It’s unlucky that the Supreme Courtroom was compelled to intervene to order authorities to type a medical group for inspecting and treating an 85pc lack of imaginative and prescient in the best eye of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan. That the apex court docket felt compelled to nominate lawyer Salman Safdar as amicus curiae to personally go to the PTI chief in jail to evaluate his well being situation speaks volumes concerning the authorities’s failure to adequately reply to his persistent complaints about his deteriorating eyesight, reportedly on account of a blood clot, since October and to make sure well timed therapy.
For over three months, the one therapy administered to him consisted of eye drops, which yielded no enchancment. Requests for entry to his private physicians weren’t entertained. Common blood assessments have been reportedly not performed. It’s subsequently hardly shocking {that a} situation which could have been managed and even reversed with well timed medical intervention has now led to a sudden and near-complete lack of imaginative and prescient in a single eye.
The supply of specialised medical care to Mr. Khan is now not a query of his demanding “privileged” therapy. It’s about fulfilling the state’s authorized obligations; it’s a well being and rights challenge. Even the incumbent lawyer normal has acknowledged medical care to a prisoner is the state’s duty. The lack of sight in a single eye isn’t a minor challenge. It may be life-altering. Delayed analysis and therapy in such circumstances may end up in irreversible harm.
The truth that the affected person occurs to be a former PM and the pinnacle of a significant political celebration provides one other dimension by way of nationwide significance. Pakistan’s historical past provides quite a few precedents the place politicians akin to Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif, amongst others, have been hospitalized whereas incarcerated and, in some circumstances, allowed to journey overseas for therapy each on humanitarian and medical grounds, even when related amenities have been accessible domestically. Equity calls for that the identical requirements apply for Mr Khan: he should not be denied any required medical facility. Not simply that, he ought to be allowed to seek the advice of with docs of his selection.
Political polarization should not be allowed to obscure the precept that even an extraordinary prisoner is entitled to well timed and ample healthcare. However when the detainee is a significant political chief, any official neglect solely deepens distrust within the authorities and fuels political instability.
Printed in Daybreak, February 14th, 2026
