By Sumayya
The Supreme Court of Pakistan has officially directed prison authorities to transfer incarcerated former Prime Minister Imran Khan to a medical facility following persistent appeals regarding his failing health. A three-member judicial bench mandated that the cricketer-turned-politician be moved to Shifa International Hospital, located in the capital city of Islamabad, within the next 48 hours to undergo a comprehensive evaluation by specialized medical professionals. Along with the medical transfer, the apex court ruled that Khan must be permitted regular weekly visits with his family members alongside scheduled telephonic communication with his sons.
The 73-year-old political leader has been behind bars since August 2023 on various corruption convictions, legal battles, and sentences that he and his legal representatives consistently denounce as politically manufactured. While the federal government has refrained from issuing an immediate public response to the judiciary’s intervention, the bench explicitly highlighted its foundational duties in the written order issued on Tuesday. The panel emphasized that the court remains deeply attentive to its constitutional and legal responsibilities regarding the preservation of an inmate’s life, medical well-being, personal dignity, and overall safety.
The judicial intervention comes after long-standing warnings from Khan’s defense team regarding his multiple untreated medical issues, most notably a severe drop in his visual acuity due to a lack of access to specialized clinical attention. Earlier this year in February, his counsel publicly revealed that the former premier retained a mere 15 percent of his vision in his right eye, attributing the permanent decline to deliberate negligence by penitentiary officials—a claim that state authorities strongly denied at the time. Acknowledging these specific concerns, the Supreme Court’s latest directive explicitly notes that an expert ophthalmologist will be directly involved in supervising his upcoming clinical care.
Reacting to the development, Zulfikar Bukhari, a senior adviser to the former prime minister, expressed a bittersweet sentiment regarding the long-awaited breakthrough. While welcoming the judicial decree, Bukhari noted via statements carried by the AFP news agency that the legal team deeply wishes this medical intervention had materialized much earlier, which could have prevented such a profound and tragic deterioration of Khan’s eyesight and general physiological state.
Anticipating potential public unrest, both the presiding judicial bench and senior leadership within Khan’s political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), have issued strict directives to the public. Supporters have been firmly warned against staging any mass gatherings or assemblies outside Shifa International Hospital during or after the transfer process, noting that any such demonstrations would constitute a direct violation of the supreme court’s legal decree.
Before entering politics, Khan achieved global fame as the captain who led Pakistan’s national cricket team to its historic 1992 World Cup victory, later translating his immense popularity into a political career that saw him serve as the country’s prime minister from 2018 until his ouster in 2022. Since his initial detention in the summer of 2023, he has been hit with over a hundred distinct legal cases, encompassing allegations that span from mishandling classified diplomatic cables to unlawfully trading state gifts. Late last year, both Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, received a rigorous 17-year prison sentence in connection with these legal challenges. His initial confinement sparked widespread nationwide demonstrations by his voter base, resulting in an aggressive state-led security crackdown. Despite his protracted physical isolation from the public, Khan continues to command massive grassroots loyalty and remains an incredibly influential force shaping the country’s political landscape.
