PTI’s Yasmin Rashid sent back to Kot Lakhpat Jail after doctors pressured into early discharge: lawyer
PTI Punjab President Yasmin Rashid was discharged from Lahore’s Services Hospital on Sunday after doctors were “pressured” to do so by a senior police officer, her lawyer Rana Mudassar alleged.
Rashid was hospitalised on Wednesday after she fell sick in Kot Lakhpat Jail, allegedly due to the lack of timely treatment.
She has been in prison for almost a year now in connection with multiple cases against her regarding the events of May 9, 2023, when countrywide protests and riots broke out after ex-premier Imran Khan’s arrest.
Rashid was first detained on May 12 last year under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance and re-arrested the next day for her alleged involvement in the May 9 riots.
On Wednesday, Rashid’s lawyer had alleged that the 72-year-old senior PTI leader, who is a cancer survivor, was not provided treatment by jail authorities the previous day despite continuous vomiting and stomach issues.
Mudassar alleged today that neither Rashid’s lawyers nor her family were allowed to meet her after she was hospitalised.
He told Dawn.com that his client had been kept in a “very uncomfortable place” at the hospital. He said that Rashid had been incarcerated for the last one year but had only experienced back problems once during this time.
He alleged that the bed at the hospital was “uncomfortable and broken” and the conditions had aggravated her back pain.
Mudassar alleged that doctors had said Rashid was required to remain in the hospital for “another two to three days as further investigations were needed as the infection was major”.
He added that while the PTI leader’s condition was comparatively better, doctors had advised further tests.
“She was under treatment when, suddenly, it was reported yesterday that a journalist came to meet her on their own — […] it is not in our knowledge how they met,” he said.
“I have come to know through various family and hospital sources that the deputy inspector general operations took [the matter] very seriously and aggressively, and ‘managed’ the doctors — more so pressurised (sic) rather than managed as the doctors were saying ‘we will keep her for two to three days more’ […] so today, despite it being a holiday, doctors called them in the morning at 8am and discharged her,” he said.
The lawyer further said that they had waited for quite some time so that Rashid could be taken back in an ambulance but the officials “put her in the same van that was parked in the scorching sunlight and took her [back to jail].
The lawyer lamented that the PTI leader was not being given her “basic rights”, saying that it was the state’s responsibility to do so.
He highlighted that Rashid’s family was also concerned about her well-being and if she would be kept jailed in the same conditions, which may lead to a repeat of such an illness and “could potentially be deadly”.
“Doctors are of the same opinion that taking care of her is very important,” he said.
It should be noted that Dr Rashid is on a judicial remand, which means that it is the Kot Lakhpat Jail’s administration — and not the police — that is responsible for her custody.
Dawn.com reached out to Kot Lakhpat Jail superintendent’s office and was informed that Dr Rashid had “recovered”, after which the jail staff took the decision to move her back to the prison.