The Supreme Court’s order directing the government to shift incarcerated former Prime Minister Imran Khan to a private hospital for medical examination and treatment should never have become a matter for litigation in the first place.
As noted in the order, healthcare is not a privilege to be extended or withheld according to a prisoner’s political status. Access to appropriate medical care is a basic human right and, in a constitutional democracy, an essential component of the right to life and dignity. A person does not surrender that right upon entering prison. If anything, the state assumes an even greater responsibility for the wellbeing of someone who is in its charge.
It is truly unfortunate that Khan’s reported health concerns, raised repeatedly by his family, lawyers and personal physicians, had to reach the country’s highest court before arrangements could be made for specialist assessment and treatment. The normal response of a responsible government should have been to ensure appropriate care first. Arguments over administrative or legal questions can be raised later, as and when deemed necessary.
Tragically, the incumbent government appears to have learned little. Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar’s decision to challenge the ruling is galling in its pearl-clutching concern over creating a precedent for other prisoners to seek similar concessions. It also overlooks the conditions imposed within the order, particularly one requiring Khan or his family to bear the costs of the private hospital treatment.
If other prisoners believe they require comparable treatment, they too can approach the courts, which can grant them similar entitlements if it deems them an affirmation of their rights. A precedent, as suggested by Tarar, applies to the courts, not the government. Any concerns that may arise are for the judiciary to determine, not the executive.
The larger issue goes beyond one prisoner. Pakistan can no longer afford for every question involving Imran Khan to become another front in its seemingly endless political confrontation. The country remains on an economic ventilator, and is in the midst of a serious security crisis. In 2025 alone, official figures recorded 5,397 terrorism incidents and 1,235 deaths, with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan bearing the overwhelming share of the violence.
At the same time, calls for a “new system” through administrative restructuring or new provinces are gaining momentum. No government can hope to credibly impose such fundamental changes without the buy-in of all political forces, including reconciliation, public participation and broad consensus.
In this scenario, it is a national necessity for all political forces to reduce the temperature and adopt unity to confront terrorism and undertake any genuine restructuring of the state. Pakistan has had enough of top-down experiments; if we must proceed for another one, it must emerge from citizens’ demands and not just think-tank proposals and round-table discussions.