ISLAMABAD: Secretary Information of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Sheikh Waqas Akram, on Saturday stated that PTI stands shoulder to shoulder with the opposition’s demand for immediate access for Imran Khan to his family and doctors of his choice, claiming that he has lost 85 per cent of his vision.

He also warned against attempts to use alleged drug peddler Anmol alias Pinky against political opponents. “The government’s continued denial of basic medical rights to the most popular leader in the country’s history is not merely administrative incompetence; it is a calculated act of cruelty,” he stated.

He warned that if the “regime” persisted in its obstinacy, the opposition, backed by PTI, would have no option but to launch nationwide protests once again, describing it as their constitutional and democratic duty.

The PTI information secretary tore into the government’s propaganda machinery with biting sarcasm, dismissing claims of providing the “best possible medical facilities” to Imran Khan as “a laughable fiction that even the government’s own scriptwriters must find embarrassing.”

Citing Barrister Salman Safdar’s detailed medical report, Akram pointed out that the PTI chairman had already lost 85pc vision in his right eye, a fact he claimed the regime was desperately trying to conceal behind official medical boards and restrictions on meetings. “If everything is indeed ‘fine’ as the government insists, why the illegal ban on scheduled meetings with family, lawyers and party leaders?” he asked.

“The answer is embarrassingly obvious. They are terrified of the world seeing the true state of Pakistan’s most prominent political prisoner.”

Akram further condemned the 194 days of alleged illegal solitary confinement inflicted on Imran Khan, calling it a gross violation of the Mandela Rules and basic human decency. He demanded the immediate formation of a joint parliamentary committee to visit Adiala Jail and verify conditions firsthand, warning that failure to restore these rights would expose the regime’s contempt for parliamentary supremacy.

On the second front, Sheikh Waqas Akram lambasted what he described as the regime’s latest desperate ploy involving Anmol alias Pinky, whose media revelations regarding alleged torture and forced statements naming Banigala had laid bare the depths of political vendetta.

“Using a confessed narcotics kingpin to manufacture cases against political opponents is not law enforcement. It is the last refuge of a morally bankrupt dispensation,” he remarked. He questioned how the alleged drug empire operated with impunity for 15 to 18 years under successive governments of the Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in Sindh and Punjab, demanding a transparent and independent inquiry to expose the real patrons and protectors of the “poisonous enterprise.”

Turning to the economy, Akram reserved his sharpest criticism for the government’s announcement of a Rs5 reduction in petrol and diesel prices. “In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis that has already pushed the Sensitive Price Index to alarming levels, this so-called relief is less a concession to the suffering masses and more a cruel joke at their expense,” he said.

He criticised the government for, according to him, surrendering before the IMF by agreeing to an additional Rs430 billion in taxes and increasing petroleum levy targets to Rs1.73 trillion, while allegedly squandering billions on self-promotional TikTok campaigns and media blitzes for Maryam Nawaz.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2026