GILGIT: The family members and political activists have assailed the Gilgit-Baltistan government for not granting permission to the imprisoned Awam Workers Party leader Baba Jan to travel to Islamabad for a medical checkup.

The protesters alleged that Baba Jan, who has been serving life imprisonment for last eight years, was suffering from chest pain in district jail Ghakuch for last one year, but the government was not allowing him to have medical checkup in Islamabad.

Several activists of political parties and family members of the jailed leader gathered outside the Hunza Press Club in Alibad on Sunday and held a demonstration.

They said Baba Jan was shifted to a government hospital in Gilgit city where the doctors suggested him to have an angiography, which was not available in GB hospitals. But, they regretted that the government was not allowing the leader to get the necessary medical checkup in a major hospital.

Addressing the protesters, a sister of Baba Jan said she met her brother in jail recently and that he was complaining about pain in chest.

“The imprisoned patient is being given only pain killers; the life of my brother is at risk,” she said, adding he should be allowed to have medical checkup in a hospital in Islamabad.

Azeem Hunzai, an AWP activist, said protest demonstrations were organised in Hunza, Islamabad and other parts of the country demanding permission for treatment of Baba Jan in a major hospital of the country.

He said to have a medical checkup to his satisfaction was his fundamental right.

They warned that the GB and federal governments would be responsible if anything happened to the detained leader.

Baba Jan was convicted by an anti-terrorism court for his involvement in Hunza riots during a protest demonstration on Aug 11, 2011, seeking rehabilitation of the affected people of Attabad artificial lake.

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2019