PCB files complaint to Sky Sports over interview with Imran Khan's sons

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has made a formal complaint to Sky Sports, the official broadcaster of the ongoing England versus Pakistan three-match Test series, after it aired an interview with Imran Khan's two sons, Kasim and Sulaiman, with Michael Atherton during the lunch interval on the first day of the Lord's Test on August 27.

Kasim and Sulaiman openly expressed their concerns about their ailing father and said they feared for his life. During the interview, Imran's kids claimed their father was enduring excessive agony behind the bars and had lost 80% of his vision in one of his eyes.

Pakistan Television (PTV), which is broadcasting the match in Pakistan, decided not to air the interview. Imran's deteriorating health has been making headlines, especially after the Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered him to be taken and looked after at Shifa Hospital in Islamabad. But Imran was taken to a state-operated PIMS and escorted back to the prison after just a few hours of a check-up. 

22 former international captains signed a letter recently, requesting Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to treat Imran with dignity and compassion.

"Pakistan's Supreme Court ordered that Imran Khan be transferred to hospital for examination by a medical board that was to include his own personal physicians and his sister, Dr Uzma Khan," the letter read. "The Court also reinstated weekly family visits. These were very welcome steps. Concerningly, Mr Khan's hospital stay lasted only a few hours. He was examined by a state-appointed team rather than the board the Court had directed, declared "medically fit," and returned to Adiala Jail before that board could complete its work."

List of signatories

Michael Atherton, Alex Blackwell, Allan Border, Michael Brearley, Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, Belinda Clark, Alastair Cook, Michael Gatting, Sunil Gavaskar, Lee Germon, Adam Gilchrist, David Gower, Kim Hughes, Nasser Hussain, Clive Lloyd, Kapil Dev, Arjuna Ranatunga, Andrew Strauss, Dilip Vengsarkar, Steve Waugh, John Wright