Since he formed his Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Insaf, or Movement for Justice, party in 1996, Khan has remained, at best, one of Pakistani politics’ favourite eccentrics, an obscure backbencher who was never even considered among the country’s top 50 politicians. But on Thursday, as unofficial results trickled in from Pakistan’s thousands of polling stations, it was
clear that the cricket hero is now a bat’s swing away from becoming the Islamic republic’s 19th prime minister.
His political turnaround is as staggeringly radical as his personal one.
Khan, now 65, grew up in an upper-middle class household in Lahore and was educated at Aitchison College, considered the Pakistani equivalent of Eton, before being sent to England to study at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe, and then to Oxford to read philosophy, politics and economics.
As he rose to become a cricketing star, he also became renowned as a playboy prince who rode around in swanky sports cars, romanced debutantes like Lady Liza Cambell and Susannah Constantine and frequented topless nightclubs like Stringfellow’s on London’s West End.
But in 1995, after marrying the British heiress Jemima Goldsmith, Khan swapped this lifestyle for the bearpit of Pakistani politics, using his political party to fight what he saw as the endemic corruption of Pakistan’s old-style dynasties.
He has since switched his upper-class Western clothes for a mostly white shalwar kameez, the uniform of ordinaray Pakistanis, and in several interviews speaks of a turn to religion partly inspired by the work of Pakistan’s national poet and philosopher, Muhammad Iqbal.
That renewed faith has translated into conservative positions on many rights issues, from criticism of women who took part in a mixed marathon in 2006 to, more recently, Khan’s
support of a draconian blasphemy law that has provoked at least 69 vigilante murders since 1990. In the past, Khan has voted in alliance with Islamists and throughout his political career has followed the lead of ultra-conservative politicians on key policy issues such as lambasting Pakistan’s role in the US-led war on terror and opposing operations against militants in Pakistan’s restive tribal areas.
But his appeal as an anti-corruption crusader and philanthropist who built Pakistan’s best cancer hospital and his unabashed use of religion and anti-American sentiment for populist gains saw his star rise, albeit very slowly, until 2013 when he made his first real political mark and took enough seats to secure control of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Compromise for your dream but never compromise on your dream,” Khan once said in an interview. He seems to have taken his own advice in this election cycle with allegations rife that he worked with the military to secure Wednesday’s vote. Both deny the accusation.
His now ex-wife Jemima Goldsmith tweeted on Thursday congratulations and perhaps a veiled warning: “22 years later, after humiliations, hurdles and sacrifices, my sons’ father is Pakistan’s next PM,” she wrote. “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
