In More Trouble for Imran Khan, Pak Govt Withdraws NOC to Cancer Hospital Named After Ex-PM’s Mother

The Pakistan government, in yet another effort to tighten the noose around former prime minister Imran Khan, has withdrawn the NOC issued to the Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital.

The No Objection Certificate (NOC) was given by the Islamabad District Administration but in a notice by the additional DM on Friday, the NOC was declared null and void.

The move also put in limbo a fundraising event planned in an Islamabad hotel for the hospital. The event included a musical concert and dinner to raise funds for the under-construction cancer facility in Karachi.

Sources in Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf called the development a “very serious threat to humanity”.

“The hospital has cutting-edge technology and treating thousands of patients every year is extremely costly. In the absence of this fund-raising, it will be difficult to sustain the hospital’s activities,” a source said.

Khan, who is hugely popular in Pakistan, was ousted last year after falling out with Pakistan’s powerful military leaders, then waging an unprecedented campaign of defiance against them.

He is currently jailed and facing numerous graft cases and allegations he leaked classified state documents, a crime carrying a prison term of up to 14 years or even the death penalty.

After his arrest this year sparked unrest, PTI has been the subject of a widespread crackdown, with leading party figures either jailed or forced to leave the party.

PTI turned in nomination papers for Khan on Friday, but they may be challenged on the basis of the electoral commission having disqualified him from office over a graft conviction earlier this year.

(With AFP inputs)