Where is Imran Khan? Rumours spike about jailed former Pak PM as sisters protest

Pakistan’s jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan remains incommunicado amid a tightening clampdown at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, even as his family and party warn of a deepening crisis over his health and safety.

The concerns have intensified sharply this week following speculative reports in sections of Afghan media alleging that Khan may have died in custody — claims that Pakistani authorities have neither addressed nor independently verified, fuelling further suspicion in an already opaque situation.

The rumours, circulating primarily on Afghan social media channels and a handful of Pashto-language outlets, surfaced against the backdrop of a month-long, undeclared blackout on meetings with Khan. The authorities have prevented family members, lawyers and even senior elected officials from accessing him, with no explanation offered for the unprecedented restrictions.

Khan’s three sisters — Noreen Niazi, Aleema Khan and Dr Uzma Khan — have demanded an impartial investigation into what they described as a “brutal and orchestrated” police assault on them and other Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) supporters outside Adiala Jail last week. They had camped outside the prison after being denied a meeting with their brother for more than a month.

According to their account, police personnel suddenly switched off the streetlights, plunging the area into darkness, before launching an unprovoked attack. “We peacefully protested over concerns for his health condition. We neither blocked roads nor obstructed public movement, nor engaged in any unlawful conduct. Yet, without warning or provocation, the streetlights in the area were abruptly switched off… What followed was a brutal and orchestrated assault by Punjab police personnel,” Noreen Niazi said.

“At the age of 71, I was seized by my hair, thrown violently to the ground, and dragged across the road, sustaining visible injuries,” she stated, adding that other women were slapped and dragged away. The sisters said the incident was part of a “broader and troubling pattern of indiscriminate force used against peacefully protesting citizens over three years… in direct contradiction to the foundational duties of any law enforcement agency in a democratic society”.

Local media outlets reported that the sisters and several PTI workers were briefly detained: police ended the sit-in, took them into custody, and later released them. Dunya News and Tribune Pakistan reported a temporary detention following a 10-hour sit-in.

In a letter to Punjab inspector-general Usman Anwar, the sisters demanded immediate disciplinary action against all police personnel involved.

Khan, PTI’s patron-in-chief, has been in jail since August 2023 in multiple cases. Access to him has been steadily curtailed, with the authorities imposing an unacknowledged ban on visits for over a month. Even Khyber–Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi was barred from seeing him despite making seven consecutive attempts, which he says were blocked by jail officials “controlled by an army officer”.

PTI leaders argue that the blanket restrictions — combined with the violent dispersal of family members — heighten concerns about Khan’s condition. The Afghan media reports, while unverified, have been seized upon by the party as evidence of why transparency is urgently needed.

The Pakistani government has so far issued no clarification on Khan’s health, welfare or the reasons for the visitation blackout. In the absence of official information, speculation continues to fill the vacuum, adding to the political volatility surrounding the country’s most prominent jailed opposition leader, and a once-upon-a-time cricket World Cup-winning captain.

With agency inputs