Says medical report will be provided to family; CM Afridi says Imran not allowed to meet his doctors
PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja speaks to the media outside the Supreme Court on Friday, flanked by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Allama Raja Nasir Abbas. SCREENGRAB
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General Salman Akram Raja said on Friday that only the family of party founder Imran Khan would be the one to decide whether the medical treatment provided to him was satisfactory or not amid controversy over a hospital visit of the former premier.
Imran has been imprisoned since August 2023, currently serving a sentence at Adiala Jail in a £190 million corruption case. In addition, he faces pending trials under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) related to the protests of May 9, 2023. The party has expressed concern in recent days over Imran’s health, alleging that jail authorities and the government were obstructing treatment for a “serious eye condition” and demanding immediate medical care.
Opposition leaders, including PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar, also raised the issue on Wednesday, protesting against reports that Imran was transferred to a hospital without informing his family or the party leadership. The government since confirmed that the former prime minister was briefly taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) for medical treatment.
The party staged a sit-in outside the Supreme Court today, demanding access to Imran and highlighting concerns over his medical treatment.
Addressing a press conference outside the court. Raja said: “With regard to medical matters, the family will decide whether the treatment being provided is satisfactory or not, which doctor should be consulted, and whether further treatment is required. The family of Imran Khan holds the right to make all such decisions, and his personal physicians are involved. Any further action regarding the personal doctors’ access to Khan will be taken after this report is received.”
He said that nothing was more important for the PTI than Imran’s health, adding that the developments surrounding his condition were unsatisfactory and amounted to “a manifestation of fascism”.
He said that when a person was in jail and his entire life depended on the authorities and the custodial system, it was that same system which was responsible for taking him him from prison to hospital.
“Such a situation is created that he has to be shifted to hospital, yet the entire matter is kept secret and the family is not informed,” Raja said.
He added that Imran Khan was taken to a hospital and doctors without any consultation with the patient or his family, after which falsehoods were propagated, adding that the government kept denying any such in incident.
Raja said a party delegation had visited Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi for a meeting.
“What we have achieved after the whole day’s efforts is not at all satisfactory. It has been said that Imran’s medical report in PIMS hospital and in the jail before that, will be handed over to Imran Khan in a sealed envelope, with a copy also provided to his family, namely his sisters.”
The PTI secretary general added that it was progress to the extent that the party was in the dark before it about Imran’s health and necessitated his hospital visit. He said it would now become clear what diagnosis and procedures were carried out at PIMS hospital, and what injections were administered.
However, Raja said the real issue pertained to what he termed Imran’s “unlawful incarceration” and access to him during this period.
“Our fundamental demand is that Imran Khan is being held unjustly. The cases against him are false and politically motivated, and these cases should be withdrawn and the false convictions set aside,” he said, adding that as long as the cases continued, they would continue to struggle for the right of access to him for his family and legal counsel.
Meanwhile, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi claimed the government had decided not to allow Imran to meet his doctors.
He said the party had wanted the PTI founder’s personal doctors to meet him. “They do not discuss political matters; they would meet him and inform the nation about his health, as the public cares for Khan and is concerned about his well-being,” he added.
However, CM Afridi claimed that the government had declined the meeting. “When we asked whether a meeting with the doctors would be allowed, the response came as a ‘no’. Imran Khan Sahib is not being allowed to meet his doctors.”
He added that the PTI leader would now attend the political committee meeting to decide on the next course of action.
The chief minsiter said the PTI’s February 8 protest remained on schedule, with preparations ongoing across the country, and that any decisions taken by the political committee would be shared with the public.
The sit-in outside the Supreme Court followed an overnight protest outside Adiala Jail, after the party filed a formal petition in the Islamabad High Court seeking access to the detained leader.
Security at the court was tightened ahead of the PTI leaders’ arrival, with extra personnel and prisoner vans deployed around the complex.
Read: K-P CM Sohail Afridi, PTI end Adiala sit-in, turn to courts
PTI Senator Falak Naz Chitrali was among the first to arrive at the Supreme Court, followed by PTI leader Latif Khosa and Senator Mirza Afridi. PTI MPs arrived as additional prisoner vans were positioned outside amid heightened security.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and Raja went to the court to meet CJP Afridi. When the chief justice did not meet them, they held a 10-minute meeting with the Supreme Court registrar. Following this, Raja and Khosa met Attorney General Mansoor Usman.
Speaking to the media outside the Supreme Court, Raja said, “We are not being allowed to meet the PTI founder. We have other options as well. The PTI founder’s eye surgery was concealed from us. He was taken to the hospital, and the correct time was not disclosed.”
Raja said Imran was taken to PIMS Hospital for surgery, which the government denied for five days. “Yesterday, Sohail Afridi and other colleagues went to the jail. Afridi was on the visitors’ list but was not allowed to meet him,” he said. “The law requires that a prisoner’s family be informed if he is taken to a hospital. We will sit here until our rights are secured.”
Afridi said the PTI founder was examined in jail when he fell ill, but his family and lawyers were not informed. “The matter reached PIMS from Adiala, yet the family remained unaware,” he added.
“The biggest concern is that PIMS Hospital has no retina specialist. We also sat outside Adiala yesterday, met the chief justice and the registrar, and we will remain here until we receive a response,” Afridi said.
Amid PTI slogans outside the court, Afridi was asked about arrest warrants issued by an Islamabad court. He responded, “I am not aware of which warrants or in which case. I am ready to be arrested. Let anyone come and arrest me.”
Raja and Khosa requested access to the PTI founder’s medical reports during their meeting with Attorney General Mansoor Usman. Usman outlined the process for forwarding the request, which the federal government is reviewing to allow access for Imran Khan’s personal doctors.
Around three dozen PTI members remained outside the court premises.
Risk to Imran a risk to country: Barrister Gohar
At an earlier press conference at Islamabad’s Khyvber-Pakhtunkhwa House, Barrister Gohar said the party’s foremost concern was that Imran’s imprisonment constituted the country’s biggest crisis, adding that the situation was further aggravated when neither the public nor his family was informed about his health.
He warned that if anything were to happen to Imran, it would not be the system alone but the entire country that would be shaken. “Do not take it that far, as this is a concern for Pakistan, for the people of Pakistan, and should be a concern for the state and the government of Pakistan,” he said.
Criticising the government’s attitude, Gohar said that taking the matter so lightly amounted to putting the entire country and its democracy at stake, adding that secrecy was akin to cancer for democracy.
“We only want that Khan’s doctors and family members be given immediate access to him, that they meet him, that all medical reports and procedures be shared with Khan and that the nation also be told why this was concealed,” he said.
Salman Safdar’s letter to IHC chief justice
Imran and his wife Bushra Bibi also requested the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to intervene administratively for the early hearing of their pending petitions regarding suspension of sentence in criminal appeals, citing prolonged delays and the approaching holy month of Ramazan.
In a formal letter addressed to the IHC chief justice, their counsel, Barrister Salman Safdar, said all available legal remedies for fixation of the cases had been exhausted, leaving no option but to seek the court’s immediate attention. The letter highlighted what it described as an “extraordinary situation of prolonged stagnation” in the hearing of post-conviction bail applications.
The counsel said that since November 2022, Imran had faced what he termed an unprecedented wave of “politically motivated” criminal cases. He maintained that the majority of these cases were later quashed by superior courts after appellate scrutiny, exposing a pattern of coercive political victimisation through state machinery.
The letter lists multiple cases, alleging that investigative agencies were misused. According to the counsel, many convictions arising from what he described as hasty and unfair trials were overturned at the appellate stage.
Imran, who has been incarcerated at Adiala Jail since August 5, 2023, continues to face several pending cases, the counsel said, adding that constitutional petitions relating to prison conditions, trial procedures and fundamental rights also remained undecided before the IHC.
Referring to the Toshakhana (Bvlgari set) case, Barrister Safdar argued that the investigation and prosecution were unlawfully bifurcated in violation of the principle of double jeopardy. He said criminal revisions filed before the IHC were never fixed for hearing, resulting in convictions without adjudication of pending legal challenges.
The letter further drew attention to the Al-Qadir University Trust case, in which Imran and Bushra Bibi were convicted on January 17, 2025. Criminal appeals were filed later that month, followed by applications for suspension of sentence in March 2025. Despite multiple petitions for early hearing, the applications have not been heard, the counsel said.
He also alleged repeated adjournments sought by the prosecution, non-availability of benches and cancellation of cause lists, claiming that the court registry had now refused to entertain fresh applications for fixation.
Special concern was raised regarding Bushra Bibi, noting that her arrest was not sought during trial and that the allegation of aiding and abetting lacked supporting evidence. The counsel pointed out that despite receiving a seven-year sentence, established legal principles of leniency towards female convicts were not applied.
The letter also alleged denial of attorney-client meetings at Adiala Jail since October 2025, calling it a violation of jail rules and constitutional rights.
