Pakistan is accused of denying Imran Khan’s vision treatment.
The former prime minister’s attorney claimed that the delayed treatment he received in prison had resulted in the loss of 85% of his right-eye vision. A government official said on Saturday that Pakistan’s imprisoned former prime minister, Imran Khan, will have eye surgery for the second time in a month in response to growing concerns about Mr. Khan’s health after a lawyer’s report stated that he had lost 85% of his right-eye vision due to delayed treatment. In a post on X, Pakistan’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, stated that “the best eye specialists will perform further check-ups and treatment in a specialized medical facility.” “A detailed report thereof will also be submitted in the Supreme Court.”
Mr. Khan, 73, underwent surgery in late January to remove a blood clot that was impairing the vision in his right eye. But Mr. Aleema Khan, Khan’s sister, stated in text messages that Mr. Khan’s doctors, who have not been allowed to examine him, were concerned that there could be an underlying problem beyond the blood clot.
Mr. This week, a lawyer for Khan’s party argued in a report that the impairment had gotten worse because the prison authorities had not done anything. This caused Khan’s condition to become a political flashpoint. Salman Safdar, a lawyer representing the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, also known as P.T.I., wrote that Mr. Since October, Khan had been experiencing “persistent blurred and hazy vision.” Mr. said that he “appeared visibly perturbed and deeply distressed by the loss of vision and the lack of timely and specialized medical intervention.” In the report, which was made public on Thursday, Safdar wrote. P.T.I. lawmakers and Mr. The former prime minister’s family immediately accused Pakistan’s powerful military and government of deliberately allowing Khan’s health to deteriorate.
However, the claims made in the report—that Mr. Independent authorities have yet to confirm Khan’s claim that his treatment was deliberately delayed and that he only has 15% vision in one eye. Ms. Khan asserted, without providing evidence, that delayed treatment had put her brother at risk of losing vision entirely in his right eye.
“Is this an irretrievable situation? During a sit-in at the Pakistani Parliament on Saturday, P.T.I. secretary general Salman Akram Raja stated, “We don’t know.”
On Friday, Rana Sanaullah, a special assistant to the current prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, rejected the claim that prison officials had ignored Mr. Khan’s problem with his eyes since October He stated, Khan had first alerted them to the problem in early January, and that doctors were examining him every two days.
Mr. Even though he has been in prison since 2023 on various charges of corruption and leaking state secrets, Khan, who served as Pakistan’s prime minister from 2018 to 2022, has maintained a high level of popularity throughout that time. Mr. Khan has denied all the charges and has been acquitted in some cases.
He and his wife were found guilty of illegally retaining and selling state gifts, and they received 17-year prison sentences in December. Mr. Khan is being held in Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, a city on the outskirts of the capital, Islamabad, that houses the military’s headquarters.
The Pakistani authorities have frequently prevented Mr. Khan’s family and lawyers from visiting him in prison, leading relatives and supporters to denounce his detention conditions as inhumane.
Mr. Ms. Khan, Khan’s sister Khan, said that the family wanted him to be “seen by a specialist in an independent hospital, where they cannot manipulate the reports, in the presence of Imran Khan’s own doctors.”
On Saturday, the location, time, and identity of Mr. Khan would receive the promised treatment.
