Pakistan govt to challenge court on moving Imran to private hospital

ISLAMABAD, Aug 19: the Supreme Court's order to move jailed former prime minister Imran Khan to a private hospital for medical checks, the law minister said late Tuesday.

The ruling "does not fall within the four corners of the law", Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said in a video statement shared on X by state broadcaster Radio Pakistan.

The government was submitting a petition for a review that would call for 73-year-old Khan's medical tests to be conducted at a government hospital, instead of a private facility as the court had ordered.

"Until such time as evidence or material is available to show that government hospitals are unable to provide this type of treatment or cannot do so, such arrangements are normally not made," Tarar said. The three-bench court decided Tuesday that the ex-cricket captain would be moved "within the next two days" to Shifa International Hospital in the capital Islamabad.

He would also be allowed to meet with his family once a week and speak to his sons via telephone twice weekly, the court order stated. Khan's personal physician Faisal Sultan, and sister and medical doctor Uzma Khan, "shall be permitted to remain associated with the prisoner's medical examination and treatment".�"AFP