By Asif Shahzad
ISLAMABAD, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Small groups of protesters gathered in some Pakistani cities on Friday in support of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, after his lawyer said the former cricket star had lost 85% 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.
POLICE BLOCK MARCHERS IN ISLAMABAD
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 lawmaker 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 15% 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, and alleged that jail authorities took no action at the time.
Safdar said Khan appeared "visibly perturbed and deeply distressed by the loss of vision", adding that his "eyes were watery, and he repeatedly used a tissue-paper to wipe them".
The Supreme Court set a February 16 deadline for authorities to allow Khan access to his personal physician for a report on his condition.
KHAN HAD 20-MINUTE PROCEDURE, REPORT SAYS
Khan was diagnosed with a right central retinal vein occlusion, or blockage, according to a February 6 medical report submitted in the court, based on an examination by an ophthalmologist in his prison cell in the city of Rawalpindi.
The medical report said Khan was taken to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad where doctors carried out a 20-minute procedure in an operating theatre with his consent.
Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party said in a statement it demanded unrestricted access to qualified specialists of Khan's choice.
The party, which had faced a crackdown after Khan's May 2023 arrest sparked nationwide protests against the military, emerged as the single biggest in a 2024 election.
It said rigging robbed it of more seats, allowing other parties to form a coalition government under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, accusations that Sharif and his allies deny.
(Reporting by Asif Shahzad; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Raju Gopalakrishnan and Andrew Heavens)
