Khan, Imran (Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi), 1952–, Pakistani cricketer and political leader, b. Lahore, grad. Oxford. He began playing cricket as a teenager, was on the Oxford cricket team (1973–75), then joined the Pakistan national cricket team (1976), becoming captain (1982) and leading the team to a World Cup title (1992), after which he retired. Khan founded the political party Pakistan Tehreek-e Insaf (PTI; Pakistan Justice Movement) in 1996 and was elected to the national assembly (2002–7, 2013–). An outspoken critic of government corruption and Pakistan's involvement is the U.S. “war on terror,” he has been accused of being too friendly with Pakistan's powerful military. In 2018 the PTI won a plurality of parliamentary seats, and he became prime minister of a coalition government. Khan is also a prominent philanthropist, and has written several books.
See his autobiography (1983, with P. Murphy).
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