The PTI has condemned the government for not complying with the Supreme Court's directive to transfer Imran Khan to Shifa International Hospital, instead moving him to PIMS.
Islamabad, Pakistan Aug 21, 2026 ALN: The PTI on Friday slammed the government for “flouting” the orders issued by the Supreme Court for moving incarcerated party founder Imran Khan to Shifa International Hospital.
On Tuesday, the SC had directed the government to move Imran to Shifa International Hospital, a private facility. All eyes were on the hospital with a heavy police presence stationed on Thursday night. However, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar revealed on Friday that Imran was instead taken to the government-run Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims).
It is worth mentioning that the SC had ordered that Imran’s medical reports or information concerning his health should not be used for political purposes.
On Friday, Imran’s sister Uzma Khan, who was present for his medical examination, addressed a press conference in Islamabad alongside his personal physician, Dr Faisal Sultan. She said they had received a phone call on Thursday to reach Adiala jail, where Imran is incarcerated.
“So we reached the Adiala jail at around 8-8:30pm,” she added. Uzma said they were then taken to a deputy superintendent of police’s room, whom she identified as Sibtain.
“Later, Sibtain sahib asked Dr Sultan to go outside the room with him and me to stay in the room. Then, after around 10 to 15 minutes, a female assistant sub-inspector took me to a car.”
She added that all this while, police did not answer any of her queries, including those about Dr Sultan. Uzma said she was then taken to Pims.
“I asked them why you have brought me here; the SC has instructed for (Imran’s) treatment at Shifa International Hospital. At that, they told me we were there for a follow-up regarding Imran’s eye.”
Imran has been taken to Pims for treatment multiple times after his eye ailment — right central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) — came to light in late January.
Recounting her visit to Pims on Thursday night, Uzma said, “There was darkness all around.”
She said she was taken to an office as a man used the torch from his mobile phone to light the way. She said she assumed the office belonged to the head of a department at Pims.
“We sat there for a while, and then they took me upstairs. When I went upstairs, Imran was sitting there. He too was a little surprised. He then stood up, he was in shock. He told the doctors who were with him that she is my sister and we were meeting after 10 months,” she recalled.
Uzma said she told him he was there for a checkup and would later be taken to Shifa International Hospital, adding that she also enquired about Dr Sultan at Pims but received no response.
She said they were then taken back to an office, where an examination of Imran’s eye was conducted. “There were two to three doctors there, but I was not familiar with any of them. They introduced me to Dr Arif, but I did not know any of the others,” she said.
She said they were then taken to an office where an examination of Imran’s eye was conducted.
“They asked, ‘Khan sahib, which eye drops do you use?’
“I said if the drops they had prescribed were not mentioned in their notes. None of them knew,” she added.
One of the doctors said Imran needed to immediately undergo a test as his blood vessel had to be checked, she recalled, adding that she told the doctors they would be going to Shifa International Hospital for an examination and checkup.
Uzma said they were again shifted to another place after that, where the doctors said Imran had to be administered an injection. They also did other tests and said the eye condition and haemorrhage situation had improved, she said.
Then, a doctor came and checked Imran’s blood pressure, which was 120/80 or 70, she said.
“He (Imran) asked me what was happening, and I told him he would be taken to Shifa International Hospital for complete examination and, if required, any treatment. He was happy with that,” she recalled.
All this while, Uzma said, Imran kept telling her just one thing: that he had been subjected to “cruelty”.
“He said they were torturing them. He said a doctor who had visited him had concluded that his health deteriorated due to not having any human contact.
“He said he was not provided any reading material or television for the past 10 months,” she said.
Uzma added that Imran also said when he would complain about his health to prison doctors, “no one would listen or care”.
She further quoted him as telling her that a doctor who examined him on August 10 said that he had severe anxiety due to “mental torture in solitary confinement”, and that anxiety caused high blood pressure.
Uzma said that, complaining of his health condition, Imran said Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi “was killed the same way, by giving him stress and keeping him in solitary confinement”.
“He also said that Bushra Bibi was also being kept in solitary confinement […] He kept saying that they were subjecting him to cruelty,” Uzma said, adding that Imran told her that he was given newspapers and television for two days, after which these facilities were taken back.
She also rejected reports that Imran was not happy about being taken to Shifa International Hospital.
Continuing her account, Uzma said they were taken to the Adiala jail instead of Shifa International Hospital from Pims.
“When I disembarked the car I was in, I saw Dr Sultan getting off another car,” she said, adding that Imran’s message for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sohail Afridi was to expedite and intensify his movement.
Speaking after her, Dr Sultan said he was taken to Shifa International Hospital from the Adiala jail while Uzma was taken to Pims.
“There were security arrangements there, and I was asked to wait at the hospital. We kept waiting for around two to two and a half hours. I kept asking and they kept on saying that he (Imran) was arriving. I think they, too, were not completely aware of what the plan exactly was.
“Around 4:15-30pm, they told me that it seemed he (Imran) may not be able to come, and he probably had returned, and that I too should return,” he said.
Dr Sultan said he saw Uzma disembarking from another car upon reaching the Adiala jail, and then the two came to know that they were taken to separate hospitals.
Replying to a question, Uzma said Imran was not aware of the situation outside as he did not have access to newspapers and television.
To a query about Imran’s health, she said he was “fit”, his blood pressure was normal and vision had improved. “Just a small haemorrhage is left,” she added.
KP CM Afridi also spoke at the press conference, expressing regret over the government and administration’s conduct on Thursday.
“A decision by three judges of the Supreme Court was thrown in the dustbin,” he said, terming the act contempt of court.
“Judges across Pakistan now have to decide whether to get their decisions implemented or shut courts,” he remarked.
As Uzma conveyed Imran’s message to him, he said he would be expediting his movement for Imran’s release.
Moreover, he said, the PTI would file a contempt plea over Thursday night’s episode.
The KP CM also rejected claims that any PTI workers had gathered outside Shifa International Hospital on Thursday night.
Separately, PTI Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram also criticised the government for what he described as an “attempt to conceal its non-compliance with the Supreme Court’s order”.
Referring to Tarar’s X posts, he said they had once again “exposed the government’s familiar pattern of theatrics and misleading conduct”.
“The Supreme Court’s order has not been implemented and only a superficial exercise had been carried out to mislead the court and the nation,” Akram said in a statement.
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