Imran's hospital visit: Ex-PM's sister again moves SC for early hearing of contempt plea against govt

ISLAMABAD: Dr Uzma Khan, the sister of incarcerated former premier Imran Khan, on Thursday submitted a second application to the Supreme Court (SC) seeking the early hearing of a contempt petition against government functionaries accused of flouting the court’s directive to shift the PTI founder to Islamabad’s Shifa International Hospital.

On August 18, a three-member SC bench issued several directives on pleas concerning Imran’s health and instructed authorities to move him to Shifa International Hospital, a private facility. However, the government instead took the PTI founder to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), a government hospital, for a check-up and then transported him back to the prison.

On Tuesday, Uzma filed a contempt plea against government functionaries and an application for its early hearing. However, the court fixed the case for September 16.

The fresh application, filed through Advocate Uzair Karamat Bhandari, sought the initiation of contempt proceedings against government functionaries within the present or early next week.

It stated that the contempt plea was meant to ensure the immediate implementation of the Aug 18 order.

The early hearing would “serve the interest of justice, protection of life and health and due enforcement” of the SC orders, the application said. It added that the subject matter of the petition concerned the life, health, dignity and physical well-being of “a national hero and a former prime minister”, whose health was deteriorating and whose life was stated to be in jeopardy.

It was unclear whether the decision to hear the matter on Sept 16 constituted directions by the competent authority/ the chief justice, or simply the “noting of the registrar which has been placed before the competent authority for consideration”.

The application pleaded that if the former was true, the decision to fix the case on Sept 16 be reconsidered and the matter be fixed for hearing expeditiously, either this week or as early as possible next week.

“The present case is unique on its facts and in the manner in which the Aug 18 order of this court has been brazenly flouted,” the application stated, adding that it had brought the governance and judicial systems of the country into international focus.

“Any further delay in hearing of the contempt petition may cause serious and irreparable harm,” it argued.

The application stated that the reasons set out for not fixing the contempt plea early could not justify such a long delay in the hearing of the case.

Earlier, the SC office had said that an early hearing of the contempt petition was not possible in view of the fact that there were 94 separate original criminal petitions of the same category pending before the court. The office had said that the fixation policy required that cases be fixed for hearing on their turn in the relevant category, and it was unlikely that the turn of the contempt case would come up.

Since the main case relating to Imran’s health was pending on Sept 16, the contempt plea may also be taken on the same date, the office had decided.

However, Uzma’s fresh application argued that there was nothing in the SC’s fixation policy preventing the immediate fixation of the contempt petition, and that in fact the policy “clearly prioritises” matters related to liberty — “especially where they arise due to non-compliance of court orders”.

Highlighting that the policy allowed the chief justice to pass orders for early fixation of the hearing, it said the applicant had “a strong prima facie case and the balance of convenience lies entirely in favour of early fixation”.

The application contended that no prejudice would be caused to the respondents if the matter was heard at the earliest, whereas delay could cause “irreparable loss and injury”.