Imran Khan

Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi, .}} (born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former cricketer who served as the 19th prime minister of Pakistan from August 2018 until April 2022. He is the founder and former chairman of the political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) from 1996 to 2023. He was the captain of the Pakistan national cricket team throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.

Born in Lahore, Khan graduated from Keble College, Oxford. He began his international cricket career in a 1971 Test series against England. Khan played until 1992, served as the team's captain intermittently between 1982 and 1992, and won the 1992 Cricket World Cup, Pakistan's only victory in the competition. Considered one of cricket's greatest all-rounders, Khan was later inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

Founding the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in 1996, Khan won a seat in the National Assembly from his hometown of Mianwali, in the 2002 general election. PTI became the second-largest party by popular vote in the 2013 election, and five years later, running on a populist platform, PTI formed a coalition government with independents with Khan as prime minister. Khan's government addressed a balance of payments crisis with bailouts from the IMF. Limiting defence spending, he presided over a shrinking current account deficit, leading to some general economic growth, helped by policies increasing tax collection and investment. His government advocated for transforming Pakistan into a welfare state, committed to a renewable energy transition, launched Ehsaas Programme and the Plant for Pakistan initiative, and expanded the protected areas of Pakistan. He presided over the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused economic turmoil and rising inflation in the country. In April 2022, during a constitutional crisis following the Lettergate affair, Khan became the first Pakistani prime minister to be removed from office through a no-confidence motion.

In October that year, on account of the Toshakhana reference case, Khan was disqualified by the Election Commission of Pakistan from taking office for one term of the National Assembly of Pakistan. In November, he survived an assassination attempt during a political rally in Wazirabad. In May 2023, Khan was arrested on corruption charges at the Islamabad High Court by paramilitary troops. Protests broke out throughout Pakistan, some of which escalated into violent riots. Khan was sentenced to a three-year jail term in August 2023 after being found guilty of misusing his premiership to buy and sell gifts in state possession. He was subsequently sentenced to ten years in prison in early 2024 for leaking state secrets and violating the Official Secrets Act in the Lettergate affair, and an additional seven years for breaching Islamic marriage laws with his wife; both of these sentences were overturned in mid-2024. Khan has since been charged on matters related to the 2023 riots and clashes between his supporters and police in September 2024. Provided by Wikipedia