Khan Hospital Transfer Dispute
The family and party of former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan accused authorities on Friday of defying a Supreme Court order after he was taken to a government hospital instead of the private facility specified by the court.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court had ordered Khan, 73, to be transferred from Adiala Prison in Rawalpindi to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad for medical examinations by a board that included his personal physician. Instead, he was taken early Friday to the government-run Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS).
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the change was made because of “the security situation caused by PTI supporters” near Shifa Hospital. He said doctors examined Khan at PIMS and declared him medically fit. Khan was then returned to Adiala Prison at around 5am.
The decision sparked accusations from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and his family that the government had ignored the country’s highest court.
Family Raises Concerns
Speaking at a press conference in Islamabad, Khan’s sister Uzma Khan said her brother had complained about both his deteriorating health and the conditions of his detention.
She said Khan told her, “they are treating me very cruelly and causing me great suffering.”
According to Uzma Khan, another doctor who examined her brother linked his deteriorating condition to “a lack of human contact or interaction with other people.” She said Khan had also told her he had received no newspapers or reading material and had not watched television for the past 10 months.
Khan’s personal physician Faisal Sultan, who was also named to the medical board constituted by the Supreme Court, said he went to Shifa International Hospital and waited for around three hours, expecting Khan to be brought there.
“I kept asking when (Khan) will be brought and they kept saying, ‘in few minutes’,” Sultan said.
He said he was later told Khan “would not manage to reach here” and may have been returned to prison, before being asked to leave.
Political Tensions Continue
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Khan Afridi accused the authorities of disregarding the Supreme Court’s decision.
“What is happening is contempt of the Supreme Court,” he said, arguing that the incident was not an insult to just three judges, but “An insult to all the judiciary.”
Afridi rejected claims that PTI supporters had obstructed Khan’s transfer, saying the party had issued no instructions for supporters to gather at the hospital.
Khan has been in prison since 2023 and is serving sentences in several cases, while facing further proceedings. He denies wrongdoing and says the cases against him are “politically motivated.”
Article by Viory
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