Pakistan’s political vendetta: Asim Munir’s attrition state and the blinding of Imran Khan

Imran Khan’s vision loss matters because of what it implies about intent—not necessarily intent proven through a signed directive, but intent revealed through pattern. Complaints are acknowledged yet not meaningfully escalated. Examinations occur without credible diagnostic depth. Specialist access is filtered through institutional gatekeepers. Intervention arrives only after the window for reversibility has narrowed.

For Pakistanis across the globe, Imran Khan’s worsening health in Adiala Jail is not a matter of routine “prison administration.” It is a portrait of what Pakistan has become under Field Marshal Asim Munir—a country where the state no longer needs to execute opponents; it simply manages their decay.

The reported loss of roughly 85% of Khan’s vision in his right eye is not an isolated medical mishap. It fits into a broader architecture of power constructed since Munir took command—an architecture that thrives on delay, denial, controlled access, and narrative suffocation. Reuters reported that Khan had experienced blurred vision for months and that his legal team alleges medical care was delayed. His party has accused authorities of negligence that endangered him in custody. The Associated Press similarly reported that Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered a medical examination after Khan complained of severe vision loss, amid disputes over whether treatment had been timely and transparent. This is what “law” looks like when subordinated to a command-and-control state: procedures become instruments, and bureaucracy becomes plausible deniability.

Khan’s vision loss matters because of what it implies about intent—not necessarily intent proven through a signed directive, but intent revealed through pattern. Complaints are acknowledged yet not meaningfully escalated. Examinations occur without credible diagnostic depth. Specialist access is filtered through institutional gatekeepers. Intervention arrives only after the window for reversibility has narrowed.

PTI’s objection to the court-ordered medical process—describing it as “malicious” and protesting the exclusion of family members and personal doctors—highlights the central issue--control. A medical board convened inside a jail, without independent oversight, risks becoming a controlled stage set—sufficient to tick procedural boxes, insufficient to safeguard life or dignity.

This is the Munir model--just enough process to deflect outrage, never enough care to prevent irreversible damage.