Pakistan’s Supreme Court and the federal government are locked in a fresh standoff over the health and custody of jailed PTI founder Imran Khan, and as of Thursday, August 20, the former prime minister has still not been moved to the private hospital the court ordered two days earlier. What the Supreme Court Ordered On Tuesday, August 18, a three-member bench led by Justice Shahid Waheed, along with Justices Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Ishtiaq Ibrahim, directed Adiala jail authorities to transfer Imran Khan to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad for medical assessment and treatment until September 16. The written order was specific on timing, stating that the prisoner was to be shifted within two days. The petitioners pressing for the move included Khan’s sister Dr Uzma Khan, his lawyer Uzair Bhandari, and PTI leader Mashal Yousafzai. The bench went beyond simply ordering the transfer. It also directed the formation of a medical board comprising a physician, a general surgeon, an internal medicine specialist, an eye specialist and a cardiologist, working in coordination with Shifa International’s management. Khan’s personal physician, Dr Faisal Sultan, and his sister Dr Uzma Khan were permitted to remain involved in the examination and treatment process, and the court ruled that the costs of care at Shifa would be borne by Khan or his family rather than the state. Family access was widened as well. The order allows Khan to meet relatives once a week and speak with his sons, who live abroad, twice weekly by phone. The bench was equally firm on one restriction: his medical reports were not to be shared with the media or used for political point-scoring. The Government Pushes Back The response from Islamabad came quickly. A day after the order, the federal government filed a review petition through the Islamabad Chief Commissioner, arguing that the August 18 direction should be reviewed and recalled. According to reporting on the filing, it went as far as arguing that if legal exceptions could already be carved out elsewhere in the constitutional order, none should now be made for Khan’s hospital treatment. Separate coverage described the petition’s own language as calling the court’s order “discriminatory in nature.” The government’s central legal argument was procedural rather than medical: that the bench should have secured a conclusive expert opinion before concluding Khan’s condition warranted moving him outside prison altogether. Officials also pointed to the broader legal picture, noting that Khan was sentenced to three years by an Additional Sessions Judge on August 5, 2023, with an appeal still pending before the Islamabad High Court. It was during those very proceedings that he first sought hospital transfer under Section 561-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, a provision that allows courts to order a prisoner’s temporary release or transfer on humanitarian or medical grounds. That review petition did not get far. On Thursday, the Supreme Court’s Registrar Office returned it on technical grounds, with sources citing incomplete “paper books,” the formal documentation bundle required to accompany a review filing. The petition, officials said, would need to be refiled once those procedural gaps were fixed. PTI treated the setback as vindication. Party Secretary General Salman Akram Raja described the development on social media as an effective withdrawal by the government and said there was no justification left for delaying compliance with the August 18 order. Khan’s lawyer, Khalid Yousaf Chaudhry, signalled the party’s next move, telling reporters PTI intended to file a contempt petition if the government continued stalling the transfer. Why This Case Runs Deeper Than One Hospital Bed This is not an isolated flashpoint. Concerns about Khan’s health inside Adiala Jail have surfaced repeatedly since his conviction in August 2023, including an earlier Supreme Court order this year for an eye examination after reports of vision problems, and at least one occasion when he was taken to a government facility for a minor eye procedure. Jail authorities have periodically maintained that his vital signs are normal and that he receives standard B-Class privileges, while his sisters have at times described him as physically weakened and under considerable strain during family visits. Stripped of the political noise, the underlying dispute is about authority as much as health: whether jail doctors, an independent medical board, or the judiciary itself should have the final say when a high-profile prisoner’s treatment collides with routine custodial procedure. What to Watch Next Three developments will shape where this goes before the September 16 hearing: whether the government manages to refile a technically compliant review petition, whether Khan’s legal team proceeds with a contempt application in the interim, and whether the medical board ordered by the court is actually constituted with Shifa International’s cooperation. Given how quickly claims and counter-claims have circulated from both camps this week, readers following the story are best served by treating social media statements as provisional and waiting for confirmation through official court filings or verified news reporting before drawing conclusions.