LAHORE (The Thursday Times) — A petition has been filed in a special anti-terrorism court in Lahore asking for the PTI’s Dr Yasmin Rashid to be moved from Kot Lakhpat Jail to a hospital, citing what it describes as a serious decline in her health.
The petition, submitted by her lawyer Rana Mudassar, says the former Punjab health minister has been in custody in various cases since May 10, 2023, and suffers from cancer and asthma. It says her health has worsened sharply because of the smog that has settled over Lahore this month.
Doctors have recommended hydrotherapy and physiotherapy, according to the petition, which says she cannot receive that treatment in prison. It says her latest MRI scan found serious problems with her spine and that doctors have advised surgery, which it argues cannot be carried out while she remains in jail.
The petition also alleges that the jail authorities did not move her to hospital despite an earlier court order, and that she is being denied basic rights. It asks the court to order her immediate transfer and to make sure she receives proper medical treatment. The petition’s claims about her treatment in jail could not be independently verified.
Held since May 2023
Dr Rashid, a gynaecologist who served as Punjab’s health minister from 2018 to 2022, was arrested after the violence of May 9, 2023, when PTI supporters attacked military and government buildings following the arrest of Imran Khan. In December 2025, an anti-terrorism court in Lahore sentenced her and several other PTI leaders to 10 years in prison in further May 9 cases.
She has been moved from jail to hospital before. In July 2025 she was shifted to a Lahore hospital after her health deteriorated in custody. In June this year, her family and the jail authorities dismissed rumours on social media that she had died.
Kot Lakhpat also held Imran Khan’s sisters Noreen and Uzma, who were freed this week after seven weeks in custody.
