Javed Miandad broke down while speaking about the imprisonment of his former Pakistan teammate Imran Khan, making an emotional appeal for his release and insisting that the country’s 1992 World Cup-winning captain was not a corrupt man.
Miandad’s remarks come amid renewed concerns over Imran’s health and treatment in prison. The former Pakistan prime minister, who has been jailed since August 2023, recently underwent a medical examination in Islamabad before being taken back to Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi. His party has challenged the manner in which the examination was conducted after Pakistan’s Supreme Court had directed that he be taken to Shifa International Hospital and allowed access to doctors, including his personal physician.
The controversy crossed into cricket this week when Imran’s sons, Sulaiman and Kasim, appeared in an interview with Michael Atherton during Sky Sports’ coverage of the England-Pakistan Test at Lord’s. They raised serious concerns about their father’s health and prison conditions, alleging that he was being kept isolated for more than 23 hours a day and claiming that the authorities were trying to keep him imprisoned and silence him.
Deep Dive
What were Javed Miandad's main arguments in defense of Imran Khan's integrity?
Why is there concern over Imran Khan's health and treatment in prison?
How has the cricket community reacted to Imran Khan's imprisonment and health issues?
Pakistan authorities have rejected allegations of mistreatment and maintained that Imran has been receiving appropriate medical care. A day after that interview generated widespread attention, Miandad was left in tears while discussing the plight of the man with whom he shared much of his international career.
‘He is an honest man’
{{/usCountry}}Pakistan authorities have rejected allegations of mistreatment and maintained that Imran has been receiving appropriate medical care. A day after that interview generated widespread attention, Miandad was left in tears while discussing the plight of the man with whom he shared much of his international career.
‘He is an honest man’
{{/usCountry}}“He is an honest man. He is not someone who engages in corrupt practices, otherwise he would have done a lot of things,” Miandad said during an interview on the Narrative YouTube channel. “What will happen if you let him out? Will he eat or damage someone? He is also someone's son. I always think about what he must be doing.”
Miandad said he knew Imran closely enough to be convinced about his integrity, pointing to the years they had spent together both with Pakistan and in county cricket. He questioned what keeping the former captain imprisoned was achieving and urged those involved to sit together and find a solution.
The Pakistan great became increasingly emotional as he spoke about Imran, describing him as a national hero and recalling how long the two had known each other. Miandad said that when he thought about what Imran might be going through inside prison, it affected him deeply. Eventually struggling to continue, he said the subject had made him emotional and that all he could do was pray for his former teammate.
He also pushed back against the idea that the two had always been rivals. Their relationship had its share of disagreements during and after their playing careers, including differences over Pakistan cricket, but Miandad said their primary purpose as players had always been the same — representing Pakistan.
“We didn't have any rivalry,” Miandad said, before stressing that whatever differences existed between them, they had played and fought for Pakistan.
That shared history stretches across one of the most successful periods Pakistan cricket has experienced. Miandad and Imran were two of the defining figures of the side through the 1980s and early 1990s, culminating in the 1992 World Cup triumph in Australia. In the final against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Pakistan had slipped to 24/2 when Imran and Miandad came together. They added 139 for the third wicket, with Imran scoring 72 and Miandad 58, laying the foundation for the victory that gave Pakistan its first and only men’s ODI World Cup title.
More than three decades after sharing that stage, Miandad’s concern was no longer about cricket. He appealed for Imran’s situation to be resolved, saying the former captain commanded enormous respect and deserved to be treated accordingly.
The calls over Imran’s medical care have also grown beyond Pakistan. A group of former international captains, including Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Greg Chappell, recently appealed for proper medical treatment for the jailed former cricketer, while Australia captain Pat Cummins has also publicly called for Imran to be treated with dignity. For Miandad, though, the appeal was rooted in something far more personal — decades spent knowing, playing alongside and occasionally disagreeing with a man whose present circumstances ultimately left him unable to hold back his tears.