KARACHI, Sept 10: Hundreds of well-wishers of Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan thronged the Aga Khan Hospital and prayed for his early recovery on Sunday afternoon.

They left flowers and messages, written on large banners and on placards, at the gate of the hospital. One sign read: “Dr Qadeer get well soon,” and another said “The entire nation is praying for Dr Qadeer’s early recovery.”

No one was allowed to visit Dr Khan, who was moved to Karachi on Thursday from Islamabad and admitted to Aga Khan Hospital. He underwent surgery for prostate cancer at the hospital on Saturday.

“The government should lift restrictions on Qadeer Khan,” said Prof Ghafoor Ahmed, a senior leader of Jamaat-i-Islami, who led the gathering of Dr Khan’s well-wishers outside the hospital.

He demanded that people should be allowed to meet the nuclear scientist. He said that Dr A.Q. Khan was benefactor of Pakistan and not only all people of Pakistan but the entire Muslim world was praying for his early recovery.

Leaders of different political parties, who had converged at the main entrance of the Aga Khan Hospital on Sunday afternoon, were not allowed to enter the hospital premises for want of security of nuclear scientist.

Besides other party leaders, bouquets on behalf of the chairperson of Pakistan People’s Party, Benazir Bhutto, were also placed by PPP leaders Rafique Engineer and Rashid Rabbani, where a register was also kept to record their good wishes.

Recalling the contribution of the nuclear scientist for making Pakistan’s defence invincible, Prof Ghafoor Ahmad demanded that after his full recovery all restrictions on the movement of Dr Khan should be lifted and his right to live as a free man should be accorded to him.

He said: “People revered and valued their respective nuclear scientists everywhere in the world except Pakistan where the government had enforced restrictions on their nuclear father at the behest of the US. The entire nation was protesting over this attitude of the government,” he remarked.

Also present on the occasion, PML-N Vice-President Mamnoon Hussain said that the man who made Pakistan able to face any challenge was deprived of his personal freedom. He said that the entire nation was disappointed over his indisposition and demanded the government to grant him back his freedom to live.

After the speeches, MMA Karachi President Siddique Rathore led prayers for early recovery of the scientist. He was joined by all the leaders gathered there including Dr Mairajul Huda Siddiqui, Muhammad Hussain Menhanti and Nasrullah Shaji of Jamaat-i-Islami, Zubair Khan of Tehreek-i-Insaaf, Zia Abbas of NPP, Abdul Haleem Ghori of JUI-F, Khwaja Tariq Nazeer of PML-N, Basharat Mirza of PDP and others. They also brought flower bouquets. Some of the participants were holding placards which read: “God save Dr Qadeer” and “Honour of the Nation! Get well soon”.

Col (retd) Saleem of the Aga Khan Hospital, who was present on this occasion, expressed gratitude to the political leaders for extending their cooperation with the hospital management. He assured them that their feelings would be conveyed to Dr Qadeer and bouquets would be delivered to his attendants.