PTI accuses Pakistan government of defying ex-PM Imran Khan hospital order

What the report says

Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan became the center of a new dispute on Friday after his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), accused the government of failing to follow a Supreme Court order to move him from Adiala jail to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad. Al Jazeera reported that the court had directed authorities to transfer Khan, 73, by Thursday midnight for specialist eye treatment, but the former leader was instead taken briefly to the government-run PIMS hospital before being returned to prison early Friday.

At a news conference, Khan’s sister Uzma Khanum and his personal physician, Faisal Sultan, described a confusing overnight series of events. Khanum said she was finally allowed to see her brother at PIMS after nearly a year, while Sultan said he was kept waiting at Shifa for hours and was later sent back without seeing Khan. Their account suggested that officials had given mixed signals about where Khan would be examined and whether the court order was being followed.

The government, through Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, said Khan was examined by a team of doctors and found medically fit, and that the hospital switch was prompted by security concerns tied to PTI supporters near Shifa. PTI rejected that explanation, saying it had told workers to stay away and that the move to PIMS was a deliberate attempt to appear compliant.

The case matters because it adds to long-running tensions over Khan’s imprisonment, medical care, and access to lawyers and family, all of which PTI says are politically motivated. Any broader background on Khan’s detention and Pakistan’s court battles comes from established reporting, but the specific sequence here is based on Al Jazeera’s account.