Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has been shifted from jail to the Shifa International Hospital in capital Islamabad, local media outlets ARY News and Geo News reported, following a Supreme Court order.
Geo News cited sources on Friday as saying that a special panel of medical experts will decide on Khan's admission to the hospital.
The report also said that preparations were completed moments before his arrival, with Islamabad Inspector General of Police Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi visiting the hospital along with senior police officers and reviewing security arrangements.
The Supreme Court directed on Tuesday that Khan, 73, be moved from the jail in the garrison town of Rawalpindi, where he has been held since August 2023, to a private hospital in the capital, Islamabad, fulfilling a longstanding demand of his party and family, who had raised concerns over his health.
No confrontation
Earlier, a close aide to Khan told Reuters news agency that he would not confront the military or army chief Asim Munir if freed.
The comments appeared to mark a significant change in rhetoric by his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI.
In an interview on Wednesday, Khan’s aide Zulfikar Bukhari, a PTI spokesperson, sent one of the strongest signals so far that the party was willing to reconcile with the military, potentially easing one of the tensest stand-offs in recent Pakistani political history.
"If Imran Khan was released tomorrow, hypothetically, he wouldn't do anything that would effectively damage the country," Bukhari said, describing him as "magnanimous".
"That doesn't mean you go loggerheads with the establishment, with the military leader," he said. "You control your own hurt. You curb your own pain. You swallow it for the betterment of your country."
The former cricketer-turned-politician was removed from office following a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April 2022.
