A man who does it all, Imran Khan is a Pakistani cricketer turned politician. With numerous achievements on his hands, his journey has been challenging and full of ups and downs, but his resilience and perseverance paid off.
Imran Khan’s Early Life and Education
Imran Khan was born in 1952 into a very affluent Pashtun family in Lahore. Along with four sisters, he is the only son of his parents. After receiving a quality education from Aitchison College Lahore, he went abroad and studied at the Royal Grammar School in Worcester. In 1972, he was admitted to Keble College, Oxford, and graduated with philosophy, economics, and politics in 1975.
Imran Khan’s Entry into Cricket and His Successful Cricket Career
Imran Khan has been a cricket lover since a very young age. In Lahore, at the age of 16, he made his first-class cricket debut. During 1970-71, he started playing for Lahore’s home teams and later played for the Pakistan National Team at Edgbaston for the first time against England in 1971. Then, in 1974, he played his first One Day International (ODI) with the Pakistan team once again against England at Trent Bridge.
After completing his education, he permanently started playing for the Pakistan National Cricket Team. Then, in 1982, Imran Khan got the captaincy and as a captain, he played a total of 139 ODI’s and 28 Test Matches. In 1992, Pakistan won the World Cup against England under the captaincy of Imran Khan in Melbourne, Australia. After this historic win, he retired from the team.
Imran Khan’s Post Cricket Career
After his retirement, he was still known for his acts of philanthropy, which also included fundraising for the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital. He kept the foundation of this hospital that he named after his late mother in Lahore. In addition, he also wrote pieces for newspapers and appeared on screens as a cricket commentator.
Imran Khan’s Entry into Politics and Political Career
Imran Khan has always had an interest in politics. He wanted to fight for the betterment of Pakistan. Therefore, in 1996, he founded his own political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
Elections 1997
The party was still in its emerging stage, as a result of which it failed to win any seats in the 1997 elections.
Elections 2002
Later, in 2002, PTI secured one seat in the general elections from Mianwali, which was filled by Khan himself.
Elections 2013
However, with time, his popularity kept increasing among the masses. Eventually, on October 30, 2011, he was successful in gathering around 100,000 supporters in Lahore and later a massive crowd in Karachi on December 25, 2011. Meanwhile, his growing popularity became a threat to the other political parties in Pakistan.
In 2013, just as the next general elections were nearing, Imran Khan started conducting campaigns all over the country and convincing people to vote for his party. During one of the campaigns, he fell from the stage and faced severe injuries just a few days before the elections were held. And to his dismay, the Pakistan Muslim League (PMLN) was able to secure victory by winning the majority of votes. But during the 2013 elections, PTI was able to sweep in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and formed their provincial government there.
Elections 2018
Imran Khan ran campaigns all over Pakistan again, and now the time to bear the fruits of his hard work was here! Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) contested from 5 constituencies and was successful in winning in all 5. From a total of 270 seats, PTI successfully secured 116 seats all over Pakistan.
Imran Khan as the Prime Minister of Pakistan
Imran Khan became the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan on August 17, 2018. After taking hold of his office on August 18th, 2018, he quickly put down the policies that were to be executed during his premiership. In 2019, he made some major rearrangements and reshuffled Pakistan’s bureaucracy and also made changes in the ministries of interior, finance, information, and planning.
In 2020, after the strike of Covid-19, Imran Khan was successful in running the largest welfare program in the history of Pakistan and raising $1 billion to help the lower class.
But his position as a Prime Minister was certainly not easy. He had to face strong opposition from the opposing parties. In 2021, his government survived after the opposition boycotted the vote of confidence, but difficult times were on the way!
In 2022, the opposition decided to hold a vote of confidence. At the same time, many prominent people backed out from PTI, and Imran Khan was left with just a few of his party members. The Vote of Confidence was held on April 10, 2022, and Imran Khan was removed from the premiership.
Challenges After Being Removed from Office
PMLN’s government took over, and with time, the economy of Pakistan was getting worse. This paved the way for PTI’s comeback, and they won 15 out of 20 seats in the legislative elections of the largest province of Pakistan, Punjab. But the challenges continued. Imran Khan conducted rallies across Pakistan to make the population aware of its rights. Unfortunately, in October 2022, after the election commission claimed that Imran Khan was guilty of corruption, he was banned from holding public office.
He led a huge convoy from Lahore to Islamabad to show the public power, during which he was shot in the leg.
Later, Imran Khan was taken into custody as he was not cooperating with the authorities in his corruption investigations. This ignited demonstrations across the country by his supporters. Due to the restriction being imposed on the party, many prominent members of the party exited, leaving Khan with just a few once again.
Another arrest followed in August, as Imran Khan was accused of selling state gifts. Even though the prison sentence was suspended, he is still under custody because of the ongoing case.
Conclusion
Imran Khan has stood for the people of Pakistan since forever. His transition from being a cricketer to becoming one of the most significant leaders in the history of Pakistan is surely a story of his resilience and determination!
