ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN – The political temperature in Pakistan, already simmering after years of instability, has reached a perilous boiling point. At the heart of the crisis lies a single, visceral question: Is the state slowly allowing former Prime Minister Imran Khan to go blind in custody?

The opposition alliance Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP) issued a stark warning on Thursday, declaring that any “criminal negligence” regarding the health of the 74-year-old PTI founder could plunge the country’s political crisis onto an “even more dangerous path”. But beneath the rhetoric of this warning lies a deeper, more disturbing narrative, one of a state that has lost the trust of its opposition, a family that feels gaslit by the system, and a political prisoner whose deteriorating eyesight has become a metaphor for the nation’s own blurred vision of justice.

A Midnight Transfer And A Crisis Of Trust:

The immediate trigger for the escalating alarm was the early morning transfer of Imran Khan from Adiala Jail to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad on February 24. According to officials, the former prime minister was transported under tight security for a scheduled second dose of an anti-VEGF intravitreal injection to treat Central Retinal Vein Occlusion (CRVO) in his right eye.

On paper, the government’s response appears efficient. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry confirmed the procedure, noting that a third and final dose is scheduled for March 24. The hospital reported that Khan was “clinically stable” and that the procedure was a success.

However, it is the manner of the transfer, not the medical procedure itself, that has ignited a firestorm of controversy. Imran Khan’s sister, Aleema Khan, expressed the raw anguish of a family kept in the dark.

“We only found out from news reports that he was taken to PIMS again in the middle of the night,” she told media personnel outside Adiala Jail, calling the operation “criminal.” Her statement cuts to the core of the trust deficit: “We do not trust the diagnosis or test reports from government medical facilities. There are already reports coming from PIMS that doctors are being threatened with serious consequences if any information is leaked about Imran Khan”.

This isn’t just a family feud with the state; it has become a full-blown constitutional crisis. Jailed PTI leaders, including Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Dr. Yasmin Rashid, have penned an urgent letter to the Chief Justice of Pakistan. They drew a scathing comparison with the treatment of former PM Nawaz Sharif in 2019, who was allowed access to his personal physicians and eventually flown to London for treatment.

“The sitting government has engaged in ‘cloak-and-dagger’ conduct,” the letter reads, alleging that the state is “deliberately creating obstacles in order to retain political control”. The implication is damning: that the government is willing to risk a prisoner’s health to avoid the political instability his release might cause.

The Medical Evidence: A Battle Of Narratives.

The factual basis for the panic is medically serious. A report submitted to the Supreme Court earlier this month confirmed that Imran Khan has lost approximately 85% of the vision in his right eye due to CRVO, a condition where blood flow is blocked from the retina. While government doctors claim improvement, noting vision of 6/24 in the right eye, the Khan family and TTAP remain unconvinced.

Aleema Khan delivered a chilling message to the press: “Imran Khan has sent a message that he cannot see… He wants his personal doctors to be granted access to examine him”. The demand for Dr. Faisal Sultan and Dr. Aasim Yusuf to be allowed independent access has become a non-negotiable red line for the opposition.

The Politics Of Paralysis: TTAP’s Dual Strategy Of Dialogue And Defiance.

Paradoxically, even as the health crisis deepens, the political landscape has shifted toward negotiation. In a surprising development, the TTAP alliance has accepted the government’s offer for talks.

Following a late-night consultative meeting at the residence of Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar on February 25, the alliance authorised opposition leaders Mehmood Khan Achakzai and Allama Raja Nasir Abbas to initiate a dialogue process with key government figures during the holy month of Ramadan.

PTI leader Junaid Akbar articulated the opposition’s conditional willingness: “We are political people and have faith in the negotiation process. We want to resolve issues through compromise and dialogue… but the government must also correct its approach”.

This creates a fascinating and precarious dynamic. At the same table where they are negotiating the “Charter of Democracy” and constitutional protections, the opposition is accusing the government of potentially orchestrating a medical tragedy.

TTAP leader Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar highlighted the duality of their concern, linking Imran’s health to the wider national security crisis. “Clouds of war are looming over the region,” he warned, referencing US naval deployments against Iran, while simultaneously demanding that Imran be shifted to Shifa International Hospital.

The Wider Crisis: Terrorism, Economy, And Sovereignty.

The TTAP statement was not solely focused on Imran Khan. It painted a picture of a state under siege from multiple fronts. The alliance expressed grave concern over the “alarming increase” in terrorism, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

This security breakdown has economic teeth. Citing recent data, TTAP claimed poverty has skyrocketed to 29%, and unemployment has hit a 21-year high. They alleged that the “exit of hundreds of major multinational companies” is evidence of a deteriorating risk profile.

On the foreign policy front, the alliance launched a blistering critique of the government’s decision to join US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace,” which they described as an attempt to create a “non-representative alternative to the United Nations” that excludes Palestinians.

Analysis: The Reckoning.

What we are witnessing in late February 2026 is the culmination of two and a half years of political vendetta colliding with the biological realities of ageing.

The government’s narrative, that Imran Khan is receiving “the best available” treatment, is undermined entirely by its own security apparatus. When a prisoner’s sister has to learn about a medical procedure from a news report at 2 AM, it is not security; it is secrecy. And secrecy breeds suspicion.

The deeper investigative question remains: Why the fear of letting Dr. Faisal Sultan or Dr. Aasim Yusuf see their patient? If the government has nothing to hide, the refusal to allow independent medical verification reads as a form of political hostage-taking.

TTAP’s warning about “criminal negligence” escalating the political crisis is not hyperbole. Pakistan is a country where the death in custody of a political leader (Zulfikar Ali Bhutto) has cast a shadow for decades. If Imran Khan’s eyesight deteriorates further, or if he suffers a more severe health event, behind the walls of a jail where his family cannot witness it, the fragile olive branch of negotiations will snap.

As one political analyst in Islamabad noted privately: “They are trying to negotiate a charter of democracy with a man whose vision is failing. If he loses his sight completely while in their custody, no charter will save the country from the resulting inferno.”

For now, the opposition holds two paths forward: the path of dialogue in the halls of parliament, and the path of protest outside the gates of Adiala Jail. It remains to be seen which one the government’s actions will force them to take.