Pakistan’s opposition alliance on Wednesday (Feb 18, 2026) ended a days-long sit-in in the national capital over concerns over the health of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan.
Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-i-Ain-in-Pakistan (TTAP), an alliance of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, launched protests on Friday (February 13, 2026) at two locations in Islamabad, including the Parliament premises and the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa House building.
TTAP chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai led a sit-in at the Parliament premises, while Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi organized the other protest.
However, the group played down the protests, saying they had achieved their goal of highlighting Khan’s health problem. “Thank God, compared to the previous situation, when the vision was completely lost, there has been a slight improvement,” said Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, the leader of the opposition in the Senate.
He demanded that Khan be allowed to meet a personal doctor and that the PTI leader be treated at the private Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad.
Explaining the decision to call off the SIT, he said that his team had taken into account Ramzan, which will begin from Thursday.
“And in the next step, we can take various steps as TTAP and we will do that as we have time,” he said and urged the government to address the issue of Khan’s health.
TTAP Chief Achakzai, PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan and PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja participated in the press conference.
Earlier, the TTAP leadership, including Achakzai, Abbas, Gohar and Raja, visited the Supreme Court to express solidarity with Khan during the hearing of his cases, including a petition to allow a meeting with Khan.
The court rejected PTI leader Latif Khosa’s plea seeking a meeting with the former prime minister.
The court last week directed PTI’s lawyer Salman Safdar to meet Khan and submit a report. He met Khan and filed a report, highlighting Khan’s eyesight problem as the former prime minister claimed to have lost 85 percent vision in his right eye.
However, a report prepared by a team of doctors who visited Khan on February 15 stated that unaided, Khan had 6/24 partial vision in the right eye and 6/9 in the left, while with glasses, the former prime minister’s vision was 6/9 partial in the right and 6/6 in the left.
Khan’s family and party rejected the report and demanded that his personal doctors and family members consult him.
Meanwhile, KPK Chief Minister Afridi Khan announced the formation of a special force aimed at securing the release.
Speaking to the media outside the Supreme Court, Afridi lamented that the PTI founder entrusted him with the responsibility of leading the street movement and often ignored the court’s orders.
He said the proposed “Release Force” would continue the peaceful struggle and all members would be sworn in on February 22 in Peshawar.
Afridi noted that the force’s command would ultimately report to Khan.
According to the Chief Minister, the movement will be dedicated to the protection of democracy, upliftment of the Constitution and free media.
Referring to internal dissension in the party, Afridi warned those in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf who are seeking his removal that honor and shame only come from God.
Khan has been in jail since August 5, 2023, facing multiple corruption cases. He was convicted in a corruption case and served 14 years in prison, while more than a dozen cases are at various stages in the courts.
