Imran on hunger strike

ISLAMABAD—Pakistani cricket hero Imran Khan began a hunger strike Monday in the prison where he was sent last week for protesting against emergency rule, his spokesman told. He said Khan, who now heads his own opposition party, wanted restoration of the constitution and reinstatement of judges sacked when Persident Pervez Musharraf imposed the emergency just over two weeks ago.
“Imran Khan has gone on hunger strike for an indefinite period,” spokesman Saifullah Niazi said. “He is demanding the restoration of the judiciary and restoration of the constitution,” Niazi said. Khan, who turns 55 later this week, is detained in Deraghazi Khan prison, which is normally used to house terrorists and hardened prisoners.
He was picked up last Wednesday and charged under a section of anti-terror legislation which stipulates a minimum punishment of at least seven years and up to life in prison. “Imran was looking tired. He is being kept in solitary confinement and said he has been denied facilities such as newspapers and television,” Omar Sarfraz Cheema, a spokesman of his party for Punjab province told.—Agencies
“He has gone on hunger strike until his death,” Cheema added. A jail official however said Khan was not on hunger strike. “He is not hunger strike, he is normal and had been locked up with other prisoners,” jail superintendent Sheikh Nadeem Ahmad said. Khan had been put under house arrest after emergency rule was declared on November 3 but slipped the net and went into hiding, communicating via email and video.
He was arrested after emerging from hiding last Wednesday at a protest on a university campus in the eastern city of Lahore. Lahore police said then that he would face charges for inciting people to pick up arms, calling for civil disobedience and “spreading hatred.” Khan, who led Pakistan to cricket World Cup glory in 1992, had called for Musharraf to face the death penalty for imposing emergency rule.