The contempt of court petition has already been scheduled for hearing before a three-member Supreme Court bench on September 16.
The bench comprises Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim. It is also scheduled to resume hearing pending petitions concerning former prime minister Imran Khan’s health and family meetings on the same date.
The bench last heard the petitions on August 18 and directed that Imran be transferred to Shifa International Hospital within two days.
However, the Supreme Court office on Monday rejected Uzma Khan’s request for an earlier hearing and reiterated that cases were required to be taken up according to the court’s fixation policy.
The office said 94 other criminal original petitions falling within the same category were already pending before the Supreme Court. Under the fixation policy, cases are scheduled for hearing according to their turn.
The registrar’s office had rejected Uzma’s first request for an early hearing of the contempt petition last week.
In her second application, filed through Advocate Uzair Karamat Bhandari on August 27, Uzma argued that the contempt petition against government officials was intended to secure immediate implementation of the Supreme Court’s August 18 order regarding Imran’s transfer to a private hospital.
The application maintained that an early hearing was necessary in the interests of justice and to protect Imran’s health and ensure compliance with the court’s directions.
It argued that the petition involved matters concerning Imran’s health, dignity and physical well-being and expressed concern over his deteriorating condition.
Uzma’s application also requested the court to reconsider its decision to schedule the hearing for September 16, arguing that the fixation policy did not justify what she described as a prolonged delay.
She further contended that there was no legal or procedural impediment to an immediate hearing of the contempt petition and that the fixation policy prioritised matters involving personal liberty, particularly where court orders were allegedly not being implemented.
The applications followed developments after the Supreme Court’s August 18 order. Although the court had directed that Imran be transferred to Shifa International Hospital within two days, the government instead took him to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) for a medical examination before returning him to prison.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar had attributed the decision to security concerns arising from the presence of PTI workers near the hospital.
The PTI rejected the government’s explanation and accused it of deliberately failing to comply with the Supreme Court’s directions.
