Biography of Imran Khan:- Imran Khan is an icon, an inspiration for millions, he is, one of the greatest players that game of cricket ever witnessed. Imran Khan Niazi, his full name hailed from an upper-middle class family of Lahore.
His father, a civil engineer, had roots from Pashtoon dominant ‘Niazi’ tribe of Mianwali. Imran Khan’s life is full of ventures, controversies, and above all the success and fame dominating all the latter ones.
Imran Khan was a die-hard cricket enthusiast since childhood, he, also, was well-educated unlike most of the cricketers in Pakistan, his strong temperament, and God-gifted leadership qualities dominated his character everywhere from Student life to cricket and from cricket to politics.
Khan is an example of how to fight evil and injustice when no one’s on your side. Imran Khan’s cousins Javed Burki and Majid Khan also played for Pakistan Cricket team.
Biography of Imran Khan
- Born:- 5 October 1952, Lahore
- Height:- 1.85 m
- Spouse:- Reham Khan (m. 2015–2015), Jemima Goldsmith (m. 1995–2004)
- Parents:- Shaukat Khanum, Ikramullah Khan Niazi
- Education:- Keble College, Oxford (1972–1975), Royal Grammar School Worcester, Aitchison College
- Children:- Sulaiman Isa Khan, Qasim Khan
Imran Khan lived his life to fullest, he partied in his entire career and after, he captained Pakistan Cricket team on his terms, he gained the fame no cricketer has ever dreamt of. He was a heartthrob of Millions of his fans around the world, Imran Khan was not just a cricketer, he was a celebrity and a role model for every youth in the country.
Imran Khan initiated his first-class cricket career when he was 16, he moved to England for higher studies. Imran came back and joined national cricket team permanently, his career ended with a World Cup Victory for Pakistan in 1992.
Imran Khan married to Jemima Goldsmith and Reham Khan in 1995 and 2015 respectively. He divorced both his wives, he has two sons, Suleiman and Qasim from his first wife, Jemima.
Early Education and Life
Imran Khan is the most educated international cricketer of all times. He was born in 5th October, 1952 in Lahore. His father name was Ikramullah Khan, who was a civil engineer.
Imran Khan completed his early education from Aitchison College, Lahore, one of the most honored colleges in Pakistan. Khan moved to England for further studies, he enrolled in Royal Grammar School Worcester, he was selected for a college team to play inter-collegiate cricket championship.
He opt Political Sciences, Philosophy, and economy subjects for his honors degree from Keble College, Oxford.
He played for University of Oxford’s Blues from 1973-1975. Imran Khan made his international debut in a Test match against England in 1971.
He made his One Day debut against England in 1974. Khan couldn’t concentrate much on cricket during his higher education, he paused his career until graduation. He graduated in 1976, made his way to Pakistan to join Pakistan Cricket Team as a permanent player.
Imran Khan: A Perfect All-rounder
The talented Imran Khan Niazi was sighted in Lahore with his brilliant all-round performances in club matches, he played for Lahore A, Lahore B, Dawood Industries, and PIA in his bright and career-defining early days.
As he spent peak of his youth in England, Imran Khan played a lot of County cricket, he contested in English seasons and represented multiple teams including Sussex, Worcestershire Cricket Club, and New South Wales. Khan was an ordinary medium pacer with batting as his power factor
He worked hard on his pace and emerged as the third fastest bowler with an average pace of 139.7 in a bowling contest held in Perth.
Imran Khan was a bowling all-rounder by then, he had one of the lowest bowling averages in the history of test cricket 13.29 after 9 tests in the year 1982, and he was consistently scoring runs in the lower middle order.
Khan is among the few all-rounders achieving all-rounder’s triple i.e. 3000 runs with 300 wickets, he accomplished the feat in 72 matches, fastest by any international cricketer. His records and fame earned him the captaincy of Pakistan Cricket.
Imran Khan served as a captain of Pakistan for 10 years, his tenure ended as a successful campaign of Pakistan’s only World Cup title in 50-overformat.
Under his captaincy, Pakistan won the first Test at Lord’s against England after 28 years, his batting average exceeded 56 with astonishing bowling figures, he took 88 wickets in his first year as a captain.
Imran Khan retired from International cricket in 1987, he was requested by the President of Pakistan General Zia-ul-Haq to reconsider his retirement, he accepted General’s suggestion and continued to play for Pakistan Cricket team as a captain. The national side was never that disciplined when it was during Imran Khan’s captaincy.
Imran Khan had a brilliant career that ended up with style in a final match when he was delivering a ball that ended up with a wicket and consequently in Pakistan’s victory in World Cup 1992, Imran Khan was 39 at the time of retirement.
Imran Khan Scandals and Controversies
Imran Khan with his attractive personality and good looks was portrayed as a playboy in 70’s and 80’s by English and Pakistani media. Imran Khan was a free spirit, he frequently partied, and dated several English Models and Elite class women.
Sita White, a daughter of British Billionaire, alleged Imran Khan of being a father of their lovechild daughter Tyrian Jade. An American court ruled the hearing in favor of Sita White and declared Imran Khan as the father of Tyrian.
Imran never openly admitted her as his child. Still, she is living with Imran Khan’s ex-wife Jemima Goldsmith in London with his two sons Qasim and Suleiman.
Imran Khan is alleged of several mishandlings in funds of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital, he is also criticized for changing his political policies overnight contrary to what politicians do, and he is stubborn in his politics and never listens to his advisors or party leaders against his will.
Imran Khan is bashed for his ties with military establishment especially with ISI during the tenure of General Pasha. Imran once launched civil disobedience against the PMLN government, a ruling party to pressurize the government to have an open and clear investigation on alleged rigging in general elections held in 2013.
He is denounced by most of the political parties of Pakistan for his bad mouth against politicians and government officers.
Political Career of Imran Khan
Imran came into politics right after his retirement from cricket, he came up with a political party named Pakistan Movement for Justice or Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and his primary motive was to fight against corruption and ill-governance and against a mess created by politicians in a system.
He struggled in politics contrary to his fame in cricket world and a huge fan base, people never voted him in 2002 elections. Imran Khan was first elected as a member of National Assembly in 2002 from Mianwali, his hometown.
His political party, PTI supported a military coup against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as an act of Accountability against corruption and status quo that he regretted later, Imran Khan was offered a seat in Prime Minister House by Pervez Musharraf that he rejected.
Khan joined All Parties Democratic Movement in 2007 against President Musharraf and handed his resignation from Parliament as an act of protest.
He criticized Musharraf policies as a policy by PTI, his political party. Khan succeeded in gathering a historic 10,00,000 crowd at Minar-e-Pakistan in 2011, he emerged as a force to reckon with, a political danger to two strongest political powers PML-N and PPP.
His Tsunami never stopped, his Karachi gathering was massive, independent sources reported that more than 50, 0,000 people from all over Pakistan and overseas participated in Imran’s Jalsa. PTI attracted some seasonal politicians including Jahangir Tareen, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Ahmad Raza Qasuri, Javed Hashmi, and Parvez Khattak after its rebirth in 2013.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf was the second-largest political party after Pakistan Muslim League is leaving behind Pakistan People’s Party, MQM, and Jamat e Islami regarding popular votes.
His attractive personality and his determination to end corruption got him 7 Million votes. Imran Khan’s PTI with a slogan of Naya Pakistan received majority seats in 2013 general elections, enough to form a coalition government with JI and independent MP’s. Analysts believe that his Anti-American and anti-war-on-terror in tribal areas earned his party a government in KPK.
Anti-rigging Movement
His Anti-Dhandli movement is still functional in the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Election Commission of Pakistan. He has the street power no one ever had since Bhutto. The joint sit-in by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Tahir-ul-Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) lasted 126 days and ended up after a brutal massacre of students of Army Public School in Peshawar.
In 2015, Khan attempted to topple the government of Nawaz Sharif going against him in courts, election commissions, declaring him unfit as a prime minister as he is corrupt and incompetent. Khan’s movement in 2016 that is also known to be “Islamabad Lock-down Movement.” ended up in a deal with the government, as Imran Khan stated that he feared of a brutal bloodshed if he attempted to enter Islamabad.
He was house-arrested during the movement; Parvez Khattak was barred from entering Punjab as his intentions were to lock-down the city until PM’s resignation. Imran Khan’s allegations remained unproven as Supreme Court of Pakistan cleared PML-N from all the charges.
Imran Khan Marriages
Imran Khan married Jemima Goldsmith, daughter of Sir James Goldsmith and sister of Zac Goldsmith, a famous politician in London.
The marriage ceremony held in Paris on 16thMay 1995 later at Richmond Registrar Office, she converted to Islam after the wedding or possibly before the wedding. The couple divorced after nine years on 22ndJune 2004.
They have two sons, Qasim Isa and Suleiman, both are living under the custody of their mother in London and are only allowed to visit their father in Pakistan in vacations.
During his famous 126-day sit-in against the corruption of Nawaz Government, he married a British-Pakistani journalist Reham Khan in a private ceremony held in Islamabad. Reham lived in Bani Gala farm house for less than a year after Imran divorced Reham Khan on 22ndOctober 2015.
Imran Khan Stance on Taliban
Imran Khan criticized military operation in tribal areas, he supported peace talks with all the groups of Pakistani Taliban, and his stance on Taliban got him fame and support from tribal areas and religious parties of Pakistan.
He openly denounced the US so-called war-on-terror and drone strikes in Pakistan. He was often termed as “Taliban Khan” by the liberal society of Pakistan. When his political party came into power, he offered a political office for Hakimullah Mehsud in Peshawar.
Imran Khan along with many leaders faced death threats from TTP because of his assumed relations with Jewish lobby. Imran Khan once conducted a long march towards South Waziristan to protest against US-led drone strike on Pakistani soil, according to him, most of the affected masses were civilians, and the United States is committing war crimes by killing innocent civilians.
Khan had a balanced role in Saudi-Iran conflict over execution of Sheikh Nimr and the war in Jordan. After 20 long years of political struggle, Khan is getting the fruit of his hard work now, he and his established political party.
PTI is a political reality of Pakistan now. From a Playboy of London to a seasoned politician, Khan’s life is full of thrill, adventures, and hardships. 64-year old “Kaptaan” of Pakistan is still as energetic as he was 20 years ago.
Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital & Namal
Imran Khan is a renowned philanthropist, his mother died of cancer in 1985 that inspired him to open Pakistan’s first cancer hospital that came into reality in 1994.
Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital works under Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust that covers all the financial expenses of the hospital. Khan conducted a worldwide charity campaign for the hospital in Lahore that amassed around $25 Million in one year. Imran Khan also served as a sports ambassador for UNICEF for Asia especially in South Asian and Southeast Asian countries.
As an honorary Chancellor of the University of Bradford, Imran Khan launched Namal University in rather a deprived South Punjab District Mianwali. Namal offers a broad range of degrees and short Diplomas in Engineering, computer science, and language.
Imran Khan Foundation associated with its sister organization Buksh Foundation is providing renewable energy preferably solar to connect off-grid villages with the cities.
The project named ‘Lighting a million lives’ is all set to achieve its ultimate goal of lighting a million homes by 2020. Imran Khan started “Billion Tree Tsunami Project.” that includes planting a billion trees by 2018 in northern areas of Pakistan to protect the environment.
