For nearly a month, no family member, lawyer or party aide has been allowed to see Imran Khan, fuelling speculation that he may have been harmed inside Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, where he has been incarcerated for over two years.
Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan has remained locked behind bars for more than two years — but in recent days, rumours about his health, and even whispers of his death, has taken over social media. His family has sounded the alarm, saying they are terrified as they have been denied access to him for weeks.
On Friday his son, Kasim Khan, issued a public ultimatum to the government, demanding proof that the 73-year-old PTI founder is still alive. “We demand proof of Imran Khan’s life,” Kasim said in a social media post.
For nearly a month, no family member, lawyer, or party representative has been permitted to meet the former cricketer-turned-politician. This blackout has fuelled speculation that he may have been harmed inside Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, where he has been locked up for more than two years.
What rules say about ‘political prisoner’ access
According to Dawn, the government insists that Imran Khan is being provided all “possible facilities” inside the prison. Yet on Friday, a senior cabinet minister accused Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi of attempting to meet Khan in violation of the jail manual.
Information minister Atta Tarar’s statement sparked a fierce pushback from the PTI, which argues that its court-mandated visiting schedule Tuesdays and Thursdays is being blatantly ignored. This has triggered a crucial question: What do the rules actually say?
Dawn reports that both visitation and phone calls are governed by a prisoner’s “good behaviour,” effectively handing sweeping discretionary power to the jail superintendent. As the newspaper observes: “Visitation, phone calls allowed to prisoners are linked to their ‘good behaviour’, meaning the jail superintendent has the discretion to allow or disallow meetings.”
Current and former prison officials told Dawn that prisoners in Punjab, including political detainees, are entitled to:
- Meetings with five people per week, including relatives and lawyers
- 30 minutes of phone calls weekly
Even death-row inmates are allowed weekly family meetings and the same phone time through public call offices inside Adiala Jail.
Political prisoners, Dawn adds, are kept in special high-security cells, with daily medical evaluations mandated to ensure they remain in good health.
However, none of these rules are guaranteed. Their enforcement is “necessarily subjective”, dependent largely on the inmate’s behaviour, according to Dawn. Prisoners facing severe charges such as terrorism or anti-state activities can have access further restricted.
A retired senior prison official explained that the ultimate power lies with the jail superintendent, who can block visits or calls if an inmate’s behaviour is deemed “not good”.
Family denied meeting
Despite court orders, repeated petitions, and days of waiting outside Adiala Jail, Imran Khan’s three sisters, PTI leaders, and CM Sohail Afridi have been refused a meeting with him.
Kasim Khan said the family has been left in total darkness, “My father has been under arrest for 845 days. For the past six weeks, he has been kept in solitary confinement in a death cell with zero transparency. His sisters have been denied every visit, even with clear court orders allowing access. There have been no phone calls, no meetings and no proof of life. Me and my brother have had no contact with our father.”
Calling the situation intentional, he added, “This absolute blackout is not a security protocol. Rather it is a deliberate attempt to hide my father’s condition and prevent our family from knowing whether he is safe… the Pakistani government and its handlers will be held fully accountable legally, morally and internationally for my father’s safety.”
Kasim also urged international organisations and human rights bodies to intervene without delay. “We demand proof of his life, enforce court ordered access, end this inhumane isolation and call for the release of Pakistan’s most popular political leader who is being held solely for political reasons,” he said.