Pakistan Government Challenges Supreme Court Order to Transfer Jailed Imran Khan to Private Hospital

Islamabad, Pakistan – The Pakistani government has officially challenged a Supreme Court directive that ordered jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan to be moved to a private hospital for medical care. The office of the chief commissioner in Islamabad filed a review petition on Wednesday, coming just a day after the top court instructed prison authorities to transfer Khan from Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail to Islamabad’s Shifa International Hospital within a 48-hour window.

The Supreme Court had mandated the creation of a five-specialist medical board while permitting Khan’s sister, Uzma Khan, and his personal physician, Faisal Sultan, to participate in his treatment. Additionally, the court granted Khan weekly family meetings and twice-weekly phone calls with his two sons residing in London, though it prohibited his family, legal team, and political allies from discussing his health publicly until proceedings resume on September 16.

However, the government’s newly filed petition contends that the court bypassed standard legal protocols by mandating the transfer without first consulting prison authorities, further cautioning that the ruling could prompt similar demands from other inmates. Imran Khan, 73, has remained incarcerated since August 2003 following convictions in multiple legal cases which he and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party maintain were politically driven. Over the past year, mounting anxieties regarding his health—particularly the vision in his right eye—have sparked continuous legal appeals from his supporters and family members.

Following the initial court mandate, Khan was visited at Adiala Jail by his wife, Bushra Bibi, alongside their two children, while his other sister, Noreen Niazi, made a brief visit marking her first in nine months. Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar released a video statement on Tuesday night asserting the government's stance that Khan should be examined exclusively at a public medical facility. He argued that the court's decision exceeded the legal framework governing prisoner medical provisions and insisted that prison regulations dictate a medical board—rather than a judicial directive—must determine the necessity of hospital transfers.

Simultaneously, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar accused the PTI during a televised news conference of previously politicizing the health concerns of political rivals. Meanwhile, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhary informed the Senate that the administration intended to comply with the judicial order because Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif lacked the authority to oppose court verdicts, highlighting a stark contradiction with the subsequently announced review petition.

Senior PTI figures seized on the conflicting government statements, with Sheikh Waqas Akram labeling the stance as sheer hypocrisy. Zulfi Bukhari echoed these sentiments, noting visible discord within government ranks regarding the Supreme Court's ruling. While legal arguments continue, PTI representatives stressed that the pending review petition does not automatically suspend the original order, warning that any failure to implement the transfer risks exacerbating political tensions.