Is Imran Khan dead? Pakistan is on edge as rumours swirl.

Two developments have triggered the rumours. First, a post from a Twitter handle called Afghanistan Times claimed that “credible sources" said Khan had been “murdered" in jail. Second, Khan’s sisters—Noreen Niazi, Aleema Khan, and Dr Uzma Khan—and his lawyers reportedly had not been allowed to visit him for at least the past three weeks.

Khan’s sisters even said they were assaulted outside the Central Jail in Rawalpindi, known as the Adiala jail, last week when they attempted to meet him.

Khan’s son, Kasim Khan, also expressed concern over his father’s treatment in prison, in an X post, saying that the 73-year-old had been in solitary confinement without family access and transparency from authorities.

Coincidentally, speculation about Khan’s health and well-being emerged days after field marshal Asim Munir—with whom the former Pakistan PM has a complicated history—was elevated to Chief of Defence Staff, making him the most powerful military officer in the country.

In 2019, Khan removed Munir as intelligence chief just eight months into his appointment, for reasons not made public. But Munir's fortunes changed after Khan was ousted. The Shehbaz Sharif government, which was in office between 2022 and 2024, made him the army chief.

Though the Adiala jail authorities have rubbished the rumours, given Khan’s popularity, it's hard to see how long they can delay his family from meeting him. Confirmation that Khan is well could go a long way in keeping the protests that Pakistan is witnessing from gaining further momentum.

However, the real question is whether Munir would allow anything to happen to Khan. The logical answer would be “no", given the former cricketer's popularity. But this is Pakistan we’re talking about, and stranger things have happened.

Munir could still be nursing a grudge over past slights and might also prefer that the former Pakistan cricket team captain not remain in a position to challenge him in terms of power and popularity.

But recall that in 2024, in an op-ed for The Telegraph, Khan accused Pakistan’s military under Munir of using every tactic to decimate his party’s presence in the country’s political landscape.

Could a Bangladesh- or Nepal-like situation—where sitting governments were toppled—unfold in Pakistan? It has happened before, in a sense, with tacit Pakistani Army support—the 2017 protests when Nawaz Sharif was PM.

This time, if protests by Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf are perceived as targeting the Pakistan Army rather than PM Shehbaz Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari, Munir is unlikely to tolerate them.

Trump says no to Third World Country migrants

US President Donald Trump said he would “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries" after an Afghan national shot two National Guard soldiers in Washington. One has died, while the other remains critical.

I can almost hear you readers saying, “Haven’t we discussed this already? (Yawn)"

We did—that was in the context of H-1B visas and measures to curb migration at the US-Mexico border.

This time, it’s different. The shooting may have given him exactly what he was looking for—an excuse to impose tighter immigration curbs.

The suspect in the shooting is Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, of Afghan origin, who worked alongside US troops in Afghanistan. He reportedly arrived in the US in September 2021 under a Joe Biden-era programme called Operation Allies Welcome. Trump and his officials have heavily criticized this initiative, which allowed thousands of Afghans to settle in the US following the chaotic US withdrawal from the country in August 2021.

For context, it was Trump who signed the agreement with the Taliban to withdraw during his first term; Biden simply carried out the plans already in place.

Trump has said he would end all federal benefits and subsidies to non-US citizens and deport any foreign national deemed a security risk or “non-compatible with Western civilization", effectively making anyone a fair target. Additionally, those facing persecution in their home countries could be repatriated.

Citizens of 19 high-risk countries, including Afghanistan, will have their documents reviewed. These are the same countries that were subject to Trump’s travel ban announced in June. The decision could potentially affect around 200,000 Afghans who recently settled in the US.

Trump has described Afghanistan as a “hellhole". (In 2018, he called Haiti and much of Africa “shithole countries"—classic Trump.) The question then arises: Why is the US looking to return, i.e., regain Bagram Air Base? Some speculate this is at least partly why Trump is courting Pakistan and Munir.

The answer lies in geography: Afghanistan’s location, which should have been its bargaining card, has often been its curse. Its proximity to Iran, China, Central Asia, and Russia makes it a strategic “listening post". But then, should the US have left Bagram at all? Will Trump address that? One could dare say—no.

Putin to visit India for annual summit

This will be Russian President Vladimir Putin’s first visit to India for the annual bilateral summit since 2021, coming amid significant to-ing and fro-ing over various peace proposals aimed at resolving the Russia-Ukraine war.

We all saw how closely PM Modi’s visit to Russia in July 2024 was watched by the US, European Union, Ukraine, and others—and Modi’s visit this year to Tianjin, where he met both China’s Xi Jinping and Putin. Images of Modi, Xi, and Putin together were heavily scrutinized, particularly in the West.

Putin’s Delhi visit is being billed as a state visit, meaning there will be a formal welcome and a state banquet hosted in his honour. Not many countries today would accord Putin such treatment. But New Delhi and Moscow share a special and privileged strategic partnership, rooted in decades of ties dating back to the Soviet era. Both countries have stakes in maintaining this partnership, especially given the current global turbulence.

India is looking to acquire more S-400 defence systems, which proved valuable during Operation Sindoor. The visit is also an opportunity for New Delhi to reiterate its policy of strategic autonomy—making decisions based on national interests, even under pressure from allies like the US to stop buying Russian oil.

Apart from the US, the EU will be watching the visit closely. India and the EU are keen to deepen cooperation in light of Trump’s unpredictability, but New Delhi’s closeness to Moscow makes Europe uneasy. There are many reasons for the world to keep a close watch on the outcomes of this summit.

Elizabeth Roche is an associate professor of practice at the O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana.