Former Key Player of Pakistan cricket team turned politician, Imran Khan is the founding chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan from 18 August 2018 to 11 April 2022. He is current serving as chairman of Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf which is political party was founded in 1996.
Imran khan political career in Pakistan
1. Khan entered the country’s politics in the late 1990s and was an opponent of traditional parties and their leaders calling them corrupt and ineffective.
2. In 1997 he was arrested for participating the political riots in Lahore and was release on bail.
3. The following year in 2002 he was able to successfully contest for the seat in the National Assembly of Pakistan albeit in a party that did not secure enough parliamentary majority for the party to form a government.
4. PTI come into the second largest party in the national assembly after a very successful political campaign in 2013 but again it failed to capture the governments.
5. In the recent general elections held in 2018, PTI got a clear majority in the National Assembly and Imran Khan took oath as the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
After effects of Imran Khan’s political career:
1. Economic challenges: The PPCB blamed the government headed by Mian Nawaz Sharif for having inherited a bad economy such as a balance of payment crisis, ever rising inflation and a high unemployment rate. IMF increased measures for the difficult competency of austerity measures as well as a tax reform, an approach that was not welcomed by the opposition or some of its supporters.
2. Domestic and foreign policy: Khan’s government was more actively pursuing an independent foreign policy and wanted to improve relations with Iran, Russia and China neighbors, and the diplomatic coldness remained with India over the issue of Kashmir. At home, he tightened his government’s efforts on education, health as well as eradicating corruption in the governance system.
3. Ouster and political opposition: Khan’s government experienced more political pressure with call for protest and dismiss Khan through a no-confidence motion in April 2022. The motion of no-confidence came at the center of controversy with the prime minister claiming that the opposition parties together with certain foreign powers intended to oust him.
4. PTI’s continuous struggle: Even after his ouster from office, Khan’s PTI staged and incited the demonstrators demanding very early election. It was actively involved in the floods that ravaged Pakistan in the last week of march in 2023 by helping with the floods relief and offering to condemn the government’s response to the natural disaster.
5. Political future: Until March this year, Imran Khan has continued to play an active role in the politics of Pakistan. He has said that he will remain active as a political figure and that he will reinstate the PTI government through fresh elections. The future of his political career and the role that he will play in the future politics of Pakistan will therefore depend on factors that include; His effectiveness in handling the party and paving way for its electoral success again, The politics of other parties in the system and the government in particular.