Cricket Legend, Playboy, & Pakistan PM: The Many Shades of Imran Khan
11:42 08.08.2023 (Updated: 14:46 08.08.2023)
© AP Photo / STR
Subscribe
From Pakistan's lone World Cup-winning captain in 1992 to being a lawmaker in 2002 to leading the nation as prime minister from 2018-2022 to being convicted in a graft case, Sputnik India looks at Imran Khan's journey.
In a major development that has the potential to change the landscape of the region's geopolitics, an Islamabad court on Saturday sent former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to three years in prison in a corruption case.
The verdict is all the more important, considering that Khan will no longer be able to contest the forthcoming national polls scheduled for October this year.
As per the provisions of the constitution of the Islamic nation, the cricketer-turned-politician stands disqualified. Neither he can contest nor hold public office for five years starting from the date of his conviction.
The court ruling against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief came in a graft case filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) last year wherein Khan was accused of giving false information regarding gifts he received from foreign dignitaries during his tenure as the nation's Prime Minister from August 2018 to April 2022.
The Curse of Toshakhana on Imran Khan
According to Pakistani law, Pakistani lawmakers who are part of the government, have to deposit the gifts they receive from foreign leaders in the Toshakhana (state gift repository) although they are allowed to buy these gifts at a discounted price later.
While Khan informed the Cabinet Division, the administrative body overlooking the Toshakhana, that he had sold his four gifts, including four Rolex watches for PKR 58 million ($204,755) after purchasing them for PKR 21.56 million ($76,110), the then-opposition members alleged that he had swindled 72 items from the state repository.
Imran Khan
© Sputnik / Alexander Shcherbak
Subsequently, an ECP investigation found him guilty of "deliberately concealing" information about the gifts he received during his premiership, eventually leading to the filing of a criminal case against him.
Consequently, the legal proceedings started in court, resulting in his conviction on Saturday.
On Monday, an Indian expert underlined that recent events related to Khan were the handiwork of Pakistan's powerful army.
Priyanka Singh, an associate fellow at India's premier Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), who specializes in Pakistani politics told Sputnik India that the arrest of Imran Khan is the expected culmination of the tirade against him that took off (at Army's behest) in the aftermath of May 9 incidents.
"As the situation has unfolded, it is incrementally clear that Khan is being penalized for calling out the army. His partymen deserted him under army's pressure and the party itself faces an existential crisis," she said.
She explained that Khan's fate is similar to many others who were crushed by the army in the past be it Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, his daughter Benazir Bhutto or Nawaz Sharif, who once acted as the Army's protege like Khan.
She opined that for the Army's domination of Pakistan's politics, the more things change, the more they remain the same.
Singh expressed that the Pakistan Army props up political elements like Khan to counter a less favourable political counterpart in this case Nawaz Sharif who was ousted in 2017 and barred from contesting.
"Now the army seems to be conniving with the same Sharifs to settle scores with Khan- once their blue-eyed boy. It is, hence, an unending cycle of political chaos and democratic regression in Pakistan," she argued.
With arguably Pakistan's biggest inspiration and hero outside politics, considering he led the cricket-crazy country to its lone World Cup victory in 1992, spending his time in jail, Sputnik India looks back at Khan's journey from a determined and talented young cricketer to the occupant of the nation's top chair.
Imran Khan: 1992 Cricket World Cup-Winner
Known as the "Lion of Pakistan", Imran Khan is widely regarded as the greatest cricketer the South Asian country has ever produced.
Besides, with more than 362 wickets and 3807 runs in Test cricket, and 182 scalps and 3709 runs in ODIs, he finds a place among the sport's finest all-rounders.
This special list features the likes of iconic cricketers like West Indian Garry Sobers, Englishman Ian Botham, India's Kapil Dev, and New Zealand's Richard Hadlee.
Khan's exemplary heroics on the field are well documented. But the biggest attribute that can be associated with him is an "undying spirit" even when he had his back to the wall, which was one of the main reasons behind Pakistan's Cricket World Cup triumph in Australia in 1992.
Indian Minister of Sports Sunil Dutt, left, presents Pakistan's former cricket captain Imran Khan with a shawl during felicitation of eminent cricket captains in Calcutta, India, Friday, Nov. 13, 2004.
© AP Photo / BIKAS DAS
In the 1990s, the land of the Kangaroos was regarded as one of the toughest places to win any tournament, let alone the World Cup.
Additionally, the Pakistani team was devoid of superstars. Yet he transformed an average team into an all-conquering machine, resulting in Pakistan's biggest triumph in cricket - the 1992 World Cup.
To realize the magnanimity of Pakistan's World Cup victory, one must know that the sub-continental side is still searching for its second title though more than three decades have passed since.
A Pakistani Playboy Who Fathered a Child Out of Wedlock
Like his political career, Khan's personal life has been full of controversies.
Before his first marriage to British socialite and film producer Jemima Goldsmith, the former Pakistan cricket captain was linked to a string of high-profile individuals, including yesteryear Bollywood superstar Zeenat Aman, Hollywood starlet Goldie Hawn, Scottish artist Liza Campbell, and business heiress Sita White among others.
His relationship with White in particular generated intense buzz in the media as he fathered a child out of wedlock with the daughter of the British business tycoon Gordon White.
After their child was born in 1992 in the US, Khan refused to acknowledge her as his daughter and the two waged a legal battle over the issue.
In 1997, an American court ruled in White's favor, stating that Khan was indeed the father of the girl who was named Tyrian by her mother.
In between, Khan married Jemima Goldsmith in Paris in 1995. The British woman subsequently converted to Islam and had two sons with the PTI chairman before the couple divorced in 2004.
Khan then entered into wedlock with Reham Khan, a British-Pakistani journalist, which turned out to be short-lived as they separated within twelve months.
After their separation, Reham hurled a series of allegations at Khan, including that he once found him snorting cocaine.
In 2018, the former Pakistan leader confirmed that he had married his spiritual guide Bushra Bibi.
This September 16, 2002 file picture shows Imran Khan, left, Pakistani cricket star-turn politician with his wife Jemima Khan, at an election rally in Islamabad, Pakistan.
© AP Photo / B.K.BANGASH
The Founder of PTI
Khan founded the PTI in 1996 after having declined multiple offers to join politics following his retirement from cricket in 1992.
The same year, he contested his first elections for the National Assembly from two constituencies - Mianwali City and Lahore but tasted defeat on both seats.
Khan's moment of reckoning in politics, however, came in 1999 when former President General Pervez Musharraf led a military coup against the then-democratically elected government of Nawaz Sharif before grabbing power in Pakistan.
Days later Khan declared that Musharraf proposed to make him the prime minister of the country at the time but he declined the offer.
Three years later in 2002, Khan won his maiden election, emerging victorious from Mianwali and thus becoming a National Assembly member.
When Did Imran Khan Became PM of Pakistan?
Khan failed to make much headway in Pakistan's politics and remained just a fringe player for more than a decade. But things began to change in 2013 after his political outfit PTI earned the status of the main opposition party in the nation's two richest provinces - Punjab and Sindh.
Months later, PTI won the provincial polls in the volatile Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, forming the government there.
Khan's political status continued to rise over the next five years.
In 2018, just ahead of national elections, he was widely perceived to have the backing of the military and was tipped to become the next prime minister of the nation.
This eventually came to be true as Khan's PTI emerged as the largest party in the National Assembly after winning 110 seats in the 272-member house.
The PTI went on to form a coalition government with Balochistan Awami Party, Pakistan Muslim League (Q), and other smaller constituents.
Khan occupied Pakistan's top chair for nearly four years until April 2022 with his reign at the helm of affairs marked with a focus on implementing an independent foreign policy.
The top PTI politician even went on to praise India for not bowing in front of US pressure despite repeated calls from Washington to desert its long-time friend and strategic partner Russia in the wake of Moscow's special military operation in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan at the Kremlin in Moscow on February 24, 2022.
© AFP 2023 MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV
Despite the Western-imposed economic sanctions on the Eurasian nation, New Delhi remained one of Moscow's most trusted allies, purchasing millions of tonnes of crude from President Vladimir Putin's government.
Notably, Russia became India's largest crude supplier, with imports exceeding the 2 million barrels per day mark since June this year.
In this light, Khan traveled to Moscow in 2022, becoming the first Pakistani leader to do so in 23 years. Before him, Nawaz Sharif paid a visit to Russia in 1999.
Imran Khan's Fall-Out With the Pakistan Army
Some reports suggest that Khan's visit to Moscow irked the top Pakistan Army brass whose close ties with America are no secret to anyone in the world.
Within weeks, he was ousted from power after failing to prove his majority in a trust vote as allies deserted him. This apparently happened after he had a fallout with the Pakistan Army.
After resigning as Pakistan's Prime Minister, Khan continued his tirade against the army, even accusing former military chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa of plotting the fall of his government in conjunction with the United States administration of President Joe Biden.
Moreover, what rattled his rivals, the PPP and the PML-N, was the growing public support for him as PTI won a series of byelections after Khan's ouster from the federal government.
With thousands and thousands of people joining his marches and protests over alleged corruption in the government spearheaded by Shehbaz Sharif, Khan's face-off with the authorities escalated last year.
The veteran politician even faced an assassination attempt last year, when he was shot in one of his legs before making a full recovery after undergoing treatment in a hospital in Pakistan.
Khan's Legal Quagmire & May 9 Protests in Pakistan
Khan's regular confrontations with state authorities resulted in the filing of more than 100 cases against him in different courts, including charges under Pakistan's stringent anti-terror laws.
On the other hand, Khan was facing the heat in the Toshakhana case. But the police failed to arrest him on multiple occasions despite court orders.
Yet he was arrested on May 9 while he was on his way to attend an Islamabad High Court (IHC) hearing, leading to violent protests in the country for the next four days.
Supporters of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan block a road as protest against the arrest of their leader, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Wednesday, May 10, 2023.
© AP Photo / Muhammad Sajjad
The government claimed that PTI members and Khan's supporters were behind the ransacking of private and public property and attacking military institutions, resulting in a crackdown on his party.
The attack on the Pakistan Army's seat of power, the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi city, and the torching of the Corps Commander's house in Lahore was a military red line that Khan's admirers seemed to have broken on May 9.
Crackdown on PTI
Following the violent protests on May 9, the country's military leadership reportedly urged the government to tighten the noose around Khan.
A massive crackdown on PTI's top leadership followed soon after, with many senior politicians from his party deserting the PTI chief in the weeks after the violent protests.
Among the senior members that distanced themselves from the party were former federal Information and Broadcasting Minister Fawad Chaudhry, its women's face, Senior Vice-President Shireen Mazari, and PTI Secretary-General Asad Umar.
Though PTI's top-rung stated that they were not under any kind of duress while announcing their moves, it was all but apparent, that the state authorities did use intimidation tactics to influence their decisions.
The exodus from PTI did not stop there as several other past and present Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) and provincial assemblies disassociated themselves from the political outfit.
Over and above that the Pakistan government contemplated a ban on PTI as they possibly did not want to leave any scope left for Khan's return to power in the next general polls.
As the crackdown on PTI continued, and a ban on his party looked imminent, Khan announced that he would form a new entity in case authorities prohibited him and his political outfit from contesting elections.
With Khan unrelenting despite the Pakistan government's all-out crackdown on his party, the only way to stop him appeared to put him behind bars, something that happened last week.
An activist of Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party listens to Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan's speech on a phone, in Zaman Park in Lahore on May 13, 2023.
© AFP 2023 ARIF ALI
Why Does Imran Khan Remain So Popular?
Calling out Pakistan Army's supremacy
Singh, the associate fellow from Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, stressed that Imran Khan is a charismatic popular leader who is well aware of his political capital.
"Presently, his attempt would be to encash popular sentiments based on highhandedness meted out to him ever since he took a stand against the Army's supremacy-which he projects was done for Pakistan's betterment," the political commentator told Sputnik India.
Challenging dynastic politics in Pakistan
She mentioned that Khan's support base exists at the grassroots as well as the elite. Having been arrested and debarred from contesting polls, Khan would reach out to his support base to build pressure in favor of him.
But it remains to be seen how effective the pressure is in paving the way for Imran Khan's redemption from the ban for the elections slated later this year.
Singh reckons that Khan's USP is his dissociation from dynasty-driven politics and faring better on the corruption graph than his dynastic peers.
Unlike the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) or PML-N and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the two dominant forces in Pakistani politics in the last three decades, which are family-run parties, the PTI is not a dynastic political outfit.
Undeniable charisma
While PML-N has always been driven by the Sharifs - Nawaz earlier and now Shehbaz, the PPP has firmly remained in the hands of the Bhuttos with Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari being its present leader. This, however, isn't the case with Khan who has single-handedly made his party the force it is today.
Much of it is presumably based on his "charisma".
"How much these strengths and Khan's personal charisma will sustain- till he is able to contest polls after 5 years- remains to be seen keeping in view the tumultuous political landscape in Pakistan," Singh concluded.
