Court takes up Imran treatment plea today

PTI requests immediate transfer of ex-PM to Shifa Hospital for specialised eye treatment

ISLAMABAD:

The PTI has approached the capital's high court, seeking the immediate transfer of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan to Islamabad's Shifa International Hospital for specialised eye treatment under the supervision of his personal doctors.

A division bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) comprising Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir and Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro will take up the application today (Tuesday) along with the objections raised to it by the court's registrar.

The criminal miscellaneous application, filed on Monday under Section 561-A CrPC by senior counsel Latif Khosa, states that Imran Khan has only approximately 15% vision remaining in his right eye.

The application cites a report submitted to the Supreme Court by amicus curiae Barrister Salman Safdar, which confirmed that jail authorities failed to undertake timely or adequate medical intervention despite the petitioner's repeated complaints of "blurred and hazardous vision."

This delay, it claims, ultimately resulted in loss of vision in one eye. It also expresses alarm over a medical check-up conducted inside Adiala Jail on February 15, which was carried out in the "complete absence" of Imran's family members, personal doctors, or legal representatives.

No prior intimation was given to them regarding the examination, it maintains.

Imran was subsequently taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) on February 23 for further procedures, again excluding his personal physicians, Dr Faisal Sultan and Dr Asim Yousaf, as well as his family members and lawyers.

"Nothing is known regarding the outcome of the petitioner's medical examination and or procedures conducted in PIMS hospital. Such secrecy is mindboggling and not acceptable on any hypothesis," the application states.

The petition notes that the authorities' continued insistence on treating Imran at PIMS, where no retina specialist is available, coupled with the persistent exclusion of his family and personal doctors from information concerning his health, "has created unavoidable doubts".

It further reveals that Imran's family has been denied access for the past four to five months, despite jail rules permitting such meetings. When his sisters approached authorities, they were turned away, the application alleges.

The matter initially came before the SC, which, through an order dated Feb 12, 2026, adjourned the petitions sine die and directed that if the petitioner had any grievance, "the appropriate course will be to first approach the high court, where his appeal is pending."

Following these directions, the present application has been filed in the IHC, where Imran's appeal against his trial court conviction remains pending.