ISLAMABAD: The party of Pakistan’s jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Tuesday that a contempt petition accusing government officials of violating a Supreme Court order on his medical treatment had been refiled after the court registrar returned the original filing over procedural objections.
The case centers on an Aug. 18 order directing authorities to transfer the 73-year-old former premier to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad. Khan was instead taken to the state-run Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), a move the government says was necessary because of security concerns and did not violate the substance of the court’s directions.
“PTI will not allow a procedural objection to become a shield against non-compliance with a Supreme Court order,” Khan aide Zulfi Bukhari said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The objections is addressed, the contempt petition re-filed, and the question remains simple: who authorized the executive to disregard or dilute a binding order of the apex court?”
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said the Supreme Court Registrar’s Office had returned the petition after raising objections but had not rejected the contempt case on its merits. It said the objections had since been addressed and the petition submitted again.
The original petition was filed on Saturday by Khan’s sister, Dr. Uzma Khan, against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, federal ministers and senior officials over what she described as the non-implementation of the Supreme Court’s hospital order.
The court had directed authorities to transfer Khan to Shifa within 48 hours and allow him to remain there until Sept. 16, subject to recommendations by a medical board. It also directed that his personal physician and sister be involved in the medical process.
Authorities instead moved Khan from Adiala Prison in Rawalpindi to PIMS on Thursday night.
Uzma Khan was taken to PIMS, where she met her brother, while his personal physician, Dr. Faisal Sultan, was taken separately to Shifa and waited for nearly three hours before leaving when the former premier did not arrive.
The contempt petition argues that Khan was not given the complete medical examination ordered by the court and underwent only a routine eye examination, received an eye injection and had his blood pressure checked.
The government has denied violating the order, saying Khan was examined at PIMS by ophthalmologists from Shifa and that his sister was allowed to be present.
“All the requisites, all the requirements of the Supreme Court order were fulfilled,” Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said in a televised statement on Saturday.
Tarar said authorities changed the venue after PTI supporters gathered outside Shifa, creating what the government considered a security risk. He also accused Khan’s party and family of politicizing his medical treatment in violation of the court’s directions.
The government separately sought a review of the Supreme Court’s order specifying Shifa as the hospital, arguing that allowing a convicted prisoner to receive treatment at a particular private facility could encourage other inmates to seek similar relief. The Supreme Court registrar earlier returned that petition because of filing deficiencies.
Khan served as prime minister from 2018 until April 2022, when he was removed from power in a parliamentary no-confidence vote. He has been incarcerated since August 2023 and has faced more than 100 cases since leaving office, ranging from corruption allegations to charges related to violence by his supporters following his brief arrest in May 2023.
All his convictions except a 14-year sentence in the Al-Qadir Trust land corruption case have been suspended or overturned, with appeals pending. Khan denies wrongdoing.
