including the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and Amnesty International, regarding Imran Khan’s detention and treatment.
Waqas further alleged that the government’s failure to comply with a recent Supreme Court direction concerning Imran Khan’s medical treatment, followed by his return to prison, had intensified concerns about the rule of law and fundamental rights.
He said the issue was not whether the PCB could silence Imran Khan’s sons, but why their voices had become such a concern that a Test match at Lord’s was allegedly being drawn into political censorship.
Waqas also criticised the government over what he described as rising lawlessness, inflation, youth unemployment and growing public anger.
He called for the authorities to “restore sanity”, release Imran Khan and restore what PTI describes as his constitutional powers and public mandate.
“Pakistan cannot afford to keep its most popular political leader behind bars anymore while the country sinks deeper into crisis,” he said, urging the government to respect the Constitution, restore the people’s mandate and allow the country to move forward.
