| Imran Khan
Political career
A few years after the end of his professional career as a cricketer, Khan entered electoral politics while admitting that he had never voted in an election before running for office himself.[17] His political foray was influenced by Lieutenant General Hamid Gul, the former Pakistani intelligence chief famous for fueling the Taliban's rise in Afghanistan and for his anti-American viewpoint.[18] In 1996, Khan founded his own political party called the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) with a proposed slogan and vision of "Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem."[4]
Khan and members of his party were universally defeated at the polls in the 1997 general elections, during which the Pakistani press claimed that Khan's campaign was financed by a £5 million contribution from his father-in-law at the time, Sir James Goldsmith.[19][20] Khan denied this alleged news. Five years later, in the legislative elections held on October 20, 2002, the party won 0.8% of the popular vote and one out of 272 open seats. The only member of PTI to be elected was Khan himself, who ran from the small constituency of Mianwali. As an MP, Khan was part of two National Assembly committees: Standing Committee on Kashmir and the Standing Committee on Public Accounts. His stated areas of legislative interest were Foreign Affairs, Education and Justice.[21]
In June 2007, the federal Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr. Sher Afghan Khan Niazi and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) party filed separate ineligibility references against Khan, asking for his disqualification as member of the National Assembly on grounds of immorality. Both references, filed on the basis of articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, were rejected on September 5. The presiding judge declared, "As the detailed judgement is placed on record, the short order is in favor of the respondent."[22]
On October 2, 2007, Khan joined 85 other MPs to resign from Parliament in protest of the Presidential election scheduled for October 6. The president of Pakistan is elected by members of the National Assembly, and many in this legislative branch, such as Khan, contended that General Musharraf's bid to seek re-election in the presidential poll while retaining the post of army chief was illegal and unconstitutional. |