Pakistan's government is facing a contempt of court petition after redirecting jailed former prime minister Imran Khan to a state-run hospital instead of the private Shifa International Hospital, as ordered by the Supreme Court on 18 August. Imran's sister, Dr Uzma Khan, filed the petition naming senior officials and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif as respondents, arguing the government engaged in deliberate defiance of a clear judicial directive; the government countered that PTI supporters created a security situation outside Shifa and that the medical examination conducted at PIMS (Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, a public hospital in Islamabad) was compliant in spirit, with the minister declaring Imran was found to be in good health. Eight members of the Pakistan Bar Council condemned the government's conduct as a serious assault on judicial independence and the rule of law, while the PTI called the entire episode a 'choreographed drama' designed to avoid full compliance with the court's order.
Mosaic News
Pakistan government faces contempt petition after diverting Imran Khan from court-ordered hospital[Updated]
Twenty-two international cricketers — including 21 former captains such as Australia's Greg Chappell, India's Sunil Gavaskar, and England's Alastair Cook — have written to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif demanding Khan receive proper medical care in line with Supreme Court directives. Their letter calls specifically for Khan to be assessed by a court-directed medical board that includes his personal physicians, citing concerns over reported vision loss in his right eye, and urges that court-ordered weekly family visits be honoured without administrative delays. Separately, doctors at PIMS recommended a computed tomography angiography (CTA) of the heart during Khan's visit, but PTI says the procedure was never carried out, with hospital staff reportedly citing unavailability of the required facilities — despite a 128-slice CT scanner capable of performing the scan having been operational in the hospital's radiology department since March 2022. Prime Minister Sharif has since formed an inquiry committee to investigate the failure to conduct the CTA.