Pakistan's Ex-PM Imran Khan Claims Vision Loss in Jail, Sparks Concern Over Treatment

Jailed former Pakistan PM Imran Khan has claimed that he has lost about 85% vision in his right eye in a report submitted to the country’s apex court, prompting the Supreme Court to ordered the formation of a medical team to examine his eye, a leading news publication in the country reported. Khan, who is currently under prolonged solitary confinement inside Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail has long claimed mistreatment in prison. His aides have continuously flagged “deliberate, inhuman, and illegal treatment” against Khan, which they claimed was carried out under the watch of Pakistan’s powerful military establishment. According to the report, Khan said that approximately three to four months earlier, until October 2025, he had normal 6 x 6 vision in both eyes. He then began experiencing persistent blurred and hazy vision, which he repeatedly reported to the then jail superintendent, but no action was taken by the jail authorities to address these complaints. Khan, in fact, underwent a medical procedure at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad on the night of January 24, a development confirmed days later amid an apparent lack of knowledge by the family, according to Dawn report. “The issue of Imran’s health is most important,” Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi, adding that “intervention was necessary”. Imran’s son Kasim Khan, in a post on X, termed the development “a direct consequence of “solitary confinement, medical neglect”. “This is the direct consequence of 922 days of solitary confinement, medical neglect (denied blood tests) and the deliberate denial of proper treatment in jail,” Kasim stressed, maintaining that the “responsibility lies squarely with the regime in power, the army chief and the puppets enabling this cruelty”. The court has also directed that Khan be allowed to speak to his children. It was ordered that both the eye inspection and the phone calls be conducted before February 16, Dawn reported. Khan is currently jailed under multiple cases, with reports indicating at least 5 major convictions, according to several reports.