The Pakistan’s government will challenge a Supreme Court order directing authorities to move jailed Prime Minister Imran Khan to the hospital for medical checks, according to a statement by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar.
In a video recorded statement issued on Tuesday, Tarar said, “This order is not within four walls of the law.”
According to him, the authorities had deliberated the ruling and decided that the court should not be approached for a review of the decision. Tara cited the law and said that a convicted prisoner has to be treated inside the jail or at a public hospital. He said that Pakistani government’s appeal would seek a modification of the court order.
Meanwhile at the Adiala prison, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founder Imran Khan’s sister Noreen Niazi met him on Tuesday at the Adiala jail after nine months following the Pakistani Supreme Court’s order allowing weekly family meetings. During the meeting, which lasted for about 15 minutes, Noreen briefed Khan about the top court’s order on his transfer to Islamabad Shifa Hospital. The former Pak prime minister’s sister herself confirmed her meeting, the meeting with Imran Khan, but did not speak to the reporter. The former Pak PM also met his wife Bushra Bibi.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Pakistan Supreme Court ordered Imran Khan to be transferred from Adiala jail to a hospital, a directive that came after repeated demands from the former PM’s family and party, seeking medical condition, medical treatment for him amidst rising health concerns.
As per the court’s order, Khan, is to be shifted to the Shifa International Hospital within 48 hours and Remain there till September 16th, the former PM’s spokesperson Naeem Haider Panjutha said on his Twitter handle.
Welcoming the court’s order, PTI spokesperson Zulfiqar Bukhari said the party wished it had happened sooner so that Khan’s eye and general health wouldn’t have deteriorated as much. Last year, Khan’s sons had consistently voiced concern about his deteriorating health, while his lawyers submitted that he had suffered significant vision loss in the right eye during his time in the jail.
Imran Khan, 73, has been Jailed since August 2023 after being convicted in a series of cases. However, the former PM maintained that the cases were politically motivated after his ouster from power in 2022.