Imran Khan sent to PIMS, not Shifa, despite court order

A multi-storey hospital building in Islamabad carrying Shifa International signage, seen from a road lined with trees and parked cars. — CONTEXTUAL IMAGE Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad, photographed in 2014. It is the hospital the Supreme Court named in its order; the examination took place at the government-run PIMS hospital instead, and the image does not depict the transfer. Photo: saanvel / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).

What happened

Jailed former prime minister Imran Khan was taken for a medical examination at the government-run Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad on the night of 20-21 August 2026, not the Shifa International Hospital named in a Supreme Court order, and was returned to Adiala jail before dawn.

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Friday, 21 August, that Khan was examined at PIMS by a team of doctors, including an ophthalmologist, a cardiologist and a physician, who declared him “medically fit”. He said Khan’s sister, Uzma Khan, was present throughout and that the former premier was taken back to Adiala jail at about 5am.

The court order

A three-judge Supreme Court bench led by Justice Shahid Waheed, sitting with Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, had ordered on 18 August that Khan be moved from Adiala jail to Shifa International Hospital within two days for examination and treatment.

The bench also directed that a medical board be formed including Khan’s personal physician, Dr Faisal Sultan, and his sister, and that Khan be allowed weekly meetings with his family and twice-weekly telephone calls with his sons. It said the medical report should remain confidential and that no political activity or press conference should be held at the hospital.

That deadline expired on Thursday night.

Conflicting accounts

Tarar said the decision to use PIMS instead of Shifa was made “in view of the security situation created by PTI workers on the route to and outside Shifa Hospital”. He said doctors from Shifa were present at the examination.

Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), disputed that account. In a statement, it said it had instructed workers to stay away from Shifa and noted that there were no independent reports of a security disturbance near the hospital that night.

Dr Faisal Sultan said he was taken to Shifa at about 12:30am and waited for close to three hours before being told that Khan would not arrive, and that he was then sent back to Adiala without seeing his patient. Uzma Khan, speaking at a news conference, said she was taken to PIMS and that the examination fell short of what the court had ordered.

Legal and political fallout

The Islamabad chief commissioner has refiled a review petition asking the Supreme Court to reconsider its 18 August order. An earlier version was returned by the court’s registrar on procedural grounds on 20 August. The petition argues that the order was discriminatory and conflicts with Rule 197 of the Pakistan Prison Rules, 1978, which it says allows prisoners to be treated in jail or government hospitals rather than a private facility of their own choosing.

PTI leaders said the party would file a contempt-of-court petition. Its secretary general, Salman Akram Raja, said the party would approach the Supreme Court on Saturday, while PTI information secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram said the matter would also be raised in the national and Punjab assemblies. Senior PTI figure Zulfikar Bukhari described the government’s conduct as “a complete violation of the Supreme Court’s orders”.

Why it matters

The episode has widened an already tense standoff over Khan’s treatment and the authority of the Supreme Court. Khan, 73, has been jailed since August 2023 and his party says his right-eye condition has required specialist care. How the court responds to the refiled review petition and the threatened contempt action will shape the next stage of the dispute. The matter is next listed for hearing on 16 September.

What remains unclear

It is not yet clear how the Supreme Court will treat the review petition or whether it will initiate contempt proceedings. The full findings of the medical examination have not been made public, and PTI’s account of the night differs sharply from the government’s.

Sources & reporting notes

This is a summary of published reporting, not independent reporting. Details and quoted remarks are as carried by the cited sources, which were reviewed on 21 August 2026.