Defiant TTAP stage protest at Parliament House over Imran’s health, vow to remain until demands fulfilled

2026-02-13 - 19:16

A day after revelations emerged about the vision loss of PTI founder Imran Khan, the opposition alliance Tehreek Tahafuz-i-Ayeen Pakistan (TTAP) staged a sit-in at the Parliament House on Friday and vowed to continue until their demands were fulfilled. The sit-in started after Friday prayers and was ongoing till midnight. On Thursday, the Supreme Court (SC) was informed that PTI founder Imran Khan’s right eye had only 15 per cent vision remaining, prompting a strong response from the party. Subsequently, the TTAP announced the sit-in outside the Parliament House on Friday (today). In a post on X, the opposition alliance said that “a sit-in has started outside the parliament house,” vowing that it will “continue until Imran is admitted to Al-Shifa Hospital“. “No compromise will be made on Imran Khan’s health,” the TTAP said, adding that all PTI parliamentarians were set to join the sit-in. Separately, PTI leader Asad Qaiser said that PTI lawmakers reached the parliament “after overcoming all the obstacles in their way” ahead of the sit-in. Qaiser said that he, along with the leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Shahram Khan Tarakai, and Shandana Gulzar, reached the assembly. He added that the “group discussed the present situation and deliberated on the future course of action”. He later shared a video of the sit-in outside Parliament House, saying that they were demanding the provision of medical facilities for Imran in the presence of his family and personal physician. “Providing the best medical facilities is Imran Khan’s legal and constitutional right. No compromise will be made on Imran Khan’s health. If our demands are not met, we will announce our next course of action,” he said. At around 7:40pm, the TTAP said in a post on X that the sit-in was now being held in the corridor of the Parliament House under the leadership of National Assembly and Senate opposition leaders, Mehmood Khan Achakzai and Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, respectively. The protest was actually being staged at the Parliament House’s main entrance, where the opposition reiterated that the sit-in would continue until Imran was moved to the hospital. Earlier in the day, TTAP chief Achakzai had also vowed to continue the sit-in “until all demands are met”. According to the last updates received around midnight, the protesters were still present at the Parliament House. In a video shared by the opposition alliance on X, Achakzai said they planned to spend the night at the Parliament House. On a lighter note, he added, “In the morning, we will sit [here] again after changing clothes and shaving. And if the [protest] is prolonged, the entire Ramazan will be spent staging sit-ins.” TTAP leader, Mustafa Nawaz Khokar, had earlier claimed that the government “has cordoned off all roads leading to Parliament” ahead of the sit-in. Khokhar had also claimed that “gates of parliamentary lodges have been shut, trapping MNAs and Senators inside.” He stressed that the measures were being taken to “stop opposition MPs from protesting and demanding medical access to Imran Khan.” “This doesn’t reflect strength, rather weakness,” he added. Protest outside KP House Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi was also in Islamabad, but his Focal Person on Digital Media Yar Muhammad Khan Niazi alleged in a post on X in the evening that “Islamabad police forcibly stopped” the CM and other members of the provincial assembly from reaching the Parliament House. Consequently, they staged a sit-in outside the KP House in the federal capital, he said. It was also alleged in