In a dramatic revelation, Pakistan’s government on Friday said incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan was taken to a government hospital in the captial and not the private Shifa Hospital, as ordained in a Supreme Court order.
Khan had a medical check-up at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad, where he was declared “medically fit,” before he was moved back to Adiala jail in ithe adjacent Rawalpindi.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar claimed the decision was taken in light of security considerations due to the presence of crowd of Khan’s supporters outside Shifa private hospital.
Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf, Khan’s party, alleged that the government violated the Supreme Court’s express order, and that his party, family and supporters were hoodwinked under the cover of night.
کچھ مزید تفصیلات:
طبی معائنہ پمز ہسپتال میں کرایا گیا جس میں الشفا ہسپتال کے ڈاکٹرز بھی موجود تھے۔
پی ٹی ائی کے کارکنوں کی طرف سے جو سیکیورٹی کی صورتحال الشفا ہسپتال کے راستے میں اور باہر پیدا کی گئی اس کے پیش نظر ان کو پمز ہسپتال لے جایا گیا اور طبی معائنے کے مطابق وہ صحت… https://t.co/soNoD1bmu1
— Attaullah Tarar (@TararAttaullah) August 21, 2026
“A team of qualified doctors, including an ophthalmologist, a cardiologist, and a physician, conducted a detailed examination of him and declared him medically fit,” Tarar claimed.
He said Imran’s sister Dr. Uzma Khan was also present during the examination.
Earlier, reports suggested that Imran Khan was taken back to Adiala jail after a brief stay at Shifa hospital, where doctors performed a medical check-up.
As per Pakistani media reports, Khan, the founder of PTI party, was moved back to jail during the early hours of Friday.
🇵🇰 Imran Khan’s personal physician says he was tricked by Pakistani authorities during last night’s hospital saga.
Dr. Faisal Sultan told reporters he was taken into police custody on his way to Adiala Jail, believing he was being brought to see Imran.
Instead he was driven in… https://t.co/xhvqD2DCLS pic.twitter.com/U1A6kVIuVb
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) August 21, 2026
UN and Amnesty International have urged Islamabad to ensure legally allowed prisoner rights for Khan and end his solitary confinement.
Before he was shifted to Shifa hospital, Khan’s sister Dr. Uzma Khan and private physician were allowed to meet him in jail.
Overnight Movements and Conflicting Accounts
Dr. Uzma Khan and physician Dr. Faisal Sultan held a press conference in Islamabad on Friday to describe the events of the previous night. According to Uzma Khan, they received a phone call on Thursday instructing them to go to Adiala Jail. They arrived around 8 to 8:30 p.m. and were taken to a room belonging to a deputy superintendent of police identified as Sibtain.
Uzma Khan said Sibtain then asked Dr. Sultan to leave the room with him while she remained behind. After 10 to 15 minutes, a female assistant sub-inspector escorted her to a car. Police did not answer her questions about Dr. Sultan’s whereabouts. She was driven to PIMS. When she asked why she had been brought there, given the Supreme Court’s order for treatment at Shifa International Hospital, officials told her the visit was for a follow-up related to Khan’s eye condition.
She described the hospital as dark. A man used the flashlight on his mobile phone to guide the way to an office that she assumed belonged to a department head. After a short wait, she was taken upstairs, where she found her brother. Uzma Khan said Khan appeared surprised and stood up in shock. He told the doctors present that she was his sister and that they were meeting after 10 months.
Uzma Khan told him the visit was for a checkup and that he would later be taken to Shifa International Hospital. She asked about Dr. Sultan but received no reply. They were moved to another office where doctors examined Khan’s eye. She said she did not recognize most of the two or three doctors present, though one was introduced as Dr. Arif. The doctors asked Khan which eye drops he used. Uzma Khan noted that the prescribed drops were not mentioned in their notes and that none of the doctors appeared familiar with them.
Imran Khan Hospital Transfer Standoff: Political Maneuver or Legal Challenge?
One doctor said Khan needed an immediate test to check a blood vessel. Uzma Khan replied that they would go to Shifa International Hospital for a full examination. They were moved again. Doctors administered an injection and conducted other tests, stating that the eye condition and hemorrhage had improved. A doctor then checked Khan’s blood pressure, which Uzma Khan recalled as 120/80 or 70.
Khan complains of solitary confinement
Throughout the encounter, she said, Khan repeatedly told her he had been subjected to “cruelty.” He claimed authorities were torturing him and that a doctor who had examined him concluded his health had deteriorated from lack of human contact. Khan said he had not been provided reading material or television for the past 10 months.
When he complained about his health to prison doctors, he said, no one listened or cared. He told her that a doctor who examined him on August 10 attributed severe anxiety to “mental torture in solitary confinement” and linked that anxiety to high blood pressure.
Khan compared his situation to that of former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, saying Morsi “was killed the same way, by giving him stress and keeping him in solitary confinement.” He also stated that his wife, Bushra Bibi, was being held in solitary confinement. Khan added that newspapers and television had been provided for two days and then withdrawn.
During Dr. Uzma Khan’s press conference, when she said that Imran Khan had told her he was being severely mistreated & subjected to brutal torture, her sister Noreen Khan became emotional & tearful.@MarioNawfal @MattOBranain @hrw #ContemptOfCourt #StopTortureOnNationalHero https://t.co/QUDqFtbSZX pic.twitter.com/MVwAumYYsj
— Haider Ali (@Haider4PTI) August 21, 2026
Uzma Khan rejected reports that Khan was unhappy about being taken to Shifa International Hospital. After the examination, she said, they were returned to Adiala Jail rather than transferred to Shifa. When she got out of the car at the jail, she saw Dr. Sultan emerging from another vehicle. She conveyed a message from Khan to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi urging him to expedite efforts for his release.
Dr. Faisal Sultan described a different experience. He said he was taken from Adiala Jail to Shifa International Hospital, where security arrangements were in place. Officials asked him to wait, saying Khan was on the way. He waited roughly two to two and a half hours, repeatedly inquiring about Khan’s arrival. Around 4:15 to 4:30 a.m., he was told it appeared Khan might not come and had probably returned, and that he should leave as well. Only upon reaching Adiala Jail did he and Uzma Khan learn they had been taken to separate hospitals.
Uzma Khan said Khan was unaware of developments outside the jail because he lacked access to newspapers and television. On his health, she reported that his blood pressure was normal and that his vision had improved, with only a small hemorrhage remaining.
Opposition Reaction and Allegations of Non-Compliance
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, speaking at the same press conference, expressed regret over the government’s and administration’s conduct. He said a decision by three Supreme Court judges “was thrown in the dustbin” and called it contempt of court.
PTI Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram criticized the government for what he described as an “attempt to conceal its non-compliance with the Supreme Court’s order.” Referring to Tarar’s posts on X, Akram said they exposed “the government’s familiar pattern of theatrics and misleading conduct.” He stated that the Supreme Court’s order had not been implemented and that only a “superficial exercise” had been carried out to mislead the court and the public.
Imran Khan’s Treatment: Pakistan Government Accused of Doublespeak
Declaring Khan medically fit after a few hours and returning him to jail before dawn, Akram said, raised serious questions. He rejected the claim that PTI workers had created security concerns, stating there were no media reports of any such situation. Conducting a secret transfer in the middle of the night and then blaming PTI workers, he said, exposed contradictions in the government’s narrative.
Akram demanded that the government make Khan’s complete medical reports public and implement the Supreme Court’s order fully.
What did supreme court order say?
On Tuesday, a three-judge Supreme Court bench directed the government to move Khan to Shifa International Hospital, a private facility in Islamabad, within two days.
The order called for examination and treatment by a multidisciplinary medical board. It also allowed Khan’s sister, Uzma Khan, and his personal physician, Dr. Faisal Sultan, to take part in his care. The court instructed that medical reports and health information should not be used for political purposes.
Attention focused on Shifa International Hospital on Thursday night, where a heavy police presence was stationed.
Asim Tanveer is a seasoned journalist working for TV and electronic and print media outlets. He has been working for some of the world’s leading news organizations including Associated Press (AP), Reuters, BBC, CNN, CNBC, Star TV, Voice of America and The New York Times for more than 30 years. He has won several awards for his live coverage of events that include a Reuters News Agency World Award and the Pride of Performance award in 1997.
