IMRA KHAN
Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi HI(M) PP (Urdu/Pashto: عمران احمد خان نیازی; born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former cricketer who served as the 22nd prime minister of Pakistan from August 2018 until April 2022, when he was ousted through a no-confidence motion. He is the founder and chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), one of the largest political parties in the country.
Born to a Niazi Pashtun family in Lahore, Khan graduated from England's Keble College in 1975. He began his international cricket career at age 18, in a 1971 Test series against England. Khan played until 1992, served as the team's captain intermittently between 1982 and 1992,[5] and won the 1992 Cricket World Cup, in what is Pakistan's first and only victory in the competition. Considered one of cricket's greatest all-rounders,[6][7] Khan scored 3,807 runs and took 362 wickets in Test cricket and was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. Khan founded cancer hospitals in Lahore and Peshawar,[8] and Namal College in Mianwali,[9][10] prior to his ascent in politics.[11][12] He founded the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in 1996, which won a seat in the National Assembly in 2002, and saw Khan serve as an opposition member from Mianwali until 2007. PTI boycotted the 2008 election, but in the subsequent election, became the second-largest party by popular vote.[13][14] In the 2018 general election, running on a populist platform, PTI emerged as the largest party in the National Assembly, and formed a coalition government with independents with Khan as Prime Minister.
During his government, Khan addressed a balance of payments crisis with a bailout from the International Monetary Fund.[15] He presided over a shrinking current account deficit,[16][17] and limited defence spending to curtail the fiscal deficit,[18][19] leading to some general economic growth.[20] He enacted policies which increased tax collection[21][22] and investment,[23] and reforms were made to the social safety net. His government committed to a renewable energy transition, launched a national reforestation initiative and expanded protected areas, and led the country during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, his failure to revive the economy and the rising inflation rate caused him political problems.[24] Despite his promised anti-corruption campaign, the perception of corruption in Pakistan worsened during his rule.[25] He was accused of political victimisation of opponents and clamping down on freedom of expression and dissent.[26]
In foreign relations, he dealt with border skirmishes against India and strengthened relations with China and Russia,[27] while relations with the United States cooled. Following the Taliban takeover of Kabul in 2021, Khan congratulated the Taliban for their victory in the 2001–2021 war, and urged the international community to support their new government.[28][29][30] He was also sympathetic to the Pakistani Taliban (Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan or TTP), and said that his government was negotiating a peace deal with TTP with the help of the Afghan Taliban.[31][32] On 10 April 2022, Khan became the country's first prime minister to be deposed through a no-confidence motion in parliament. On 22 August 2022, Khan was charged by the Pakistani police under anti-terror laws after Khan accused the police and judiciary of detaining and torturing his close aide
Early life and family
Khan was born in Lahore on 5 October 1952. Some reports suggest he was born on 25 November 1952.[34][35][36][37] It was reported that 25 November was wrongly mentioned by Pakistan Cricket Board officials on his passport.[38][failed verification] He is the only son of Ikramullah Khan Niazi, a civil engineer, and his wife Shaukat Khanum, and has four sisters.[39] Long settled in Mianwali in northwestern Punjab, his paternal family are of Pashtun ethnicity and belong to the Niazi tribe,[40][41] and one of his ancestors, Haibat Khan Niazi, in the 16th century, "was one of Sher Shah Suri's leading generals, as well as being the governor of Punjab."[42] Like his father, Khan's mother was an ethnic Pashtun, who belonged to the Burki tribe and whose ancestors had been settled in the Jalandhar district of Punjab for centuries. Following the creation of Pakistan, she migrated to Lahore with the rest of Khan's maternal relatives.[43] Khan's maternal family has produced a number of cricketers, including those who have represented Pakistan,[39] such as his cousins Javed Burki and Majid Khan.[40] Maternally, Khan is also a descendant of the Sufi warrior-poet and inventor of the Pashto alphabet, Pir Roshan, who hailed from his maternal family's ancestral Kaniguram town located in South Waziristan in the tribal areas of northwest Pakistan.[44] His maternal family was based in Basti Danishmanda, Jalandhar, India for about 600 years.[45][46]
A quiet and shy boy in his youth, Khan grew up with his sisters in relatively affluent, upper middle-class circumstances[47] and received a privileged education. He was educated at the Aitchison College and Cathedral School in Lahore,[48][49] and then the Royal Grammar School Worcester in England, where he excelled at cricket. In 1972, he enrolled in Keble College, Oxford where he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics, graduating in 1975.[50] An enthusiast for college cricket at Keble, Paul Hayes, was instrumental in securing the admission of Khan, after he had been turned down by Cambridge.[51]
Cricket career
Khan made his first-class cricket debut at the age of 16 in Lahore. By the start of the 1970s, he was playing for his home teams of Lahore A (1969–70), Lahore B (1969–70), Lahore Greens (1970–71) and, eventually, Lahore (1970–71).[52] Khan was part of the University of Oxford's Blues Cricket team during the 1973–1975 seasons.[50]
He played English county cricket from 1971 to 1976 for Worcestershire. During this decade, other teams represented by Khan included Dawood Industries (1975–1976) and Pakistan International Airlines (1975–1976 to 1980–1981). From 1983 to 1988, he played for Sussex.[53]
Khan made his Test cricket debut against England in June 1971 at Edgbaston.[54] Three years later, in August 1974, he debuted in the One Day International (ODI) match, once again playing against England at Trent Bridge for the Prudential Trophy.[54] After graduating from Oxford and finishing his tenure at Worcestershire, he returned to Pakistan in 1976 and secured a permanent place on his native national team starting from the 1976–1977 season, during which they faced New Zealand and Australia.[52] Following the Australian series, he toured the West Indies, where he met Tony Greig, who signed him up for Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket.[53] His credentials as one of the fastest bowlers in the world started to become established when he finished third at 139.7 km/h in a fast bowling contest at Perth in 1978, behind Jeff Thomson and Michael Holding, but ahead of Dennis Lillee, Garth Le Roux and Andy Roberts.[55] During the late 1970s, Khan was one of the pioneers of the reverse swing bowling technique. He imparted this trick to the bowling duo of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, who mastered and popularised this art in later years.[56]
As a bowler, Khan initially bowled with a relatively chest-on action, at medium-pace.[57] However he worked hard to remodel his action to a more classical type, and to strengthen his body, to enable fast bowling.[58][59] Khan attained his prime as a fast bowler in January 1980 till 1988 when he became out and out fast bowler. During this span Imran picked 236 test wickets at 17.77 apiece with 18 five-wicket hauls and 5 10 wicket hauls. His bowling average and strike rate were better than Richard Hadlee (19.03), Malcolm Marshall (20.20), Dennis Lillee (24.07), Joel Garner (20.62) and Michael Holding (23.68).[60][61] In January 1983, playing against India, he attained a Test bowling rating of 922 points. Although calculated retrospectively (International Cricket Council (ICC) player ratings did not exist at the time), Khan's form and performance during this period ranks third in the ICC's All-Time Test Bowling Rankings.[62]
Khan achieved the all-rounder's triple (securing 3000 runs and 300 wickets) in 75 Tests, the second-fastest record behind Ian Botham's 72. He also has the second-highest all-time batting average of 61.86 for a Test batsman playing at position 6 in the batting order.[63] He played his last Test match for Pakistan in January 1992, against Sri Lanka at Faisalabad. Khan retired permanently from cricket six months after his last ODI, the historic 1992 World Cup final against England in Melbourne, Australia.[64] He ended his career with 88 Test matches, 126 innings and scored 3807 runs at an average of 37.69, including six centuries and 18 fifties. His highest score was 136. As a bowler, he took 362 wickets in Test cricket, which made him the first Pakistani and world's fourth bowler to do so.[53] In ODIs, he played 175 matches and scored 3709 runs at an average of 33.41. His highest score was 102 not out. His best ODI bowling was 6 wickets for 14 runs, a record for the best bowling figures by any bowler in an ODI innings in a losing cause.[65]
Captaincy
At the height of his career, in 1982, the thirty-year-old Khan took over the captaincy of the Pakistan cricket team from Javed Miandad.[66] As a captain, Khan played 48 Test matches, of which 14 were won by Pakistan, 8 lost and the remaining 26 were drawn. He also played 139 ODIs, winning 77, losing 57 and ending one in a tie.[53]
In the team's second match, Khan led them to their first Test win on English soil for 28 years at Lord's.[67] Khan's first year as captain was the peak of his legacy as a fast bowler as well as an all-rounder. He recorded the best Test bowling of his career while taking 8 wickets for 58 runs against Sri Lanka at Lahore in 1981–1982.[53] He also topped both the bowling and batting averages against England in three-Test series in 1982, taking 21 wickets and averaging 56 with the bat. Later the same year, he put up a highly acknowledged performance in a home series against the formidable Indian team by taking 40 wickets in six Tests at an average of 13.95. By the end of this series in 1982–1983, Khan had taken 88 wickets in 13 Test matches over a period of one year as captain.[52] This same Test series against India, however, also resulted in a stress fracture in his shin that kept him out of cricket for more than two years. An experimental treatment funded by the Pakistani government helped him recover by the end of 1984 and he made a successful comeback to international cricket in the latter part of the 1984–1985 season.[53]
In 1987 in India, Khan led Pakistan in its first-ever Test series win and this was followed by Pakistan's first series victory in England during the same year.[67] During the 1980s, his team also recorded three creditable draws against the West Indies. India and Pakistan co-hosted the 1987 Cricket World Cup, but neither ventured beyond the semi-finals. Khan retired from international cricket at the end of the World Cup. In 1988, he was asked to return to the captaincy by the President of Pakistan, General Zia-Ul-Haq, and on 18 January, he announced his decision to rejoin the team.[53] Soon after returning to the captaincy, Khan led Pakistan to another winning tour in the West Indies, which he has recounted as "the last time I really bowled well".[40] He was declared Man of the Series against West Indies in 1988 when he took 23 wickets in 3 Tests.[53] Khan's career-high as a captain and cricketer came when he led Pakistan to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup. Playing with a brittle batting line-up, Khan promoted himself as a batsman to play in the top order along with Javed Miandad, but his contribution as a bowler was minimal. At the age of 39, Khan took the winning last wicket himself.[52]
Post-retirement
After retiring, Khan remarked that there was ball tampering during his early cricketing days when playing domestic cricket. Khan had said that, during matches, he "occasionally scratched the side of the ball and lifted the seam." However, Khan defended his actions in the same interview, arguing his conduct was commonplace at the time, even that spin bowlers would lift the seam (i.e. mildly ball tamper), further Khan argued that as he did not lift the seam of the ball above the normal level he was not violating the rules and spirit of the game within the rules defined whilst he was a player. Further, Khan argued that umpires in his 21 years of cricket had not complained about his conduct, Khan remarked that "The sole judge of fair and unfair play on the cricket field is the umpire".[68] He had also added, "Only once did I use an object. When Sussex was playing Hampshire in 1981 the ball was not deviating at all. I got the 12th man to bring out a bottle top and it started to move around a lot."[69] In 1996, Khan successfully defended himself in a libel action brought forth by former English captain and all-rounder Ian Botham and batsman Allan Lamb over comments they alleged were made by Khan in two articles about the above-mentioned ball-tampering and another article published in an Indian magazine, India Today. They claimed that, in the latter publication, Khan had called the two cricketers "racist, ill-educated and lacking in class." Khan protested that he had been misquoted, saying that he was defending himself after having admitted that he tampered with a ball in a county match 18 years ago.[70] Khan won the libel case, which the judge labelled a "complete exercise in futility", with a 10–2 majority decision by the jury.[70] Also, Khan had served as a domestic league coach.[71]
Since retiring, Khan has written opinion pieces on cricket for various British and Asian newspapers, especially regarding the Pakistani national team. His contributions have been published in India's Outlook magazine,[72] Guardian,[73] The Independent, and Telegraph. Khan also sometimes appears as a cricket commentator on Asian and British sports networks, including BBC Urdu[74] and the Star TV network.[75] In 2004, when the Indian cricket team toured Pakistan after 14 years, he was a commentator on TEN Sports' special live show, Straight Drive,[76] while he was also a columnist for sify.com for the 2005 India-Pakistan Test series. He has provided analysis for every cricket World Cup since 1992, which includes providing match summaries for the BBC during the 1999 World Cup.[77] He holds as a captain the world record for taking most wickets, best bowling strike rate and best bowling average in Test,[78][79] and best bowling figures (8 wickets for 60 runs) in a Test innings,[80] and also most five-wicket hauls (6) in a Test innings in wins.[81]
On 23 November 2005, Khan was appointed as the chancellor of University of Bradford, succeeding Baroness Lockwood.[82] On 26 February 2014, University of Bradford Union floated a motion to remove Khan from the post over Khan's absence from every graduation ceremony since 2010.[83][84] Khan, however, announced that he will step down on 30 November 2014, citing his "increasing political commitments".[85] The university vice-chancellor Brian Cantor said Khan had been "a wonderful role model for our students".[86][87]
Philanthropy
During the 1990s, Khan also served as UNICEF's Special Representative for Sports[88] and promoted health and immunisation programmes in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand.[89] While in London, he also works with the Lord's Taverners, a cricket charity.[8] Khan focused his efforts solely on social work. By 1991, he had founded the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust, a charity organisation bearing the name of his mother, Mrs. Shaukat Khanum. As the Trust's maiden endeavour, Khan established Pakistan's first and only cancer hospital, constructed using donations and funds exceeding $25 million, raised by Khan from all over the world.[8][90]
On 27 April 2008, Khan established a technical college in the Mianwali District called Namal College. It was built by the Mianwali Development Trust (MDT), and is an associate college of the University of Bradford in December 2005.[91][92] Imran Khan Foundation is another welfare work, which aims to assist needy people all over Pakistan. It has provided help to flood victims in Pakistan. Buksh Foundation has partnered with the Imran Khan Foundation to light up villages in Dera Ghazi Khan, Mianwali and Dera Ismail Khan under the project 'Lighting a Million Lives'. The campaign will establish several Solar Charging Stations in the selected off-grid villages and will provide villagers with solar lanterns, which can be regularly charged at the solar-charging stations.[93][94]
Political ideology
Basing his wider paradigm on the poet-philosopher Muhammad Iqbal and the Iranian writer-sociologist Ali Shariati he came across in his youth,[95] Khan is generally described as a nationalist[96] and a populist.[97] Khan's proclaimed political platform and declarations include: Islamic values, to which he rededicated himself in the 1990s; liberal economics, with the promise of deregulating the economy and creating a welfare state; decreased bureaucracy and the implementation of anti-corruption laws, to create and ensure a clean government; the establishment of an independent judiciary; overhaul of the country's police system; and an anti-militant vision for a democratic Pakistan.[98][75][99][100]
.jpg)
Khan publicly demanded a Pakistani apology towards the Bangladeshi people for the atrocities committed in 1971.[101][102] He called the 1971 operation a "blunder"[103] and likened it to today's treatment of Pashtuns in the war on terror.[102] However, he repeatedly criticised the war crimes trials in Bangladesh in favour of the convicts.[104] His sympathetic position toward the Pakistani Taliban and Afghan Taliban, as well as his criticism of the US-led war on terror, has earned him the moniker "Taliban Khan" in Pakistani politics. He believes in negotiations with Taliban and the pull out of the Pakistan Army from Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). He is against US drone strikes and plans to disengage Pakistan from the US-led war on terror. Khan also opposes almost all military operations, including the Siege of Lal Masjid.[105][106]
In 2010, Khan said in an interview: "I grew up hating India because I grew up in Lahore and there were massacres of 1947, so much bloodshed and anger. But as I started touring India, I got such love and friendship there that all this disappeared."[107]
In August 2012, the Pakistani Taliban issued death threats if he went ahead with his march to their tribal stronghold along the Afghan border to protest US drone attacks, because he calls himself a "liberal" – a term they associate with a lack of religious belief.[108] On 1 October 2012, prior to his plan to address a rally in South Waziristan, senior commanders of Pakistani Taliban said after a meeting headed by the Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud that they now offered Khan security assistance for the rally because of Khan's opposition to drone attacks in Pakistan, reversing their previous stance.[109]
In 2014, when Pakistani Taliban announced armed struggle against Ismaili Muslims (denouncing them as non-Muslims)[110] and the Kalash people, Khan released a statement describing "forced conversions as un-Islamic".[111] He has also condemned the incidents of forced conversion of Hindu girls in Sindh.[112] Khan views the Kashmir issue as a humanitarian issue, as opposed to a territorial dispute between two countries (India and Pakistan). He also proposed secret talks to settle the issue as he thinks the vested interests on both sides will try to subvert them. He ruled out a military solution to the conflict and denied the possibility of a fourth war between India and Pakistan over the disputed mountainous region.[113]
On 8 January 2016, Khan visited the embassies of Iran and Saudi Arabia in Islamabad and met their head of commissions to understand their stances about the conflict that engulfed both nations after the execution of Sheikh Nimr by Saudi Arabia. He urged the Government of Pakistan to play a positive role to resolve the matter between both countries.[114] After parliament passed a unanimous resolution keeping Pakistan out of the War in Yemen in April 2015, Khan claimed that his party was responsible for "many critical clauses" of the resolution.[115] In July 2018, the Saudi-based Islamic Development Bank activated its $4.5 billion oil financing facility for Pakistan.[116]
After the result of 2018 Pakistani general election, Imran Khan said he would try to remake Pakistan based on the ideology of Muhammad Ali Jinnah.[117]
Political career
Initial years
Khan was offered political positions more than a few times during his cricketing career. In 1987, then-President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq offered him a political position in Pakistan Muslim League (PML) which he declined.[118] He was also invited by Nawaz Sharif to join his political party.[118]
In 1993, Khan was appointed as the ambassador for tourism in the caretaker government of Moeen Qureshi and held the portfolio for three months until the government dissolved.[119]
On 25 April 1996, Khan founded a political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).[40][120] He ran for the seat of National Assembly of Pakistan in 1997 Pakistani general election as a candidate of PTI from two constituencies – NA-53, Mianwali and NA-94, Lahore – but was unsuccessful and lost both the seats to candidates of PML (N).[121]
Khan supported General Pervez Musharraf's military coup in 1999,[122] believing Musharraf would "end corruption, clear out the political mafias".[123] According to Khan, he was Musharraf's choice for prime minister in 2002 but turned down the offer.[124] Khan participated in the October 2002 Pakistani general election that took place across 272 constituencies and was prepared to form a coalition if his party did not get a majority of the vote.[125] He was elected from Mianwali.[126] In the 2002 referendum, Khan supported military dictator General Musharraf, while all mainstream democratic parties declared that referendum as unconstitutional.[127] He has also served as a part of the Standing Committees on Kashmir and Public Accounts.[128] On 6 May 2005, Khan was mentioned in The New Yorker as being the "most directly responsible" for drawing attention in the Muslim world to the Newsweek story about the alleged desecration of the Qur'an in a US military prison at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.[129] In June 2007, Khan faced political opponents in and outside the parliament.[130]
On 2 October 2007, as part of the All Parties Democratic Movement, Khan joined 85 other MPs to resign from Parliament in protest of the presidential election scheduled for 6 October, which general Musharraf was contesting without resigning as army chief.[14] On 3 November 2007, Khan was put under house arrest, after president Musharraf declared a state of emergency in Pakistan. Later Khan escaped and went into hiding.[131] He eventually came out of hiding on 14 November to join a student protest at the University of the Punjab.[132] At the rally, Khan was captured by student activists from the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba and roughly treated.[133] He was arrested during the protest and was sent to the Dera Ghazi Khan jail in the Punjab province where he spent a few days before being released.[134]
On 30 October 2011, Khan addressed more than 100,000 supporters in Lahore, challenging the policies of the government, calling that new change a "tsunami" against the ruling parties,[135] Another successful public gathering of hundreds of thousands of supporters was held in Karachi on 25 December 2011.[136] Since then Khan became a real threat to the ruling parties and a future political prospect in Pakistan. According to an International Republican Institute's survey, Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf tops the list of popular parties in Pakistan both at the national and provincial level.[137][138]
On 6 October 2012, Khan joined a vehicle caravan of protesters from Islamabad to the village of Kotai in Pakistan's South Waziristan region against US drone missile strikes.[139][140] On 23 March 2013, Khan introduced the Naya Pakistan Resolution (New Pakistan) at the start of his election campaign.[141] On 29 April The Observer termed Khan and his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf as the main opposition to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.[142] Between 2011 and 2013, Khan and Nawaz Sharif began to engage each other in a bitter feud. The rivalry between the two leaders grew in late 2011 when Khan addressed his largest crowd at Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore.[143] From 26 April 2013, in the run up to the elections, both the PML-N and the PTI started to criticise each other.[144]
2013 elections campaign
On 21 April 2013, Khan launched his final public relations campaign for the 2013 elections from Lahore where he addressed thousands of supporters at the Mall.[145] Khan announced that he would pull Pakistan out of the US-led war on terror and bring peace to the Pashtun tribal belt.[146] He addressed different public meetings in various cities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other parts of country where he announced that PTI will introduce a uniform education system in which the children of rich and poor will have equal opportunities.[147] Khan ended his south Punjab campaign by addressing rallies in various Seraiki belt cities.[148]
Khan ended the campaign by addressing a rally of supporters in Islamabad via a video link while lying on a bed at a hospital in Lahore.[149] The last survey before the elections by The Herald showed 24.98 percent of voters nationally planned to vote for his party, just a whisker behind former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's PML-N.[150][151] On 7 May, just four days before the elections, Khan was rushed to Shaukat Khanum hospital in Lahore after he tumbled from a forklift at the edge of a stage and fell headfirst to the ground.[152][153] Pakistan's 2013 elections were held on 11 May 2013 throughout the country. The elections resulted in a clear majority of Pakistan Muslim League (N).[154][155] Khan's PTI emerged as the second largest party by popular vote nationally including in Karachi.[156][157] Khan's party PTI won 30 directly elected parliamentary seats and became third largest party in National Assembly behind Pakistan People's Party, which was second.[158]
In opposition
Khan led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf became the opposition party in Punjab and Sindh. Khan became the parliamentary leader of his party.[159][160] On 31 July 2013 Khan was issued a contempt of court notice for allegedly criticising the superior judiciary,[161] and his use of the word shameful for the judiciary. The notice was discharged after Khan submitted before the Supreme Court that he criticised the lower judiciary for their actions during the May 2013 general election while those judicial officers were working as returning officers.[162] Khan's party swooped the militancy-hit northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and formed the provincial government.[163][164] PTI-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government presented a balanced, tax-free budget for the fiscal year 2013–14.[165] During his provincial government, Khan was criticised for his support for Sami-ul-Haq, the "Father of the Taliban," and giving funds to his seminary, Darul Uloom Haqqania.[166]
Khan believed that terrorist activities by the Pakistani Taliban could be stopped through dialogue with them and even offered them to open an office in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He accused the US of sabotaging peace efforts with the Pakistani Taliban by killing its leader Hakimullah Mehsud in a drone strike in 2013. He demanded the government to block NATO supply line in retaliation for the killing of the TTP leader.[167]
On 13 November 2013, Khan, being party leader, ordered Pervez Khattak to dismiss ministers of Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) who were allegedly involved in corruption. Bakht Baidar and Ibrar Hussan Kamoli of Qaumi Watan Party, ministers for Manpower & Industry and Forest & Environment respectively, were dismissed.[168] Khan ordered Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to end the alliance with QWP. The Chief Minister also dismissed Minister for Communication and Works of PTI Yousuf Ayub Khan due to a fake degree.[169]
A year after elections, on 11 May 2014, Khan alleged that 2013 general elections were rigged in favour of the ruling PML (N).[170] On 14 August 2014, Imran Khan led a rally of supporters from Lahore to Islamabad, demanding Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's resignation and investigation into alleged electoral fraud.[171] On its way to the capital Khan's convoy was attacked by stones from PML (N) supporters in Gujranwala; however, there were no fatalities.[172] Khan was reported to be attacked with guns which forced him to travel in a bullet-proof vehicle.[173] On 15 August, Khan-led protesters entered the capital and a few days later marched into the high-security Red Zone; on 1 September 2014, according to Al Jazeera, protesters attempted to storm Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's official residence, which prompted the outbreak of violence. Three people died and more than 595 people were injured, including 115 police officers.[174] Prior to the violence that resulted in deaths, Khan asked his followers to take law into their own hands.[175]
By September 2014, Khan had entered into a de facto alliance with Canadian-Pakistani cleric Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri; both have aimed to mobilise their supporters for regime change.[176][177] Khan entered into an agreement with the Sharif administration to establish a three-member high-powered judicial commission which would be formed under a presidential ordinance. The commission would make its final report public. If the commission finds a country-wide pattern of rigging proved, the prime minister would dissolve the national and provincial assemblies in terms of the articles 58(1) and 112(1) of the Constitution – thereby meaning that the premier would also appoint the caretaker setup in consultation with the leader of the opposition and fresh elections would be held.[178] He also met Syed Mustafa Kamal, when he was in the opposition.
2018 general election
Imran Khan contested the general election from NA-35 (Bannu), NA-53 (Islamabad-II), NA-95 (Mianwali-I), NA-131 (Lahore-IX), and NA-243 (Karachi East-II).[179] According to early, official results, Khan led the poll, although his opposition, mainly PML-N, alleged large-scale vote rigging and administrative malpractices.[180][181][182] On 27 July, election officials declared that Khan's party had won 110 of the 269 seats,[183] giving PTI a plurality in the National Assembly.[184] At the conclusion of the count on 28 July, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced that the PTI had won a total of 116 of the 270 seats contested. Khan became the first person in the history of Pakistan general elections who contested and won in all five constituencies, surpassing Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who contested in four but won in three constituencies in 1970.[185][186]
In May 2018, Khan's party announced a 100-day agenda for a possible future government. The agenda included sweeping reforms in almost all areas of government including creation of a new province in Southern Punjab, fast tracking of merger of Federally Administered Tribal Areas into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, betterment of law and order situation in Karachi, and betterment of relations with Baloch political leaders.[187][188][189]
Post-2018 election reaction
A number of opposition parties have alleged "massive rigging" in Khan's favor amid allegations of military interference in the general elections.[190] Nawaz Sharif and his PML-N party, in particular, claimed that a conspiracy between the judiciary and military had influenced the election in favour of Khan and PTI.[191] The Election Commission, however, rejected allegations of rigging and Sharif and his PML-N later conceded victory to Khan, despite lingering 'reservations' regarding the result.[192][193] Two days after the 2018 general elections were held, the chief observer of the European Union Election Observation Mission to Pakistan Michael Gahler confirmed that the overall situation of the general election was satisfactory.[194]
Victory speech
During his victory speech, he laid out the policy outlines for his future government. Khan said his inspiration is to build Pakistan as a humanitarian state based on principles of the first Islamic state of Medina. He described that his future government will put the poor and commoners of the country first and all policies will be geared towards elevating the standards of living of the lesser fortunate. He promised an investigation into rigging allegations. He said that he wanted a united Pakistan and would refrain from victimizing his political opponents. Everyone would be equal under the law. He promised a simple and less costly government, devoid of showy pompousness in which the prime minister's house will be converted into an educational institute and governor houses will be used for public benefit.[195]
On foreign policy, he praised China and hoped to have better relations with Afghanistan, United States, and India. On Middle East, he said his government will strive to have a balanced relationship with Saudi Arabia and Iran.[195]
Nominations and appointments
On 6 August 2018, PTI officially nominated him as the candidate for prime minister.[196] Delivering a speech during his nomination, he said that he will present himself for public accountability for an hour every week in which he will answer questions put forward by masses.[197]
After the election, Khan made some appointments and nominations for national and provincial level public office holders as the head of the winning party. Asad Umar was designated finance minister in the future government of Khan in the center.[198] Khan nominated Imran Ismail for Governor of Sindh,[199] Mahmood Khan as future Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,[200] Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar as Governor of Punjab, Asad Qaiser as Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan,[201] and Shah Farman as Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.[202] In Balochistan, his party decided to support Balochistan Awami Party which nominated Jam Kamal Khan for chief minister and former chief minister Abdul Quddus Bizenjo for speaker.[203] His party nominated Pakistan Muslim League (Q) leader and former Deputy Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pervaiz Elahi for the slot of Speaker of the Punjab Assembly.[204] Abdul Razak Dawood was nominated to be the advisor to prime minister on economic affairs.[205] Qasim Khan Suri was nominated for deputy speaker of national assembly slot.[206] Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani and Mehmood Jan were nominated as speaker and deputy speaker of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly respectively.[207] Dost Muhammad Mazari was nominated as Deputy Speaker for the Provincial Assembly of Punjab. Khan nominated Sardar Usman Buzdar for Chief Minister of Punjab. Announcing the nomination, Khan said that he chose Buzdar because he belongs to the most backward area of Punjab.[208] According to some sources, Buzdar was nominated as a makeshift arrangement because it will be easier to remove a lesser-known individual when Shah Mahmood Qureshi is ready to become chief minister.[209]
.jpg)
Comments
Post a Comment