ISLAMABAD: The PTI contempt petition over Imran Khan’s hospital transfer has named Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif but omitted Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, prompting questions within the party over its legal strategy.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf petition seeks enforcement of the Supreme Court’s August 18 order. The court had directed authorities to shift Imran Khan to Shifa International Hospital for treatment.
Sources familiar with PTI’s parliamentary party meeting said Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan wanted lawyers to keep the case focused on enforcing the court order. He argued against turning the proceedings into a political exercise.
The discussion also considered naming administrative officials responsible for implementation. These included the interior secretary and the principal secretary to the prime minister.
Sources said party members believed naming senior political figures could give the case a political character. However, the final petition included Shehbaz Sharif but omitted Naqvi. The parliamentary party did not know why the final filing took that approach.
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Barrister Salman Akram Raja offered a separate legal explanation. He said lawyers needed evidence linking an individual to the decision not to comply with the Supreme Court order before naming that person.
Raja said the legal team therefore named the interior secretary instead of Mohsin Naqvi.
Imran Khan’s sister Uzma Khan filed the petition through lawyer Uzair Karamat Bhandari. It names the prime minister, law and information ministers.
Islamabad’s chief commissioner, the interior secretary, Punjab’s inspector general of prisons and the Adiala Jail superintendent.
The federal government has challenged the Supreme Court’s original order. It maintains that PTI workers created a security situation that prevented Imran’s transfer to Shifa. Authorities instead took him to PIMS for a medical examination before returning him to Adiala Jail.
