Non-compliance with Aug 18 order: SC again turns down IK’s sister’s plea for early hearing against officials

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday again turned down Dr Uzma Khan’s application for an early hearing of a contempt petition against the federal government officials for non-compliance with the August 18 order to shift Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founder Imran Khan to Shifa International Hospital for medical examination.

Earlier on August 25, the Supreme Court’s Registrar Office rejected Dr Uzma’s application for an early hearing of her contempt of court plea, and ordered that the contempt petition be fixed for hearing on September 16. However, Dr Uzma again filed the application on August 26 for a quick hearing.

PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan met the SC Registrar on Monday. Later, he told the journalists that the Registrar had informed him that the contempt of court petition has already been fixed for September 16 before the same SC bench, which had passed the August 18 order.

A three-member bench, headed by Justice Shahid Waheed and comprising Justice Naeem Akhter Afghan and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, on August 18, directed the government to shift Imran Khan to Shifa International Hospital, Islamabad. However, on August 21, Imran was taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), instead of Shifa Hospital, in the early hours of the morning and was sent back to Adiala Jail after doctors declared him “medically fit”.

The SC Registrar’s office further told Barrister Gohar that the fixation policy required proceedings to be conducted turn-wise. It also said that already 94 different criminal original petitions belonging to the same category were pending before the SC for hearing. It said that the fixation policy required that cases be fixed for hearing when it was their turn.

Dr Uzma’s fresh application raised questions over the listing of the case for September 16. “It is unclear whether the above constitute directions by the competent authority/chief justice for fixation of the contempt matter on 16.09.2026, or simply the noting of the Registrar which has been placed before the competent authority for consideration,” it stated.

“If the former is true, and the case has been fixed on 16.09.2026, it is respectfully requested that the directions be reconsidered and the matter be fixed for hearing expeditiously, either this week or as early as possible next week,” it said.

The application argued that the case warranted exceptional urgency, saying it was “unique on its facts and in the manner in which the order of this Court has been brazenly flouted”. “It has brought the governance and the judicial systems of Pakistan into critical focus internationally,” the application said.

It further argued that the reasons for delaying the hearing could not justify waiting until September 16. “The reasons set out above, with respect, cannot justify such a long delay in the hearing of the case,” it stated.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026