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A group of legendary former international cricketers has appealed to Pakistan’s government to provide “immediate and adequate medical attention” for Imran Khan, the country’s former cricket captain and prime minister, who has reportedly been denied appropriate medical treatment during his incarceration.
The 14 former captains, many of whom played against Khan, raised concerns over his deteriorating health and the alleged mistreatment during his imprisonment in a letter published by Australian media outlets on Tuesday.
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“We write with deep concern regarding the reported treatment and incarceration conditions of Imran Khan, the distinguished former captain of Pakistan and a legendary figure in world cricket,” the letter read.
The signatories include Khan’s contemporaries and cricket’s Hall of Famers Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Clive Lloyd, Allan Border, Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, John Wright and David Gower.
Khan, a popular figure, represented Pakistan from 1971 to 1992 in 88 Test matches and 175 one-day internationals, leading the nation to its first World Cup win in 1992.
He is widely regarded as one of the greatest all-round players and arguably Pakistan’s greatest cricketer.
The petition signed by the cricketers was drafted by Greg Chappell and delivered to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday afternoon, a report in The Age newspaper said.
“Recent reports concerning his health – particularly the alarming deterioration of his vision while in custody – and the conditions of his imprisonment over the past two and a half years have caused us profound concern,” the former cricketers wrote.
Last week, a court-appointed lawyer claimed that Khan had been left with just 15 percent vision in his right eye after authorities allegedly ignored his complaints for three months.
The lawyer’s report painted a troubling picture of the 73-year-old’s deteriorating health and prolonged isolation, since he was imprisoned in August 2023 on dozens of charges. It said Khan suffered rapid and substantial vision loss over the past three months while in custody.
“He [Khan] stated that he subsequently suffered a sudden and complete loss of vision in his right eye,” the report said.
A government-appointed medical board examining the jailed ex-leader reported a significant improvement in his eyesight, a claim rejected by Khan’s family.
“Without the physical presence of both his personal doctor and family representative, we categorically reject any claims made by the government regarding his examination, treatment or medical condition,” Aleema Khan, the former prime minister’s sister, told Al Jazeera.
Khan became prime minister in 2018 in elections that opponents alleged were rigged in his favour by the powerful military. Four years later, he was removed through a no-confidence vote that he claimed was orchestrated by the military, after their relationship soured, in collusion with Washington and Khan’s political rivals in Pakistan.
These allegations were denied by both the Pakistani military and the United States.
The letter of appeal, which was also signed by former captains Michael Atherton, Michael Brearley, Belinda Clark, Kim Hughes, Nasser Hussain and Steve Waugh, stated that a person of Imran Khan’s stature deserved to be treated with the “dignity and basic human consideration befitting a former national leader and a global sporting icon”.
The former cricketers urged Pakistan’s government to ensure that Khan receives:
Khan’s supporters, members of his political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and allies have held protests and sit-ins outside the Pakistani parliament in recent days, deploring the denial of access to his family and physicians recommended by them.
“Imran’s sons have been trying to visit Pakistan since last year and have applied several times, but their visa has not been processed. It is in limbo; they do not get a denial, nor an approval,” Khan’s sister said, referring to Kasim and Suleman, Khan’s two sons, who are nationals of the United Kingdom.
In their letter, the former captains said they were appealing to Sharif’s government to honour and uphold “the principles of decency and justice”.
Australia is refusing to repatriate 34 women and children held in a camp in northern Syria who have been identified as relatives of suspected ISIL fighters. Rights groups warn thousands of children in the camp are at risk due to deteriorating conditions.
We compare and contrast the US ambassador to the UN’s claim that 4,000 trucks enter Gaza weekly with the actual numbers.
For decades, the “alternative homeland” – the notion that Jordan should become the Palestinian state – was dismissed in Amman’s diplomatic circles as a distant nightmare or a conspiracy theory.
Today, under the shadow of a far-right Israeli government and a devastating genocidal war in Gaza, that nightmare has become an operational reality.
The alarm in the Hashemite Kingdom reached a fever pitch on Sunday, following the Israeli cabinet’s approval of measures to register vast swaths of the occupied West Bank as “state land” under the Israeli Ministry of Justice. The move, described by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich as a “settlement revolution”, effectively bypasses the military administration that has governed the occupied territory since 1967, treating it instead as sovereign Israeli soil.
For Jordan, this bureaucratic annexation is the final signal that the status quo is dead. With the Israeli military’s “Iron Wall” operation crushing refugee camps in Jenin and Tulkarem, Jordan’s political and military establishment is no longer asking if a forced transfer is coming, but how to stop it.
“The transfer is no longer a threat; it is moving to execution,” Mamdouh al-Abbadi, Jordan’s former deputy prime minister, told Al Jazeera. “We are seeing the practical application … The alternative homeland is something that is coming; after this West Bank, the enemy will move to the East Bank, to Jordan.”
The fear in Amman is not just about military invasion, but about a “soft transfer”, making life in the West Bank unliveable to force a gradual exodus towards Jordan.
Sunday’s decision to transfer land registration authority to the Israeli Justice Ministry is viewed in Jordan as a critical step in this process. By erasing the Jordanian and Ottoman land registries that have protected Palestinian property rights for a century, Israel is clearing the legal path for massive settlement expansion.
Al-Abbadi, a veteran voice in Jordanian politics, pointed to symbolic but dangerous shifts in Israeli military nomenclature.
“There is a new brigade in the Israeli army, named the Gilead Brigade,” al-Abbadi noted. “What is Gilead? Gilead is a mountainous region near the capital, Amman. This means the Israelis are proceeding with their strategic practices from the Nile to the Euphrates.”
He argued that the 1994 Wadi Araba Treaty is effectively null and void in the eyes of the current Israeli leadership.
“Smotrich’s ideology is not just the view of one person; it has become the doctrine of the state,” al-Abbadi said, warning that the Israeli consensus has shifted permanently. “They are the ones who killed the Wadi Araba treaty before it was even born … If we do not wake up, the strategy will be ‘either us or them’. There is no third option.”
As diplomatic avenues narrow, questions are turning to Jordan’s military options. The Jordan Valley, a long strip of fertile land separating the two banks, is now the front line of what Jordanian strategists call an “existential defence”.
Major-General (retired) Mamoun Abu Nowar, a military expert, warned that Israel’s actions amount to an “undeclared war” on the kingdom. He suggested that if the displacement pressure continues, Jordan must be ready to take drastic measures.
“Jordan could declare the Jordan Valley a closed military zone to prevent displacement,” Abu Nowar told Al Jazeera. “This could lead to conflict and ignite the region.”
While acknowledging the disparity in military capabilities, he dismissed the idea that Israel could easily overrun Jordan, citing the kingdom’s unique social fabric.
“The Jordanian interior, with its tribes and clans … this is a second army,” Abu Nowar said. “Every village and every governorate will be a defensive line for Jordan … Israel will not succeed in this confrontation.”
However, he cautioned that the situation is volatile. With the West Bank potentially exploding into a religious conflict, he warned of a “regional earthquake” if red lines are crossed. “Our army is professional and ready for all scenarios, including military confrontation,” he added. “We cannot leave it like this.”
Compounding Jordan’s anxiety is a deep sense of abandonment by its oldest ally: the United States. For decades, the “Jordanian option” —the stability of the Hashemite Kingdom — was a cornerstone of US policy.
But Oraib al-Rantawi, director of the Al-Quds Center for Political Studies, argued that this “strategic wager” has collapsed.
“The bet on Washington … has faltered, if not collapsed,” al-Rantawi told Al Jazeera. He pointed to a “paradigm shift” that began during US President Donald Trump’s first term, which saw Washington move its regional anchor from Amman and Cairo to the Gulf capitals, “dazzled by the shine of money and investments”.
Al-Rantawi noted that even under the Biden administration, and now with the return of Trump, the US has shown a willingness to sacrifice Jordanian interests for Israel.
“When put to the test — choosing between two allies — Washington will inevitably choose Israel without hesitation,” al-Rantawi said.
He described Jordan’s position as precarious, trapped in a dependency loop. “Jordan is between two fires: the fire of [US] aid on one hand, and the fire of the threat … the existential Israeli threat to the entity and identity,” he said.
General Abu Nowar echoed this scepticism regarding US protection, questioning whether Jordan’s status as a key non-NATO ally means anything in practice. “Will they apply Article 5 of NATO to us?” he asked. “This gives a lack of credibility to the Americans.”
Facing this isolation, voices in Amman are calling for a radical overhaul of Jordan’s alliances. The kingdom has traditionally maintained a cold peace with the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah while shunning Hamas and other resistance factions, a policy al-Rantawi believes has been a strategic error.
“Jordan shot its diplomacy in the foot,” al-Rantawi explained, by insisting on an exclusive relationship with the weakened PA in Ramallah.
He contrasted Jordan’s position with that of Qatar, Egypt, and Turkiye, which maintained ties with the Palestinian group Hamas and thus retained leverage. “Cairo, Doha, and Ankara kept ties with Hamas, which strengthened their presence even with the US,” he said. “Jordan gave up this role voluntarily … or due to miscalculation.”
Al-Rantawi suggested this reluctance stems from internal fears of empowering the Muslim Brotherhood within Jordan, but the cost has been a loss of regional influence just when Amman needs it most.
The consensus among the elite is that the time for “diplomatic warnings” is over. The language in Amman has shifted to mobilisation and survival.
In early February, the kingdom officially resumed its compulsory military service programme, known as “Flag Service”, ending a 35-year hiatus. The Jordanian armed forces stated the move aims to “develop combat capabilities to keep pace with modern warfare methods” amid complex regional conditions.
Al-Abbadi went further, calling for universal conscription to ensure total readiness. “We ask the state for compulsory conscription; everyone in Jordan must be able to bear arms,” he said.
He also urged cultural mobilisation. “We must teach our children at least the Hebrew language, because he who knows the language of a people is safe from their evil.”
Calling for strict monitoring of the King Hussein (Allenby) Bridge crossing, he added: “If there is a slow, camouflaged transfer … we must close the bridges immediately and without hesitation.”
As the Israeli Justice Ministry begins rewriting the land deeds of the West Bank, erasing Palestinian ownership in ledgers just as their homes are erased on the ground, Jordan faces its most precarious moment since 1967. The buffer is gone, and the kingdom finds itself standing alone in the path of the storm.
This week, the Israeli government approved a plan to designate large areas of the occupied West Bank as “state property”, shifting the burden of proof to Palestinians to establish ownership of their land.
The decision, which undermines the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, has prompted regional condemnation, with many describing it as a de facto annexation which is illegal under international law.
In recent years, Israel has intensified its military incursions, expanded illegal settlements, and demolished Palestinian homes, all as part of a series of aggressive actions to steal more Palestinian land.
In total, at least 37,135 Palestinians were displaced across the occupied West Bank in 2025, a record high amid Israeli military incursions and settler attacks, according to figures compiled by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
According to UNRWA, Israeli military incursions have forcibly displaced at least 33,362 Palestinians from three northern refugee camps: Jenin (12,557), Tulkarem(11,862) and Nur Shams (8,943).
In addition to those displaced during Israeli operations, at least 3,773 have been forced from their homes due to Israeli home demolitions, settler violence, and access restrictions.
The West Bank governorates with the largest number of forced displacements include:
As part of the 1993 Oslo Accords, signed by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel, the occupied West Bank was divided into three areas – A, B and C.
This led to the formation of the Palestinian Authority (PA) – an administrative body that would govern Palestinian internal security, administration and civilian affairs in areas of self-rule, for a five-year interim period.
Area A initially comprised 3 percent of the West Bank and grew to 18 percent by 1999. In Area A, the PA controls most affairs.
Area B represents about 22 percent of the West Bank. In both areas, while the PA is in charge of education, health and the economy, the Israelis have full control of external security, meaning they retain the right to enter at any time.
Area C represents 60 percent of the West Bank. Under the Oslo Accords, control of this area was supposed to be handed over to the PA. Instead, Israel retains total control over all matters, including security, planning and construction. The transfer of control to the PA never happened.
Although Area C is the least populated part of the West Bank, with about 300,000 Palestinians compared with about 3 million in Areas A and B, the vast majority of home demolitions and settler attacks occur there, due to it being under full Israeli military and administrative control.
The Israeli Civil Administration rarely grants building permits to Palestinians in this area, so nearly all construction is considered illegal and subject to demolition.
Since Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023, violence by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank has steadily risen.
According to data from OCHA, settlers have attacked Palestinians more than 3,700 times in the occupied West Bank over the past 28 months.
The number of settler attacks has risen sharply since 2016, with 852 recorded in 2022, 1,291 in 2023, 1,449 in 2024 and 1,828 in 2025 – an average of five attacks per day, according to data from OCHA.
Every West Bank governorate has faced settler attacks over the past year.
Data from OCHA shows that between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2025, the Ramallah and el-Bireh governorate recorded the highest number of settler attacks with 523 incidents, followed by Nablus with 349 and Hebron with 309.
Settlers are Israeli citizens living in illegal, Jewish-only communities, known as Israeli settlements, built on Palestinian-owned land that Israel occupied in 1967.
Benjamin Netanyahu – Israel’s longest-serving prime minister – has bolstered settlement expansions since he first came to power in 1996, undermining the 1993 Oslo Accords, which called for the freezing of settlements and a mutually negotiated two-state solution.
Today, roughly 10 percent of Israel’s Jewish population, totalling between 600,000 and 750,000 people, live in about 250 settlements and outposts dispersed throughout the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Many of these settlements are located near Palestinian population centres, often leading to increased tensions and restrictions on movement for Palestinians.