Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has been shifted from jail to the Shifa International Hospital in capital Islamabad following a Supreme Court order.
Hundreds of police, some wielding sticks, were deployed near Shifa International Hospital in the capital Islamabad early on Friday, with roads leading to the clinic cordoned off.
"Former Prime Minister Imran Khan has been shifted from Adiala Jail to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad following Supreme Court order," Khan's party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, said in a text message to journalists.
His lawyers say his health has deteriorated in prison and that he has lost significant vision in his right eye.
The government has said medical reports disclosed no condition requiring immediate treatment.
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.
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."
Earlier this year, Khan received eye treatment at a hospital, with his family saying at the time that he had lost most of the vision in his right eye.
The three-bench top court has ordered that Khan would be allowed to meet with his family once a week and speak to his sons via telephone twice weekly.
A panel of specialists would be set up for his treatment, with his sister, medical doctor Uzma Khan, allowed to take part, the court added.
Khan served as prime minister from 2018 to 2022, when he was ousted in a no-confidence vote.
