PTI alleges SC order breach over Imran Khan hospital transfer, warns protests

Islamabad/peshawar,UPDATED: Aug 21, 2026 18:32 IST

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on Friday accused the government of defying the Supreme Court’s order by not admitting former prime minister Imran Khan to the private Shifa Hospital, and warned of nationwide protests if he is not released from jail. The party said Khan was instead taken to the state-run Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad on Thursday night and then shifted back to Adiala Jail after medical tests.

The Supreme Court had ordered on August 18 that the 73-year-old PTI founder be moved from Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi to Shifa Hospital for medical care and remain admitted there till September 16. PTI has now threatened to launch a long march to Islamabad on September 26 if Khan remains in jail, while also demanding legal access, court-ordered medical treatment and his release.

Addressing reporters in Islamabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi called the alleged violation of the court order “unfortunate” and said the party’s legal team would begin legal proceedings. He said Khan had asked him to intensify the party’s movement and that the campaign would now move forward “at a faster pace”. Afridi also alleged that the government and establishment were acting as if they were above the Constitution and the law and were not afraid of judicial orders. “I will visit Hangu tomorrow and Buner the day after, and thereafter I will travel across Pakistan,” he said. He further claimed that the judiciary and the public were being misled about Khan’s health.

At a separate press conference in Islamabad, Khan’s sister Uzma Khan and his personal physician Dr Faisal Sultan gave their account of what happened on Thursday night. Uzma said that after she reached Adiala Jail, she was taken to PIMS and asked to sit in an office before being moved to another room to meet her brother. She said Khan asked why he had been taken to PIMS instead of Shifa. “He asked me what was happening, and I told him he would be taken to Shifa Hospital for complete examination and, if required, any treatment. He was happy with that,” she said.

Uzma said Khan asked her to stay with him at PIMS and kept repeating 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 being provided any reading material or television for the past 10 months,” she said. Quoting Khan, she alleged that prison doctors did not listen to him when he complained about his health. She also said a doctor who examined him on August 10 had diagnosed severe anxiety due to “mental torture in solitary confinement”, which was pushing up his blood pressure. According to Uzma, Khan also said his wife Bushra Bibi was being kept in solitary confinement. She said he compared his treatment in detention to that of former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi. “Imran said that Morsi was killed in the same way, torturing him by keeping him in solitary confinement,” she said. Uzma added that Khan told her he was given newspapers and television for two days, but those facilities were later withdrawn, and that a doctor had linked his hypertension to a lack of human contact.

Uzma said that after the tests, Khan was taken back to Adiala Jail instead of Shifa Hospital. Dr Faisal Sultan said he had gone to Shifa while Uzma Khan was taken to PIMS. “As it was approaching Fajr, I was told that perhaps Imran Khan was not coming and that I should leave,” he said. PTI has maintained that the court’s order was not followed and has tied its next round of protests to Khan’s medical treatment, legal access and release.

With PTI Inputs

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