‘State has committed a crime against Imran’: Opposition lashes out over PTI founder’s reported vision loss
The PTI and the opposition alliance Tehreek-i-Tahafuz-i-Ayin-i-Pakistan (TTAP) lashed out over incarcerated former premier Imran Khan’s health condition, after the Supreme Court (SC) was informed that only 15 per cent vision was left in the PTI founder’s right eye.
The information was shared in a report submitted to the SC by PTI counsel Advocate Salman Safdar, who quoted the PTI founder as telling him that “he has been left with only 15pc vision in his right eye”.
Subsequently, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, alongside Imran’s sister Aleema Khanum and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, spoke to the media outside the SC.
“A crime has been committed against Imran Khan, and this state has committed this crime,” Raja contended.
The PTI secretary general further stated that the “face of this crime is Abdul Ghafoor Anjum. We will not forget this name”.
Anjum has served as the jail superintendent at the Adiala jail, where Imran is imprisoned. Safdar told the court today that according to jail staff, he was transferred on Jan 16, being replaced by Sajid Baig.
Meanwhile, Senate Opposition Leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas said he was “formally sending the full details of this matter, evidence and timeline to all national and international human rights organisations and ambassadors stationed in Pakistan so that they might take notice of this grave situation”.
In a post on X, which quoted his address to the Senate, the TTAP Vice Chairman demanded that an “independent and transparent medical board be immediately formed, the complete medical records made public, and those responsible be identified and action taken in accordance with the law”.
Lamenting that “timely and effective treatment was not provided”, Abbas also recalled that the nation was “constantly given the impression that he was completely healthy and had no problems”.
“If Imran Khan had been allowed regular meetings with his family, if medical examinations had been transparent and reports had been made public, then perhaps this would not have come to this,” he said.
Emphasising that the state was responsible for the life and health of any person in custody, Abbas stated: “Political disagreements have their place, but denying human rights and basic medical care is unacceptable in any civilised society.
“Delaying treatment, withholding information, and limiting access to family were not only inhumane but also a shirking of constitutional and legal obligations,” he contended.
“This was not just a matter of an individual; it is a matter of principle,” the TTAP leader asserted.
“If a former prime minister and a popular public leader of the country can be treated like this today, to what extent are the rights of an ordinary citizen protected?” he questioned.
“The state has a responsibility not to let political differences prevail over human dignity and fundamental rights,” Abbas noted.
Speaking to the media later in the day, CM Afridi said that they had “options” and they were considering them.
He announced that PTI’s core committee, political committee and TTAP leaders were set to meet later in the day to deliberate over those options.
The KP CM recalled that it had been over 900 days since Imran’s incarceration, but he had “never complained” about his health.
But now, he said, “We have called you and are doing our second press conference, which means that this is serious.”
“God forbids. If there were an irreversible loss, then there would be no use in raising our voices,” Afridi stated, adding that the PTI would take some “serious” steps.
During his media talk earlier in the day, the PTI secretary general said it was difficult for him to control his emotions after reading the report.
Raja said the pain in Imran’s eye began in November, and “sometime in December, he completely lost vision in his right eye”.
“Yet Imran was only given drops meant to treat irritation in the eye. He was not taken to hospital, and a qualified doctor to treat eye ailments was also not called. Instead, prison doctors kept giving him eye drops as Imran continued to complain that the pain in his eye was not subsiding,” he alleged.
Raja further claimed: “When the situation worsened, Ghafoor Anjum was immediately replaced on January 16. The new administrator who replaced him also wasted 10 days before a doctor from Pims, Dr Arif, was called [to the Adiala jail] on January 26.”
The PTI secretary general said Dr Arif, after examining Imran’s eye, advised that he should immediately be taken to the hospital. The former premier was administered treatment, including an injection, at the Pims hospital in Islamabad.
“The word used [in the report for Imran’s ailment] is occlusion of the retina,” Raja said, adding that Imran was quoted as saying that after treatment at the hospital, he regained 10pc-15pc vision in his right eye. “He is able to detect light through that eye, but he has not [fully] regained his vision.”
“This is a very painful and terrifying situation,” he said, adding that they had no information about what medical condition was affecting Imran’s vision.
He stressed the need for Imran’s medical examination at the earliest by doctors trusted by the PTI founder, family and public.
“The ongoing situation is unacceptable,” he asserted.
Pointing out that there were no doctors in Pims to treat ailments pertaining to the retina while Shifa International in Islamabad had two such doctors, he alleged that they were “deliberately” not asked to examine and treat Imran.
“So, several people are involved in the crime that has been committed against Imran. All of those names will be revealed; we will not hide any of them. Khan sahib has himself identified one of them, Abdul Ghafoor Anjum. A case will be filed against him immediately.”
Raja further alleged that the “Islamabad High Court is also involved” in this matter, questioning why Imran’s cases were not being fixed for hearing.
Meanwhile, “the condition of one of the eyes of the biggest leader of this nation is very concerning, and we have no information about his overall health condition”.
Despite this, Raja continued, Imran had directed his party to approach the courts. “We will not spare these courts. This nation and history will avenge the crime committed by these courts,” he said, demanding that Imran’s cases be fixed for hearing.
He also asserted that no reason was left to keep Imran behind bars and “freedom is his right now”.
“He will get freedom and this nation will get him freedom. We will fight his case inside and outside courts,” Raja said.
‘Not a matter to be trivialised’
Meanwhile, in an official statement on the matter, the PTI expressed “profound concern and deep anguish” over the report detailing Imran’s health.
“We strongly condemn the treatment meted out to Imran Khan, particularly with regard to the serious deterioration of his eyesight,” the party said on social media platform X.
“The report has laid before the nation facts that are sufficient to shake the conscience of every Pakistani,” it asserted.
The PTI claimed that the jail authorities limited Imran’s treatment to basic eye drops during the last three to four months, while “denying access to his personal physicians”.
“This constitutes a grave and inexcusable act of negligence. It is not merely a medical lapse; it amounts to playing with his life and health,” the party stated.
It further said there would be “no compromise” on Imran’s health and rights.
The PTI declared: “We will raise our voice against this injustice at every constitutional, legal, public, and international forum available to us. Should our legitimate demands remain unmet, we reserve the right to initiate a public movement.
“Imran Khan’s health is not a matter to be trivialised. Any further negligence may provoke a severe public reaction.”
“When the eyesight of a leader of such national and international stature is at stake, every possible transparent and independent medical facility must be provided immediately,” the PTI demanded.
“Any harm inflicted upon Imran Khan’s health will be accounted for,” the PTI warned, asserting that it reserved the right to initiate legal proceedings against Anjum, Punjab CM Maryam Nawaz, the Punjab prisons inspector general, the provincial prisons minister and “other responsible officials”.
While noting the SC’s directives regarding a medical team and contact with his sons, the PTI lamented that the “rejection of the request for a family member to be present during the medical examination, and the continued restriction or conditional provision of other basic facilities, is deeply disappointing”.
The party demanded that the ex-prime minister be granted “immediate and unrestricted access to his personal physicians and that, for specialised eye treatment, he be transferred without delay to a reputable hospital recommended by his medical team”.
Stressing that unhindered access to his legal counsel and the full restoration of family visitation rights were his fundamental rights, the PTI said, “To deprive him of these rights is tantamount to trampling upon justice and violating established international norms.”
The PTI urged international human rights organisations and global institutions to “take notice of the treatment being meted out” to Imran.
“A former elected prime minister facing prolonged solitary confinement, restricted medical facilities, and impediments to family and legal contact raises serious concerns under universally recognised human rights standards, and falls within the ambit of mental and medical torture,” the PTI alleged.
It also called upon the Pakistani media “not to treat this matter merely as a political dispute, but to highlight it as a serious human rights issue”.
In a separate post on X, the PTI said the report submitted to the SC itself mentions “rapid vision loss, visible distress, lack of full medical transparency, and restricted independent access” for the party founder.
“These aren’t social media claims. They are documented concerns,” the party contended.
It added: “A former prime minister in state custody is dealing with serious health deterioration while basic transparency remains a question. When someone is imprisoned, their health becomes the responsibility of those in power. Period.”
The party emphasised that this was not about politics anymore. “It’s about whether power is being used responsibly or ruthlessly,” it stated.
“You can disagree with a man. You cannot gamble with his health.”
‘Inhumane treatment’
PTI leader and former minister Hammad Azhar pointed out that Imran’s right eye was left with 15pc vision because he “was not provided timely medical treatment”.
“This stinking non-democratic, non-elected, and fascist system is the worst period in Pakistan’s history,” he said on X.
PTI Sindh President Haleem Adil Sheikh termed the report about his party founder “heart-wrenching and sad”.
“The nation is in deep sorrow and grief today. We demand that Imran Khan be released immediately after providing complete and transparent medical facilities,” he said.
Former KP CM and PTI leader Ali Amin Gandapur emphasised that Imran’s “health is the most important concern of every Pakistani”.
“Proper treatment via his personal medical teams should be ensured,” he demanded.
“Denying proper medical treatment to a former prime minister and Pakistan’s most popular leader is purely evil. Every Pakistani here and overseas condemns this fascist approach,” he asserted.
TTAP leader Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar wrote on X: “For months in a row Imran Khan kept on complaining about loss of vision in his right eye but was denied prompt medical attention.
“This is not negligence. This is torture; cruel, degrading and inhumane treatment,” alleged Khokhar.
He highlighted that Pakistan was party to the United Nations’ rules on treatment of prisoners — also known as the “Nelson Mandela Rules” – and of the UN Convention Against Torture.
Khokhar, who is also a lawyer, argued that these rules “clearly prohibit such treatment” as meted out to Imran.
Moonis Elahi, the son of former Punjab CM and PTI leader Parvez Elahi, posted on X saying that the damage to Imran’s eye was a “result of his inhumane and vindictive treatment of the leader in jail”.
“The nation will neither forget nor forgive,” he said.
More to follow
