Imran khan, full Imran Ahmed Khan, (born October 5, 1952, Lahore, Pakistan), Pakistani cricketer, politician, and Prime Minister of Pakistan (2018–22) who became a national hero by leading the Pakistan national team became. He entered politics in 1992 for a Cricket World Cup and later as a critic of government corruption in Pakistan.
Early life and cricket career
Khan was born in Lahore to an affluent Pashtun family and was educated in elite schools in Pakistan and the United Kingdom, including the Royal Grammar School in Worcester and Aitcheson College in Lahore. His family had several accomplished cricketers, including two older cousins, who were both captains of the Pakistani national team. Imran Khan played cricket in Pakistan and the United Kingdom in his teens and continued to play while studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University. Khan played his first match for the Pakistan national team in 1971, but did not take up a permanent place in the team until after graduating from Oxford in 1976.
In the early 1980s, Khan had established himself as an exceptional bowler and all-rounder, and was made the captain of the Pakistani team in 1982. Khan's athletic talent and good looks made her a celebrity in Pakistan and England, and her regular appearances in fashion nightclubs in London provided fodder for the British tabloid press. Khan achieved his greatest athletic success in 1992 when he defeated England in the final to lead the Pakistani team to their maiden World Cup title. He retired the same year, gaining a reputation as one of the greatest cricket players in history.
Cancer hospital
After 1992, Khan remained in the public eye as a philanthropist. He experienced a religious awakening, embracing Sufi mysticism and abandoning his earlier ******* image. In one of his philanthropic endeavors, Khan served as the primary fundraiser for Memorial Cancer Hospital, a specialized cancer hospital in Lahore, which was opened in 1994. The hospital was named after Khan's mother, who died of cancer in 1985.
Enter politics
After retiring from cricket, Khan became an outspoken critic of government mismanagement and corruption in Pakistan. He founded his own political party, (Pakistan Justice Movement; PTI) in 1996. In the national elections held the following year, the newly formed party won less than 1 percent of the vote and failed to win any seats in the National Assembly, but it fared slightly better in the 2002 elections, winning a single seat that Khan had filled. Khan said vote rigging was responsible for his party's low vote total. In October 2007, Khan was among a group of politicians who resigned from the National Assembly in protest against the president. Musharraf's candidacy in the upcoming presidential election. Khan was briefly jailed in November during a crackdown on Musharraf's critics, who declared a state of emergency. PTI condemned the state of emergency, which expired in mid-December, and boycotted the 2008 national elections to protest Musharraf's regime.
Despite PTI's struggles in the elections, Khan's populist positions found support, especially among young people. He continued his criticism of corruption and economic inequality and opposed the Pakistani government's cooperation with the United States in fighting terrorists near the Afghan border. He also launched a sweep against Pakistan's political and economic elite, whom he accused of Westernization and being out of touch with Pakistan's religious and cultural norms.
Khan's writings include Warrior Race: A Journey through the Land of the Tribal ******(1993) and Pakistan: A Personal History (2011).
Political climb
In the months leading up to the legislative elections in early 2013, Khan and his party drew large crowds at rallies and the support of several veteran politicians from Pakistan's established parties. Further evidence of Khan's rising political fortune came in the form of an opinion poll in 2012, which found him as the most popular political figure in Pakistan.
A few days before the legislative elections in May 2013, Khan suffered head and back injuries when he fell from a stage at a campaign rally. He appeared on television from his hospital bed hours later to make a final appeal to voters. The elections produced the PTI's highest total so far, but the party still won less than half the number of seats won by the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), led by Sharif. Khan accused the PML-N of rigging the elections. Following his call for an investigation, he and other opposition leaders led four months of protests in late 2014 to pressure Sharif to step down.
The protests failed to oust Sharif, but suspicions of corruption grew when the Panama Papers linked his family to offshore holdings. Khan organized a new set of protests in late 2016, but called them off at the last minute after the Supreme Court agreed to launch an investigation. The investigation disqualified Sharif from holding public office in 2017. He was forced to resign. Meanwhile, Khan was also revealed to have an offshore holding, but was not disqualified by the Supreme Court, in a separate case.
2018 elections
The next year elections were held in July 2018. Khan ran on a platform to fight corruption and poverty, even as he had to fight allegations that he was too comfortable with the military establishment. The PTI won several seats in the National Assembly, allowing Khan to form an alliance with independent members of parliament. He became Prime Minister on 18 August.
Khan as prime minister
As prime minister, Khan faced a growing balance of payments crisis. Although the economy was experiencing growth, imports and credit commitments had skyrocketed in recent years, especially due to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor before his tenure.
You must be logged in to post a comment.