Bushra Bibi’s eye condition is extremely critical and her vision faces a serious risk, her lawyer has told the Islamabad High Court in an affidavit filed in the £190 million case. Barrister Salman Safdar submitted the affidavit on Saturday, 7 November, after meeting Bushra Bibi and her husband, PTI founder Imran Khan, at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi earlier this week.
In the affidavit, Safdar describes a meeting in which Bushra Bibi, wearing unusually dark sunglasses, told him she could tolerate neither sunlight nor artificial light — and that doctors had diagnosed a mature cataract and advised another eye operation around 15 November. She has now asked the court to order a full medical examination and immediate specialist eye care, and to allow her to be treated by doctors of her own choice at her own expense.
The filing puts a health question at the centre of one of Pakistan’s most closely watched cases, just three days before the Islamabad High Court is due to hear the couple’s appeals against their convictions on 10 November.
What the affidavit says
According to the affidavit, Bushra Bibi wore unusually dark sunglasses throughout the meeting. When she removed them at the request of Safdar and Imran Khan, she appeared extremely distressed and in pain. She told her lawyer she was unable to open her eyes without the glasses, and that neither sunlight nor the artificial light in the room could be tolerated.
Safdar told the court he was concerned that her vision had been severely affected, and that Imran Khan also appeared deeply worried about her condition. The lawyer said he had assured Bushra Bibi he would bring the entire situation, and the related legal concerns, to the attention of the high court.
The account in the affidavit is the lawyer’s description of what he saw and was told during the meeting. The court has not yet examined the medical record or ruled on the application, and the health claims in the filing have not been independently verified by the court.
The 2 November meeting at Adiala Jail
The meeting at the centre of the affidavit took place on Monday, 2 November. Jail authorities had told Safdar on 31 October that the meeting was set for 3:30pm. It began at 4pm and lasted about 40 minutes, with both Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi present.
It was the first time in months that Safdar had been able to meet his clients together. He last met Imran Khan on 9 April, for about an hour, and was not allowed to meet Bushra Bibi on that occasion. The gap in access had itself become part of the legal argument in the case, with the defence saying it could not take instructions from its clients.
The meeting matters beyond the health question. With the appeals listed for hearing on 10 November, the defence needed to consult the couple before arguing the case, and the affidavit records that the consultation finally took place — alongside the health concerns that emerged from it.
Mature cataract and an operation around 15 November
Bushra Bibi told her lawyer that doctors had diagnosed her condition as a mature cataract — an advanced clouding of the eye’s lens — and advised that another eye operation would be required around 15 November. The affidavit does not name the doctors who gave that advice, and no medical report has yet been placed before the court.
She also expressed serious dissatisfaction with the standard of cleanliness in the jail and with the treatment she has received, and asked that her medical examination and treatment be conducted by her personal doctors rather than through the jail’s medical system alone.
The request is framed as an urgent one. In the accompanying application, her lawyers say her eye condition is deteriorating rapidly and ask for immediate medical measures to save her eyesight, including treatment by a specialist at her own expense.
What the application asks the court to do
Alongside the affidavit, Bushra Bibi has filed a miscellaneous application in the Islamabad High Court through Barrister Salman Safdar and lawyer Khalid Yousaf Chaudhry. The application asks the court to direct the Adiala Jail authorities to obtain a comprehensive medical report and to present the relevant medical documents in court.
It also seeks an immediate examination by an eye specialist and an immediate consultation with the jail medical officer, and permission for treatment by a specialist of her choice at her own expense. The court’s response will decide whether the medical record is produced and whether a specialist chosen by her may treat her.
The application is part of the £190 million case, and any order the court makes on it will sit alongside the main appeals, which are due to be heard on 10 November.
The £190 million case and the 10 November hearing
The case goes back to 17 January 2025, when an accountability court sentenced Imran Khan to 14 years in prison and Bushra Bibi to seven years in the reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau. The case concerns £190 million that the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency returned to Pakistan in 2019, money linked to property tycoon Malik Riaz. The prosecution says the money was used to pay fines for the businessman instead of going into the national treasury, and that land worth millions was given to the Al-Qadir Trust, a welfare body set up in 2018 that runs a university outside Islamabad, in return.
The couple’s appeals against those convictions are fixed for hearing on 10 November before a division bench of Chief Justice Sardar Sarfaraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Asif. The hearing is the first real movement in the appeals since the defence was able to meet its clients, and the bench is expected to hear arguments on how the case moves forward. A hearing date is not the same as a suspension of sentence, an acquittal or a release.
Medical care for prisoners in custody has been raised in the case before. In August, the Supreme Court ordered Imran Khan to be moved to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad for examination; he was instead taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences on 20 August, declared medically fit and returned to Adiala Jail the same day. Whether the high court now orders a different course for Bushra Bibi’s treatment will be decided when the application comes before it.
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