Imran Khan

Early life and background

Khan has said that his parents often told him he was lucky to be born in a free Pakistan. He has said he spent 20 to 30 years living abroad, partly while playing cricket, but never felt that abroad was his home, because he was Pakistani. He has also said he never regarded British society as his home. [2][3]

Education

Khan has said that his subject at university was politics. He describes himself as a student of history and politics. [1]

Cricket

Khan has said he was cricket captain for ten years, and that the public has known him for 40 years, since his time as captain. He has said he played cricket and travelled. Khan has said he had a stress fracture in his left leg while playing cricket and wore a cast for three months after the injury. [1][2][3]

Khan says he went into cricket matches expecting to win, and that a winning mindset focuses on opportunities. He adds that sport taught him about winning and losing. [1][2]

Shaukat Khanum and Namal University

Khan says he built Shaukat Khanum, which he describes as internationally recognised. He has also said he founded Namal University. [2][3]

Entry into politics

Khan has said he entered politics with the idealism of building a new Pakistan. He says he entered to oppose corruption by two political families, and that he raised corruption against them from the first day. He has said he began his Insaaf campaign 26 years ago, after seeing the two families. Khan says he has about 26 years of experience in politics and has held the same message for twenty-six years. He says he spent 22 years in opposition. [1][2][3]

Tehreek-e-Insaf

Khan says PTI made a sudden impact on Pakistani politics at a Minar-e-Pakistan event on 30 October 2011. He says Tehreek-e-Insaf stood on one side of the current divide. He has said he wanted PTI to hold internal elections and bring new leadership, and that it did. He also says PTI's internal membership-based election process was flawed and that its election software failed when it was tested. [2]

Khan has said he is personally issuing party tickets this time. He names loyalty to the party and its ideology, plus integrity, as his two criteria for candidates, and says PTI will give tickets to committed people, not to those seeking personal gain. He has said that Tehreek-e-Insaf won 29 of 36 by-elections. He also says his party has the most street power and is the largest party. [1][2]

Khan says PTI held record rallies in three major cities within 10 days, and has named Peshawar, Karachi and Minar-e-Pakistan as the venues. He says he had never seen the nation come out on the streets in this way before. He says social media has played a major role in the current momentum. He expects the largest public turnout in Pakistan's history for his planned Haqeeqi Azadi march in Islamabad. He has also said he has started a jail bharo protest campaign. [1][2][3]

Time as prime minister

Khan has said he was prime minister and describes himself as chief executive, adding that foreign policy was his prerogative in that role. He says his government was a coalition with a thin majority and was always vulnerable on whether it could survive. Khan has said he would have sat in opposition without a clear majority and would not seek power without a real majority. He regrets not calling elections immediately after taking office. He says his government only received briefings on the state of institutions after taking office. [2][3]

Khan says he learned a great deal during his 3.5 years in office, which he calls the hardest of his life. He has said his government could have done more against corruption but faced strong resistance from within. He says he did not want to change the intelligence chief during a difficult period. [2][3]

Khan says Pakistan's IT exports rose 75 percent in the first two years of his government. He has said NAB recovered 480 arab rupees during his government. He says Pakistan's economic indicators were positive under his government, and that the IMF described Pakistan as on a sustainable and inclusive growth path. He has said the Ehsaas programme was recognised internationally. He describes the health card as revolutionary for Pakistan's health sector. [1][2][3]

Khan says that during Usman's tenure the government decided to give health insurance to every family through the health card. He says he chose Usman for his total loyalty. He has also said his government created a local government system with directly elected mayors. [2][3]

Khan says he never interfered in the judiciary, and that he never interfered in the army or planned to bring in his own army chief. He says he never told any police officer to carry out vindictive action or to fabricate papers, and has said he wanted the police institution to be strong. [2][3]

Khan says Pakistan's institutions, including NAB, were not under his government's control. He says the NAB chairman was appointed under an earlier government and could not be removed by his government. He says 95 percent of NAB cases predate his government and were not brought to conviction in three and a half years. He calls the FIA case against Shahbaz Sharif an open and shut case. He says there were 800 stay orders against eight regulators, and that all civil cases would be decided within one year. [2][3]

Khan says he made no private foreign trips while he was prime minister and declined two invitations to visit England because the trip would not benefit the country. He says he had to ask Saudi Arabia, the UAE and China for loans during his time in office. He has also said merit was never violated during his time. [1][2][3]

Removal from office

Khan has said one man decided in a closed room to topple his government, and that he learned from July that a plan to topple it had been made. He says a foreign plot, backed by Pakistani figures he calls Mir Jafar and Mir Sadiq, brought down his elected government. He has also said an elected government was toppled through a conspiracy with local collaborators. He says a diplomatic cipher he cites records a threat linked to his no-confidence vote. [1][2][3]

Khan has described the current government as an imported government and has said a government of thieves was imposed through foreign interference. He says his phone was tapped and his calls recorded while he was prime minister, and that a recording of his principal secretary was released. He says the opposition sought an NRO from him and he repeatedly refused. He has also said 60 first information reports (FIRs) have been filed against him. [1][3]

Elections and the judiciary

Khan has said an election is the only way out. He says the constitution requires an election within 90 days, and that it requires the election commission to prepare for elections within three months. He has said he needs to campaign for the coming election. [1][3]

Views on law and governance

Khan has said the rule of law is the first step to fix Pakistan, that merit is part of it, and that it is critical to success. He says Pakistan's problem is that the powerful do not put themselves under the law, and that reforms must apply to everyone equally before the law. [1][2][3]

Khan has called the Sharif and Zardari families the country's biggest looters. He says corruption does not end until big corruption is caught. He has proposed that senior office holders disclose any property or money held outside Pakistan and says they should keep all their property and money in Pakistan. He describes the PDM as an anti-Imran alliance without an ideology, and says the people he calls robbers, who have stolen for 30 years, stood on one side against PTI. He has said he has no corruption to hide and was not involved in corruption while in office. [1][2][3]

Khan has said the army should hold itself accountable. He says an economy is not isolated from politics, which he calls political economy. He says Senate elections are influenced by money, and that Westminster democracy works because the idea of horse-trading does not exist there. He has said parliamentary democracy rests on moral standards. [1][2][3]

Khan says Pakistan's system is anti-meritocracy and holds back merit, and that ministers should be chosen for their capability. He says key ministries need professionals and experts brought in from outside. He says Pakistan's best talent has gone abroad. He has said revolutions are usually led by young people, that young people carry the passion that drives change, and that a person grows old when their passion ends. [2][3]

Khan has said Pakistan has no shortage of resources and is not using even 5 percent of its potential. He says its coastal belt and tourism potential are untapped, and that it has unique mountain tourism and skiing. Khan has said his mission is to lift people out of poverty and that his number one priority is the people of Pakistan. [2][3]

Khan says no society changes at the press of a button, and that there are no shortcuts in life. He has said Pakistan's survival is at stake and that Pakistan has changed. He says Pakistan has no neutral path and faces a choice between a path of subservience and a path of freedom and struggle. He says his instinct is that the nation is moving toward the path it should have taken 70 years ago, and that people cannot stay neutral between truth and falsehood. [1][2][3]

Khan says women are 51 percent of Pakistan's population and are largely marginalized. He says child abuse and rape are rising fastest among crimes in Pakistan, according to the IGs he consulted. He says he brought Ertugrul to Pakistan after speaking with President Erdogan. He has also said he is not a big fan of soft power, a term he first heard during the Musharraf era, and that Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was Pakistan's soft power because he embodied Pakistani identity. [2][3]

Views on foreign policy

Khan says Pakistan should never join any bloc and should never be drawn into other countries' wars. He says 80,000 Pakistanis were killed fighting another country's war. He says the war on terror made Pakistan the most dangerous country in the world. He says he opposed it throughout, and has said he told think tanks in America that the war was not Pakistan's war. [2][3]

Khan says an independent foreign policy does not mean being anti-American, and that he had very good relations with the Trump administration. He has said he opposes the racist policies of the BJP and RSS in Kashmir. He says Pakistan should keep friendship with both China and America, and has asked why Pakistan should not buy cheap oil from Russia when India does. [2][3]

Khan says Pakistan's foreign policy has not been independent since Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was removed. He says Pakistan became dependent on aid and did not stand on its own feet. He says that when Israel and Britain attacked Egypt after the Suez Canal was nationalised, Pakistan stood with Britain. He has said his anti-imperialist views were not a recent development, and that his government wanted to run an independent foreign policy. He says Pakistan is a self-respecting nation that should first earn respect and promote its own culture. [2][3]

Personal life

Khan has described himself as 70 years old, and elsewhere as almost 70. He has said his children were living abroad. He has also said he has been confined to two rooms for about three and a half months. [1][2]

Timeline

2011

PTI makes a sudden impact on Pakistani politics at a Minar-e-Pakistan event on 30 October, by Khan's account.[2]

Appearances

Frequently asked questions

References

1. Imran Khan on the cipher, the economy, and refusing to quit . Thought Behind Things , 2023-02-16.
2. Imran Khan on Pakistan's political crisis, foreign policy, and the road ahead . Thought Behind Things , 2022-05-05.
3. Podcast with Imran Khan | Junaid Akram's Podcast #108 ft. Muzamil Hasan & Talha Ahad (TCM) . Junaid Akram , 2022-05-05.