Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has been shifted from jail to the Shifa International Hospital in the capital city of Islamabad, according to local media reports, following a Supreme Court order.
Reports on Friday cited sources as saying that a specialized panel of medical experts will determine the details of Khan's admission to the hospital. Security preparations were finalized shortly before his arrival, with Islamabad Inspector General of Police Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi and senior police officers visiting the facility to review security protocols.
The Supreme Court directed on Tuesday that the 73-year-old former leader be moved from the prison in the garrison town of Rawalpindi, where he has been held since August 2023, to a private hospital in Islamabad. This decision fulfills a long-standing demand from his family and his political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), both of whom had raised serious concerns regarding his health.
Meanwhile, a close aide to Khan stated that the former prime minister would not seek a confrontation with the military or Army Chief Asim Munir if he is released. The remarks represent a notable shift in rhetoric from PTI.
In an interview on Wednesday, Zulfikar Bukhari, a PTI spokesperson and aide to Khan, offered one of the clearest signals yet of the party's willingness to reconcile with the military, potentially easing one of the most tense stand-offs in modern Pakistani political history.
Bukhari stated that if Khan were hypothetically released tomorrow, he would not take any action that would damage the country, describing him as magnanimous. He added that moving past the conflict does not mean going to loggerheads with the military leadership, but rather controlling one's own hurt and swallowing it for the betterment of the nation. Khan, a former cricket star, was removed from office following a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April 2022.
