LAHORE — Senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has been admitted to the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute (PKLI) in Lahore due to complications from gallbladder stones, his daughter Meher Bano Qureshi confirmed on Friday.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Meher Bano said her father was undergoing medical tests after his condition worsened. “He has lived with gallstones for years,” she wrote. “In 2023, while incarcerated in Adiala Jail, doctors had advised surgery after his condition deteriorated. He chose not to undergo the procedure then, unwilling to do so while in solitary confinement.”
She added that the stones had since increased in size and that surgery was now unavoidable, pending doctors’ final assessment.
Meher Bano also disclosed that her father experienced a cardiac emergency earlier this year while held at Kot Lakhpat Jail near Lahore. She expressed concern over what she described as “inhumane and unjust conditions” faced by imprisoned PTI leaders and workers.
“Many continue to battle the effects of prolonged confinement, neglect, and isolation,” she wrote, adding that some had lost their lives while in custody.
Qureshi’s son Zain Qureshi also confirmed that his father’s condition required surgery and asked supporters to pray for his recovery. “Please pray for him, for Imran Khan sahib, Bushra Bibi, and all imprisoned PTI leaders and workers,” he said.
Former PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry wrote on X that Qureshi had been in hospital for several days and had received visits from family members and constituents.
“If the PTI leadership can’t even go to inquire about him, then saying that we shouldn’t visit him is strange logic,” Chaudhry remarked.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi has been in custody since August 2023, facing multiple cases related to the May 9, 2023 riots. In July 2024, an anti-terrorism court in Lahore indicted him in a case registered by Shadman police, accusing him of involvement in the attack and arson of a police station.
