Asif Shahzad
ISLAMABAD, Feb 13 (Reuters) – Pakistan’s jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan has lost 85 percent of his vision in his right eye, his lawyers told the Supreme Court, an ordeal that adds to the legal and political challenges he is already grappling with.
Khan, 73, has been in jail since August 2023, serving a 14-year sentence on corruption charges, one of dozens of cases he says the military concocted to keep him away from politics, a charge the military denies.
“He only has 15 percent vision left in his right eye,” Khan’s lawyer Salman Safdar quoted the former cricket star-turned-politician as saying in a Thursday report seen by Reuters.
The fact-finding report quoted Khan as saying that he had been complaining of “persistent blurred vision” since October 2025, but no action was taken by prison authorities.
Safdar submitted his report after a two-hour meeting with Khan ordered by the Supreme Court, which set a deadline of February 16 for authorities to allow Khan access to his personal doctor for a report on his condition.
Khan’s eyes were watery, and he was clearly feeling uneasy and distressed.
He said he observed Khan “visibly distressed and deeply distressed by the loss of his vision,” adding that his “eyes were moist and he repeatedly wiped them with a tissue.”
Information Minister Atala Talal said earlier this month that Khan was taken to hospital for a 20-minute eye treatment procedure.
According to a medical report submitted to the court on February 6, he was diagnosed with right central retinal vein occlusion following an examination by an ophthalmologist inside the Rawalpindi city jail cell.
Khan was reportedly taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad, where doctors performed a 20-minute operation in the operating theater with his consent.
Pakistan’s Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal said on Friday that reports that Khan had been complaining of poor eyesight since October were false and that all authorities were not notified about the matter until January 16. A professional ophthalmologist performed the surgery on January 24, he added.
“This is not a political issue. This is a medical issue. We will provide all possible support for his health,” Fazal told reporters in Islamabad.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party said in a statement that it demanded unrestricted access to qualified experts of Khan’s choice and an end to the tactic of risking lives in detention.
The party faced a crackdown after Khan’s arrest in May 2023 sparked nationwide protests against the army, but emerged as the largest single party in the 2024 elections.
But it said rigging had deprived it of more seats to help other parties form a coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, a charge that Sharif and his allies deny.
(Reporting by Asif Shahzad; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
