Pakistan | By Shahnoor Saqib
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s federal government on Wednesday filed a review petition in the Supreme Court challenging its August 18 interim order directing jailed former prime minister Imran Khan to be shifted from Adiala Jail to Shifa International Hospital, arguing that the court bypassed established prison procedures and granted relief beyond the scope of the proceedings.
The petition asks the Supreme Court to review and recall its directive for Khan’s treatment at the private Islamabad hospital. The government maintains that it is not opposing medical care for the PTI founder, but says any transfer outside prison should follow the legal framework governing prisoners and, where necessary, treatment should ordinarily be provided at an appropriate government hospital.
The legal challenge came a day after a three-member Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Shahid Waheed ordered Khan’s transfer to Shifa International Hospital within two days and directed that a medical board, including specialists and his personal physician, assess his condition.
Government Says Court Bypassed Prison Rules
At the heart of the review petition is a jurisdictional argument.
The government contends that decisions to move prisoners for outside medical treatment are governed by established prison rules and administrative procedures. It argues that the August 18 order effectively bypassed that mechanism by directing Khan’s transfer to a specific private hospital.
Authorities have also raised an equality and precedent argument: if one convicted prisoner is permitted to obtain treatment at a private institution through a judicial order, similarly situated inmates could seek the same relief.
Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar had signalled the challenge shortly after Tuesday’s ruling, saying the government would ask the court to allow treatment at a tertiary-care public hospital instead. He said specialists from Shifa or other institutions could still be included in the medical team if their expertise was required.
Government Says It Is Not Opposing Treatment
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar has sought to draw a distinction between challenging the location and legal mechanism of Khan’s treatment and opposing treatment itself.
The government says Khan should receive whatever medical care doctors consider necessary but argues that his status as a former prime minister should not place him outside rules applicable to other prisoners.
That distinction will now become central to the review proceedings.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to resume hearing petitions concerning Khan’s hospitalisation on September 16.
PTI Sees Health as a Rights Issue
PTI and Khan’s family have pressed for independent medical access amid concerns about his health, including problems affecting his vision.
The party welcomed Tuesday’s Supreme Court ruling and asked workers not to gather outside Shifa International Hospital, seeking to prevent the transfer from becoming a political mobilisation. Khan’s family has also urged authorities to comply with the court order.
Khan has remained incarcerated since 2023 and continues to challenge convictions and proceedings in several cases.
The Changer Angle: The Fight Is No Longer About Whether Khan Gets Treatment
The most important shift is being obscured by the political confrontation.
Both sides now broadly accept that Khan can receive specialist medical care. The dispute has moved to who has the authority to decide where and under what rules that treatment occurs.
For the government, the issue is prison administration, equal treatment and the precedent created by allowing a court to specify a private hospital.
For Khan’s side, the issue is whether ordinary prison procedures have provided sufficiently independent and appropriate medical care to a high-profile prisoner whose health has repeatedly reached the courts.
That makes the review petition potentially more consequential than another government-PTI confrontation.
The Supreme Court may ultimately have to clarify the boundary between judicial protection of prisoners’ fundamental rights and the executive’s statutory authority to administer prisons.
And that ruling could matter well beyond Imran Khan.