Small groups of protesters gathered in some Pakistani cities yesterday in support of former prime minister Imran Khan, after his lawyer said the former cricket star had lost 85 per cent of the sight in his right eye while in prison.
Nearly 100 protesters chanted anti-government slogans in the southern port city of Karachi a day after the lawyer told the Supreme Court in a report that Khan had been having problems with his vision since October.
Pakistan’s Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal said authorities had only been told about the eye problem a month ago and that Khan had been taken to hospital for a procedure on January 24.
“It is not a political issue. It is a medical issue. We will provide every possible support for his health,” Fazal told reporters in the capital.
A large police contingent stopped dozens of protesters led by an alliance of opposition parties from marching outside the parliament in Islamabad.
“We demand that a panel of (doctors) of his choice should be allowed to treat him,” Salina Khan, a legislator for Khan’s party, said at the rally in Karachi.
Khan, 73, has been in jail since August 2023, serving a 14-year sentence on corruption charges, one of dozens of cases he says were made up by the army to keep him out of politics, a charge the military denies.
The Supreme Court called a hearing and asked for the report after lawyer Salman Safdar filed a petition last week asking for Khan to have access to his doctor and family.
“He has been left with only 15pc vision in his right eye,” Safdar said in the report seen by Reuters.
The document cited Khan as saying he had been complaining about ‘experiencing persistent blurred and hazy vision’ since October 2025.
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