ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Friday accepted a chamber appeal filed by former prime minister and PTI founder Imran Khan and ordered the early fixation of the case before an apex court bench.
Mr Khan, who is incarcerated at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail, filed a petition before the Supreme Court, requesting that he be shifted to Islamabad’s Shifa International Hospital and granted access to his family and personal physicians.
Through the chamber appeal, Mr Khan challenged the SC registrar’s order returning petitions seeking his transfer to Shifa International Hospital, as well as access to his personal physicians, family and counsel, and the provision of medical details to his family.
The SC registrar had returned the petition on the grounds that no signed power of attorney had been attached to it.
On Friday, Advocate Uzair Karamat Bhandari appeared before the chamber of Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi to argue the case. Consequently, the objections raised earlier by the registrar’s office were set aside after being declared null and void.
The counsel was also directed to furnish a signed power of attorney, and the office was ordered to assign a case number to Mr Khan’s petition.
Dr Uzma’s petition
The SC also ordered that the petition filed by Dr Uzma Khan, one of Mr Khan’s sisters, be heard alongside the case.
The chamber appeal argued that the registrar had exceeded his administrative authority, as the registrar’s office was primarily vested with administrative and procedural powers relating to the filing and processing of cases.
It contended that determining maintainability, particularly where constitutional or statutory interpretation was involved, was a judicial function requiring legal reasoning and consideration of rival submissions.
The plea also sought to convert the present petition into an appeal and direct that a medical examination of the petitioner be conducted by physicians of his choice, including Dr Khurram Mirza, Dr Asim Yusuf, Dr Faisal Sultan and Dr Samina Niazi, at the earliest.
Moreover, the petition sought the immediate transfer of the petitioner to Shifa International Hospital for treatment and a comprehensive medical examination, along with continued access to his physicians, family members and counsel during his incarceration and treatment.
Likewise, Dr Uzma Khan also challenged before the SC the Islamabad High Court’s ruling refusing to shift her brother to Shifa International Hospital, allow him access to his personal physicians, family and counsel, and provide medical details to the family.
The petition stated that Mr Khan and his wife were currently incarcerated at Adiala jail, while his two sons lived abroad.
As his sister and a qualified doctor, the applicant had natural love and affection for her brother and was seriously concerned about his health and well-being, which, it alleged, were being jeopardised by the acts and omissions of the respondents.
It maintained that the appellant was the PTI founder’s closest relative in Pakistan and therefore had the legal standing to file the appeal.
Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2026
