Is Imran Khan Alive? Death Rumours, a Denied Prison Visit, and a Threatened 2-Million-Strong March Rattle Pakistan

A fresh wave of uncertainty is swirling around jailed former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, after a US-based Pakistani journalist said military insiders privately fear he may have died in custody, a claim Islamabad has not confirmed or denied.

Where the rumour started

Journalist Wajahat Saeed Khan posted a video on August 10 saying he had spoken with three officers connected to the army's General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi. He stressed the account was secondhand — the officers hadn't witnessed anything directly, only picked up chatter within the institution, but argued that being inside GHQ itself lent the whispers some weight. He was careful to note the claim remains unverified, while still calling it serious enough to flag publicly.

Family locked out, health concerns mount

The timing has amplified the alarm. Khan's relatives, lawyers, party colleagues and personal physicians have reportedly been blocked from seeing him in recent days, deepening fears about his condition. This isn't the first such scare — similar death rumours circulated in November 2025, only to be dispelled weeks later when his sister visited him and reported he was in reasonable physical health, albeit held in isolation.

PTI threatens mass mobilisation

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Chief Minister and senior PTI figure, Sohail Afridi, has escalated the standoff, claiming the party can mobilise more than two million supporters if access to Khan is continued to be refused. He described widespread frustration among young Pakistanis and warned that a crowd of that size would be nearly impossible for authorities to manage. PTI has scheduled a long march on Islamabad for September 27 and says it will stage escalating protests starting outside the Supreme Court and moving toward Adiala Jail if visitation isn't restored beforehand.

Washington weighs in

The controversy has crossed into US politics as well. Thirteen lawmakers from both parties have urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to press Pakistan directly on the treatment of Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi. Their appeal references earlier findings from a United Nations torture rapporteur, who reported Khan had been kept in solitary confinement for stretches as long as 23 hours daily and pressed Pakistani authorities to improve his conditions. The lawmakers' letter also pointed to claims that Khan has lost the vast majority of vision in one eye, and raised separate concerns about Bushra Bibi's living conditions and restricted visitation rights.

The bigger picture: a military-versus-Khan power struggle

None of this is happening in a vacuum. Khan's imprisonment stems from a corruption case tied to a trust fund, for which he's serving a 14-year sentence; his wife received a seven-year term in the same matter. Both are appealing. He also faces separate legal proceedings connected to 2023 riots in which his supporters stormed military sites, unrest that triggered a sweeping crackdown on PTI figures, including some prosecutions in military tribunals.

Underlying all of it is Khan's bitter falling-out with army chief Asim Munir, a rift dating back to Khan's time in office, when he unsuccessfully sought Munir's removal as intelligence chief. Khan has long accused Munir's military establishment of engineering his downfall and continued detention.

No evidence currently confirms Khan has died. But the combination of an unverified insider claim, blocked family access, mounting international pressure, and PTI's threat to flood Islamabad's streets has created a volatile standoff — one that both sides appear to be steering toward a reckoning on September 27.

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