Jailed Pakistani ex-PM Imran Khan transferred to hospital after court order, his party says
By Ariba Shahid and Mubasher Bukhari
ISLAMABAD, Aug 21 (Reuters) – Jailed former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was transferred to Shifa International Hospital in the capital early Friday for medical examination, his party said, a step that could open a rare path toward lowering tensions with the country’s military establishment.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said he had been moved from Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi in line with a Supreme Court order. The ruling, issued Tuesday, gave authorities 48 hours to transport the 73-year-old to the hospital and allow a medical panel — including his personal physician — to assess his condition.
The former cricket star’s lawyers say his health has deteriorated during more than three years in detention, with significant loss of vision in his right eye. The government has previously said medical reports showed no condition that needed immediate treatment.
Khan was ousted from office in April 2022 after a vote of no confidence, and has since been locked in a bitter confrontation with Pakistan’s powerful military. He accuses the army of engineering his removal and of using the courts to keep him out of politics; the military and the government deny the charge.
The court-ordered hospital transfer is being watched closely as a possible sign of shifting legal and political dynamics. For Khan’s supporters, it is a long-overdue acknowledgment of his medical needs after months of complaints about his treatment in custody. For his opponents, it complicates a narrative that he is receiving ordinary due process.
PTI spokesman Zulfikar Bukhari called the ruling a “new ray of hope” in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, but he also made clear that the party would press ahead with a nationwide march planned for Sept. 27 to demand access to Khan, faster hearings in his cases, and his release.
Khan has been imprisoned since August 2023. He maintains that all cases against him are politically motivated, an allegation the authorities reject.
(Reporting by Ariba Shahid in Karachi, Mubasher Bukhari in Lahore, and Asif Shahzad in Islamabad; Writing by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)