Meet Imran Khan, Pakistan's likely next prime minister who was his country's biggest sports star, a notorious playboy, and married his 3rd wife before ever seeing her face
This is Imran Khan, the 65-year-old leader of Pakistan's Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) political party. The party, whose name means "Movement for Justice" in Urdu, is poised to win more seats than other parties in the Pakistani parliament, which would effectively make Khan the next Prime Minister.
He grew up in Lahore, Pakistan's capital, before going to Oxford University. There he enrolled in the prestigious Philosophy, Politics, and Economics course, which was studies by other world leaders like Britain's David Cameron, Australia's Tony Abbott, Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi, and Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto.
However, Khan was known less for his academics than his sportsmanship. He made his debut for Pakistan's national cricket team in 1971, aged 18.
Source: Daily Pakistan
Upon leaving university he joined its national cricket team permanently, where he played from 1976 to 1992. Pakistan won the Cricket World Cup in 1992 with Khan as captain.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s Khan still spent much of his time in London, where he garnered a reputation as a party animal and playboy.
Source: The Daily Mail
The model Marie Helvin reportedly said: "Everyone falls for Imran. He has a scent that is very attractive to women."
Source: The Daily Mail
He frequently visited exclusive London nightclubs like Tramp and Annabel's, according to British media. He has reportedly described Tramp as his "living room."
Source: The Daily Mail, The Times
Khan, however, has painted a more wholesome picture of his time as a bachelor in London. Here's how he described it: "All my friends were free at weekends so we would laze about together, reading the papers."
Source: The Telegraph
Goldsmith converted to Islam, moved to Pakistan, learned Urdu, and had two sons with the cricketer before they divorced in 2004. They appeared to part on good terms, with Khan saying in 2011 that he stayed at Goldsmith's mother's house in south London whenever he visited.
Source: The Telegraph
Meanwhile, his political career was also blossoming. In 1996 Khan founded the Tehreek-e-Insaf. The party has vowed to end poverty, decrease spending, stand up for religious minorities, and support an independent judiciary.
Source: Khaleej Times, Times of Islamabad, Press Association, Dawn
Khan ran for parliament in 1997 but didn't win. He won his first seat — the only one for PTI — in the 2002 general elections.
During this time Khan was also a philanthropist in Pakistan, setting up multiple hospitals, a technical college, and a foundation aimed at assisting the needy. In 1996, Princess Diana visited Pakistan to help him raise funds for a hospital.
Source: Daily Pakistan
He has appeared to keep his links to the British Royal Family since moving away from the UK. Here he is with Prince Charles and his second wife, Camilla, at a charity event in 2013.
In 2015, Khan married Reham Nayyar Khan, a British-Pakistani journalist who worked as a weather presenter for the BBC. Their marriage ended in divorce ten months later.
Khan's second marriage appeared to be a rocky one. Earlier this year Reham accused Imran of cheating, and Imran said marrying Reham was the "biggest" mistake of his life.
Source: The Times, The Mail on Sunday
Earlier this month she also published a tell-all book, in which she accused the cricketer-turned-politician of fathering more than five children out of wedlock and doing hard drugs, and suggested that he was bisexual. He appears not to have responded directly to the claims.
Source: Firstpost, The Mail on Sunday
Fast forward to July 2018, where Khan's PTI party appears dominant in the country's parliamentary elections. Goldsmith, Khan's first wife, tweeted: "My sons' father is Pakistan's next PM."
Goldsmith added in a since-deleted tweet: "I remember IK's 1st election in 1997- untested, idealistic & politically naive. I waited up for the call in LHR with 3 mo old Sulaiman, who I had lugged around the country.
"Eventually he called. 'It's a clean sweep' & after my gasp, '… the other way.' He roared with laughter."
22 years later, after humiliations, hurdles and sacrifices, my sons’ father is Pakistan’s next PM. It’s an incredible lesson in tenacity, belief & refusal to accept defeat. The challenge now is to remember why he entered politics in the 1st place. Congratulations @ImranKhanPTI
— Jemima Goldsmith (@Jemima_Khan) July 26, 2018But it looks like Khan's ascent to power won't be easy: All his opponents in major parties have rejected the result and claimed the votes were rigged by the military and electoral commission, saying that the military had even been forbidding people from casting their ballots.
Mir Hasil Khan Bezinjo, the president of Pakistan's National Party, told The Guardian: "The country has become a laughing stock globally because the final election results are still withheld and Army has decided the candidates not the masses."
Source: The Guardian
Meanwhile, the electoral commission has denied any wrongdoing in its delay in announcing the results. Its spokesman said there had been "no conspiracy, nor any pressure" in the delay, blaming it on a technical failure.
Electoral Commission secretary Babar Yaqoob said, according to The Guardian: "The delay is being caused because the result transmission system has collapsed."
On the day of the vote, a suicide bomber also killed 31 people outside a voting booth in Quetta, a northwestern city near the Afghan border. ISIS has claimed responsibility. Khan condemned the attack, adding: "Pakistanis must defeat the terrorists' design by coming out in strength to cast their vote."
Khan declared victory on Thursday. "I have been struggling for 22 years," he said in televised remarks, as cited by local media. It's not yet clear when the official results will come out.
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