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Imran Khan

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

Born in Lahore, Khan graduated from Keble College, Oxford. He began his international cricket career in a 1971 Test series against England. Khan learned reverse swing bowling from Sarfraz Nawaz and passed on this technique to Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, who developed and popularised it in subsequent years. He was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1983. Khan is also credited with advancing the idea of neutral umpiring in cricket during his captaincy. Khan led Pakistan to its first-ever Test series victories in India and England during 1987. He was awarded the International Cricketer of the Year award in 1989. Playing until 1992, he captained the Pakistan national cricket team for most of the 1980s and early 1990s. He initially decided to retire after the 1987 Cricket World Cup. However, at the request of President Zia-ul-Haq, he returned to lead the team in 1988 and ultimately guided Pakistan to its first Cricket World Cup victory in 1992. In addition to achieving the All-Rounder's Triple, Khan holds the world record for the most wickets, along with the second-best bowling figures in an innings as a captain in Test cricket. Moreover, he has won the most Player of the Series awards in Test cricket for Pakistan and ranks fourth overall in Test history. Khan has often been compared to Franz Beckenbauer in terms of his popularity and influence in Pakistan. In 2009, he was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

Founding 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 inherited a balance of payments crisis and sought bailouts from the IMF. He presided over GDP growth after initial contraction, implemented austerity policies, and increased tax collection. His government committed to a renewable energy transition, launched the Ehsaas Programme, and the Plant for Pakistan initiative, and expanded the protected areas of Pakistan and Sehat Sahulat Program. The reforms and actions undertaken during his time in office were largely responsible for Pakistan's removal from the FATF greylist, though the official exit occurred shortly after his tenure. He presided over the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused economic turmoil and rising inflation in the country. In April 2022, Khan became the first Pakistani prime minister to be removed from office through a no-confidence motion.

In October that year, Khan was disqualified by the Election Commission of Pakistan for one term from assuming office in the National Assembly of Pakistan due to the Toshakhana case. In November, he survived an assassination attempt at a political rally in Wazirabad. In May 2023, Khan was attending a hearing on corruption charges when paramilitary forces stormed into the Islamabad High Court and arrested him. Protests broke out throughout Pakistan, some turning into violent riots. Subsequently, his arrest was declared illegal by the Supreme Court. In August 2023, he was sentenced to three years in prison after being convicted 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, 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, clashes between his supporters and police in September 2024, and in the Al-Qadir Trust case in January 2025, receiving a 14-year sentence. As of December 2024, court records showed that 186 cases were filed against Khan all over Pakistan. Provided by Wikipedia