The sons of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan fear authorities are concealing “something irreversible” about his condition after more than three weeks with no evidence that he is still alive, one of them said.
As court-ordered prison visits stay blocked and rumours swirl about possible prison transfers, his son, Kasim Khan, told Reuters the family has had no direct or verifiable contact with Khan, despite a judicial order for weekly meetings.
“Not knowing whether your father is safe, injured, or even alive is a form of psychological torture,” he said in written remarks, adding that there had been no independently confirmed communication for a couple of months.
“Today, we have no verifiable information at all about his condition,” the son added. “Our greatest fear is that something irreversible is being hidden from us.”
The family has repeatedly sought access for Imran’s personal physician, who has not been allowed to examine him for more than a year, he added.
The interior ministry did not respond to a request for comment. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a jail official told Reuters that Imran was in good health, adding that he was not aware of any plan for a move to a higher-security facility.
His first conviction centred on accusations that he unlawfully sold gifts received in office, in a proceeding widely referred to as the Toshakhana case.
Later verdicts added lengthy jail terms, including 10 years on accusations of leaking a diplomatic cable and 14 years in a separate graft case tied to the Al-Qadir Trust, a charity project prosecutors say figured in improper land deals.
The family says the lack of communication has fuelled fears over what it calls a deliberate effort to push Khan out of public sight.
“This isolation is intentional,” Kasim said, referring to the authorities he believes are keeping his father cut off. “They are scared of him. He is Pakistan’s most popular leader, and they know they cannot defeat him democratically.”
Kasim and his older brother Suleiman Isa Khan, who live in London with their mother, Jemima Goldsmith, have kept a distance from Pakistan’s dynastic politics.