New Delhi: Pakistanis cannot have enough of Imran Khan. His time spent in jail has surged his popularity. And now the news of him being shifted to a hospital has led to an outpouring of relief and jubilation on social media — and a wave of memes that reveal people’s desperation to see him once.
Some want an internship in Shifa International Hospital, others are ready to drop a random ‘charsi’ from the street — all in the hope to catch a glimpse of the former prime minister.
Khan has been in Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi since August 2023 following his conviction in the Toshakhana corruption case. After medical reports confirming deterioration of his health were shared by former president Arif Alvi on X, the Supreme Court of Pakistan intervened on Tuesday and ordered authorities to transfer Khan to Islamabad’s Shifa International Hospital for treatment. Khan’s medical examination will be conducted under the supervision of one of his sisters, his personal physician, and other specialists.
The court also ordered prison authorities to facilitate weekly meetings between Khan and his family and allow him to speak by telephone with his sons.
‘Memes are back’
Pakistanis chose to rejoice in the way they know best — humour. Bollywood also had a role to play, as memes abounded. One X user, Mahmood Arif, posted a meme from Jolly LLB 2, with the judge doing a dance move. “After ordering transferring Imran Khan to the hospital,” the caption read.
Another posted a clip from 3 Idiots where Aamir Khan’s character rushes his friend’s ill father to the hospital on a scooter, and added: “Picking up a charsi from 6th road flyover to admit into shifa international hospital just to catch a glimpse of imran khan”.
To this, an excited Imran Khan fan responded: “I will play the role of a charsi.”
Another user shared the hospital scene from the 2001 Bollywood movie Nayak where Anil Kapoor visits patients in a hospital. He then captioned it as an imaginary conversation.
“Doctor: What brings you here?
Me: Severe Imran Khan deficiency”
A satirical X account, Sheikh Hopeful, shared a video of Imran Khan working out in a gym, and said, “The move Imran Khan is about to pull after being shifted to the hospital”.
Others, meanwhile, chose to comment on the current PTI leadership. Posting a picture of a man running away from people, an X user claimed that even Khan will make a run if the PTI current leadership came to visit him.
A happy Pakistani summed it up — “Memes are back, so is immi k“.
Also read: Imran Khan to be moved from jail to hospital. Ex-President Arif Alvi’s tweet started it all
A signal?
Then there was serious commentary too. Dawn, in its editorial on Wednesday, wrote, “It is unbecoming of a state to treat former leaders so poorly. Other leaders, including the two senior-most leaders of the PML-N and PPP, have suffered similar or worse cruelties in the past. It would have earned them much goodwill if they had intervened, even once, to ensure that rival leaders were not treated as poorly during their own terms.”
The Express Tribune reported that the SC decision has caught Pakistan’s political and legal circles off guard, prompting speculation that the ruling could signal the reopening of political space for the PTI after nearly three years of exclusion.
The ruling has also unsettled the governing PML-N, according to the report. Some senior party figures have questioned the legality of the Supreme Court’s directive, while Senator Nasir Butt, a close associate of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, went further, calling it a conspiracy against his leader. He also predicted that Khan could eventually be moved from the hospital to his residence.
Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said the federal government would challenge the decision through a review petition. He questioned why the court had ordered Khan’s transfer to a private hospital rather than a government facility.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)