Imran Khan, in full Imran Ahmad Khan Ni AZI, (born 5 October 1952, Lahore, Pakistan), Pakistani cricketer, politician, philanthropist and Prime Minister of Pakistan (2018–22), who became a national hero for leading the Pakistan national team to winning the Cricket World Cup in 1992 and later entered politics as a critic of government corruption in Pakistan.
He is the only son of Ikramullah Khan Ni AZI, a civil engineer, and his wife SHA u Kat Khanum, and has four sisters.
Early life and cricket career
Born into a wealthy Pashtun family in Lahore, Khan studied at elite schools in Pakistan and the United Kingdom, including the Royal Grammar School in Worcester and Atchison College in Lahore. There have been several successful cricketers in his family, including two older cousins, Javid Burke and Majid Khan, who both served as captains of the Pakistan national team. Imran Khan played cricket in Pakistan and the United Kingdom in his teenage years, and continued playing while studying philosophy. In the early 1980s, Khan distinguished himself as an exceptional bowler and all-rounder, and in 1982 he was named the captain of the Pakistan team. His athletic talent and good looks made him a celebrity in Pakistan and England, and his regular appearances in fashionable London nightclubs provided fodder for the British tabloid press. In 1992, Khan achieved his greatest athletic success when he led the Pakistan team to its first World Cup title, defeating England in the final. He retired the same year, having secured a reputation as one of the greatest cricketers in history.
After 1992, Khan remained in the public eye as a philanthropist. He experienced a religious awakening, embraced Sufi mysticism, and shed his former playboy image. In one of his philanthropic endeavors, Khan acted as a major fundraiser for the SHA u Kat Khan um Memorial Cancer Hospital, a specialized cancer hospital in Lahore that opened in 1994. The hospital was named after Khan's mother, who died of cancer in 1985.
Entry into politics
After his retirement from cricket, Khan became an outspoken critic of mismanagement and corruption in Pakistan. In 1996, he founded his own political party, Pakistan TE H reek-e-In SAF (Pakistan Movement for Justice; PTI). Despite PTI's electoral struggles, Khan's populist stances have found support, especially among the youth. He continued his criticism of corruption and economic inequality in Pakistan and opposed the Pakistani government's cooperation with the United States to fight militants near the Afghan border. He also launched an attack on Pakistan's political and economic elites, whom he accused of being Westernized and out of touch with Pakistan's religious and cultural norms.
Premiership
As prime minister, Khan faced a growing balance of payments crisis. Although the economy is experiencing growth, imports and debt obligations from before his tenure have skyrocketed in recent years, mainly due to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (C PEC) initiative. Just weeks into his tenure as prime minister, the crisis worsened when the United States withheld a promised $300 million in military aid, saying Pakistan had not done enough to stop terrorism. Khan first tried to seek foreign aid from "friendly countries"; since a dozen previous packages from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had failed to solve Pakistan's macroeconomic problems, his avoidance of an IMF bailout reflected popular IMF fatigue. After failing to secure foreign aid on favorable terms from other countries, Pakistan applied for emergency loans from the IMF. He continued to seek foreign aid from other sources and later received promises of investment from China, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The COVID-19 pandemic, which began in early 2020, has exacerbated the country's economic woes. Compared to his critics, Khan was slow to support the lockdown. In contrast, the Sindh provincial government, controlled by an opposition party, quickly imposed a strict lockdown in March. Khan eventually imposed a nationwide lockdown in April; in May, his government began restricting lockdowns to locations with high infection rates.
Removal from office and subsequent political activity
Meanwhile, Khan continued to face opposition due to his close relationship with the military establishment, a crackdown on militants and the fragile state of the economy. In late 2020, the main opposition parties formed a coalition, the People's Democratic Movement (PDM), with the stated goal of increasing the independence of the civilian government from the military establishment. Protests and rallies organized by the PDM accused Khan of being a puppet of the army and called for his resignation. In March 2021, these parties boycotted a vote of confidence initiated by Khan's government, which he narrowly survived with the support of his coalition partners. Later that year, Khan fell out with the military establishment after a failed attempt by Khan to influence its top posts. The economy only worsened under the new PML-N-led government, paving the way for the PTI's remarkable comeback months after it was ousted. In a surprise landslide victory, the PTI won 15 of the 20 seats in the July 2022 parliamentary elections in Punjab province, Pakistan's largest province and a traditional stronghold of the PML-N. But as Khan sought to push his momentum at rallies across the country, he came under fire in August for threatening to sue police officers and judges in Islamabad in a speech. He subsequently faced charges for this speech.
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