Red Zone sealed as opposition stages sit-in over Imran health

A crowd of opposition supporters and media gathered behind a black metal gate outside a white building — SCREENGRAB Opposition leaders and supporters gather for a sit-in outside Parliament House in Islamabad on 13 February 2026. The image is a screengrab shared by opposition leader Mahmood Khan Achakzai. Image: Geo News / @MKAchakzaiPKMAP.

What happened

Authorities sealed Islamabad’s Red Zone on Friday 13 February 2026, with police deploying contingents and placing barriers at Radio Pakistan Chowk to stop movement towards Shahrah-e-Dastoor and Parliament House, as opposition parties staged a sit-in in the high-security area.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had announced the sit-in outside Parliament House to protest what it described as negligence in the medical treatment of jailed former prime minister and party founder Imran Khan, who has an eye ailment.

The protest follows a report filed with the Supreme Court by PTI counsel Salman Safdar after he visited Khan at Adiala jail. The court had appointed Safdar as amicus curiae and directed him to visit the jail and submit a report by 11 February, after Khan said he had been left with only about 15 percent of the vision in his right eye.

The demands

Addressing the sit-in, opposition leader Mahmood Khan Achakzai, who heads the Tehreek Tahaffuz-e-Ayeen-e-Pakistan alliance and is Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, said the demonstration would remain peaceful. He demanded that Khan be examined by his personal physician, granted access to competent specialists and moved immediately to a hospital of his choice.

Citing the report submitted to the Supreme Court, Achakzai said Khan’s vision had significantly worsened. He urged authorities to declare the hospital a “sub-jail” so that Khan could receive treatment while remaining in custody, saying it would take only about ten minutes for a doctor’s check-up before a transfer. “Imran Khan is not just a former prime minister, but also a human being and a prisoner,” Achakzai said, according to Geo News.

PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan told reporters outside Parliament House that he had “barely managed” to reach the building.

The government’s position

Separately, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi confirmed plans to shift Khan to a new Islamabad jail once its construction is completed, which he said would take about two months. He said the facility would have full medical facilities and noted that Khan had been convicted by the Islamabad High Court. The remarks came after officials had previously dismissed reports of an imminent transfer from Adiala jail.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry said the government would afford no negligence in Khan’s eye examination and treatment, adding that the examination would take place wherever it was ordered. He said the matter should not be politicised and that medical care was being provided.

Khan’s sister, Aleema Khan, disputed the government’s account. She said the family wanted Khan treated at Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad under the supervision of his personal medical team, and she questioned why the Supreme Court’s written order had not been received. A 6 February medical report from the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, cited in Safdar’s filing, said Khan had been diagnosed with “right central retinal vein occlusion” after reporting reduced vision and had undergone an intravitreal injection.

Why it matters

The standoff has renewed a national argument over the treatment of Khan, who has been in jail since August 2023, and pushed the opposition alliance into an indefinite protest in the capital. It also places the Supreme Court at the centre of the dispute, because the government says the case is under judicial oversight while Khan’s party says the court’s directions have not been implemented quickly enough.