Book & Author
Imran Khan: Pakistan — A Personal History
By Dr Ahmed S. Khan
“I am convinced the moment the next elections are announced, a 'soft revolution' will explode on our political horizon and sweep away the corrupt status quo from Pakistan once and for all.”
"At the moment, we have a ruling class that has one law and the people another."
"Never give up, no matter how hard life gets, no matter how much pain you feel. Pain will eventually subside; nothing remains forever, so keep going and don't give up."
"Faith without wisdom and knowledge could produce bigots completely lacking in compassion and tolerance." — Imran Khan
On March 28, 2025, Imran Khan, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for the second time by the Norwegian political party Partiet Sentrum. Indeed, this nomination is a great honor for Pakistan and all Pakistanis. Announcing the nomination on X, Partiet Sentrum stated, ‘We are pleased to announce, on behalf of Partiet Sentrum and in alliance with an individual eligible to nominate, that Mr Imran Khan, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his contributions to human rights and democracy in Pakistan.’
Earlier in 2019, Khan was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to promote peace in South Asia. The present nomination underscores Khan’s decades-long struggle to establish the rule of law, uphold human rights, and promote democratic governance in Pakistan. Over the past two years, despite suffering from multiple ailments, Imran Khan has been imprisoned in harsh conditions by the military junta on what are widely regarded as fictitious charges.
Imran Khan has maintained that Pakistan's military generals conspired to remove him from power due to disagreements over his policies and governance style. He has claimed that his independent foreign policy, particularly his visit to Moscow (to get cheap oil for the poor masses) on the day Russia invaded Ukraine, angered both the United States and certain military leaders.
Like 1971, Pakistani generals’ egoistic and myopic policies are pushing the country into economic and political chaos. When Imran Khan is released (hope sanity prevails among senior military leadership) and takes the oath of PM as the most popular leader of Pakistan – it would signal the end of seven decades of de facto brutal military rule — that has damaged the country in political and economic domains stunting its growth and potential. Imran Khan entered politics to change the state and status of Pakistan’s struggling masses.
Over the last decade, Imran Khan and Donald Trump have emerged as the most popular leaders not only in Pakistan and the United States but all over the world. The two popular leaders have many similarities: Both have served as head of state, both are anti-establishment, both are very vocal about their views and opinions, both have been implicated in numerous trials and are fighting legal battles, both claim that charges against them are politically motivated, both have very loyal supporters, both maintain a very strong political following, both are anti-war and prefer butter in “Guns vs. Butter” debate, and both have survived assassination attempts. The only difference between them is that Trump lives in a country with rule of law, and he has won the 2024 elections with a clear majority, and took the oath of office on January 20, 2024; whereas Imran Khan — the clear winner (72% of votes) of the February 8, 2024, elections — suffering from multiple ailments, is in solitary confinement on trumped-up charges, in Pakistan, a country run by Generals rather than the constitution of Pakistan. Both leaders’ situations exhibit the complex interplay between the centers of political and military power. Their stories continue to evolve, reflecting the broader challenges within their respective establishments. Many political analysts believe that any attempts to harm them or unfairly curb their political power can trigger bloody civil wars in both countries.
Imran Khan has a 10-point road map for Pakistan’s progress and development: 1. Increasing the Tax Base to increase revenue. 2. Boosting Exports to bring in more foreign exchange. 3. Promoting good governance via reforms to improve efficiency and reduce corrupion. 4. Gaining support from the diaspora by offering incentives to invest in Pakistan. 5. Promoting industrial growth to create new jobs and boost the economy. 6. Enhancing Agricultural development via modern techniques and support for farmers. 7. Implementing energy sector reforms to address energy shortage and enhancing energy sector. 8. Investing in Education and Health to develop a skilled and healthy workforce. 9. Building and upgrading infrastructure to support economic activities. And 10. Implementing social welfare programs to support the underprivileged.
Imran Khan in Pakistan: A Personal History has juxtaposed his personal trials and tribulations in professional and political arenas with Pakistan’s history and global events. Imran Khan narrates an array of events: End of British Raj in India resulting in the creation of Pakistan, 1965 and 1971 wars with India, the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, 9/11 attacks, and American war in Afghanistan and its spill-over impact on Pakistan, and the doings of corrupt elite. Imran Khan — a global icon of excellence in Cricket and Philanthropy — has unique credentials to tell his personal and country’s story to the Western audience.
Imran Khan has dedicated the book to his sons Sulaiman and Kasim, and the youth of Pakistan. In addition to a prologue and an epilogue, the book has ten chapters: 1. Can I Still Play Cricket in Heaven? (1947-1979), 2. Revolution, 1979-1987, 3. Death, and Pakistan’s Spiritual Life, 1987-1989, 4. Our Failed Democracy, 1988-1993, 5. ‘Angels’ in Disguise: Building a Hospital, 1984-1995, 6. My Marriage, 1995-2004, 7. The General, 1999-2001, 8. Pakistan since 9/11, 9. The Tribal Areas: Civil War? My Solution, and 10. Rediscovering Iqbal: Pakistan’s Symbol and a Template for Our Future.
The author in the prologue titled “A Coalition of the Crooked, November 2007,” referring to his encounter with a students’ group aligned with the Generals, observes: “Blank Faces. Faces With No Expressions. That's What I remember. About twenty of them had surrounded me and a few were pushing me. I asked them, 'What is it you want? Do you know what you are doing?' I could see some had pistols. Beyond the locked gates of the courtyard, people were shoving and shouting. More crowds of students peered down at me from the windows of the floors that ran round the quadrangle as they tried to see what was happening. I was furious. My political party, Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice), was allied to this group, as the students that had surrounded me were in the Islamic Jamiat-e-Tuleba (IJT), the students' wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan's oldest and most organized religious party. Both Jamaat-e-Islami and Tehreek-e-Insaf were part of the All-Parties Democratic Movement campaigning for an end to General Pervez Musharraf's military dictatorship and the restoration of Pakistan's chief justice. Yet these students were working for a dictator who had issued orders to arrest me and behaving just like a gang of street thugs. Although I had heard tales about the IJT, I had not fully realized the kind of people they were. Everyone on the university campus is scared of them. Once known for their ideological views and great discipline, they appear to have degenerated into a kind of mafia or fascist group operating inside the university, bearing guns and beating people up. They stifle debate in an educational establishment that has in its time produced two Nobel laureates — the University of the Punjab was established in the late nineteenth century by the British, in the country's second city, Lahore. No government dares tackle them, ordinary students at the university are petrified of them and even the party they belong to, the Jamaat-e-Islami, does not seem to be able to control them. Much later I heard the Jamiat activists had been paid large sums of money to turn on me — allegedly by the government.” In the prologue Imran Khan also describes the details of his harsh imprisonment by General Musharaf. But that was a cakewalk compared to the Generals’ current barbaric ‘Morsi-script’ treatment of him in the dungeons of Adiala jail!
In the Chapter titled “Rediscovering Iqbal: Pakistan’s future,” Imran Khan observes: “The decay and decline in Islamic intellectual thought, according to Iqbal, set in five hundred years ago when the door to ijtihad, a scholarly debate on our religion and its traditions, was closed. The Qur’anic principles — which for Muslims are eternal principles — needed constantly to be reinterpreted in light of new knowledge…Iqbal pointed out in his sixth lecture — of his outstanding Lectures on the Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam — that in the modern period things had changed ‘and the world of Islam is today confronted and affected by new forces set free by the extraordinary development of human thought in all its directions…The claim of the present generation of Muslim liberals to re-interpret the foundational legal principles, in light of their own experience and altered conditions of modern life, in my opinion, are perfectly justified. The teaching of the Qur’an that life is a process of progressive creation necessitates that each generation, guided but unhampered by the work of its predecessors, should be permitted to solve its own problems.’”
In the epilogue, discussing the problems faced by Pakistan, Imran Khan states: “Pakistan has one of the lowest tax collection rates in the world with a tax-to-GDP ratio of about 9 per cent — only about 2.5 million are registered to pay tax, representing less than 2 percent of the population. The country relies instead on sales tax, which of course everybody pays at the same rate, regardless of income. The poor effectively subsidize the rich, and the powerful do everything they can to maintain this injustice. Our politicians are some of the worst culprits. A survey found 61 per cent of Pakistani parliamentarians pay no tax at all. According to his 2009/2010 tax returns, the billionaire Nawaz Sharif paid income tax of 5,000 rupees (about US$60), while Zardari paid nothing at all. Rich landowners also participate in this ruthless exploitation of the poor; agriculture is untaxed, despite the industry employing almost half the population. Five per cent of the farmers own 37 per cent of the land, yet they pay no income tax. So, the United States, by giving the Pakistani government aid in return for its contribution to the 'war on terror', is simply propping up this appalling system. Why should the Pakistani rich bother to pay taxes when foreign loans and aid money are always there to cover up their incompetence and corruption and pay for their lavish lifestyle? And why should politicians bother to fix the economy when they can artificially maintain it with American dollars?”
Continuing his narration of the problems faced by Pakistan, Imran Khan notes: “Every day the newspapers are filled with reports of people killing themselves and sometimes their families because of desperation over how to make ends meet. Thirty-four thousand innocent people have been killed since 2003, millions have been displaced by fighting and we are facing civil war in the tribal areas and a rising insurgency in Baluchistan. The country today faces unprecedented unemployment, inflation, breakdowns in infrastructure, shortages of gas and power, and lawlessness. The war has been a disaster for the people but made the powerful richer. Our capital is like a city under siege, its people subject to routine security checks as if every Pakistani is a potential terrorist, a situation the police often make use of to extract bribes. Capital is pouring out of the country. A fortune is spent on the security of politicians, to the detriment of the rest of the population. In Punjab, almost half of a 900-strong elite police force is deployed to protect the Sharif family, while 64 per cent of all police in the capital are on VIP duty.”
Expounding on the foreign policy, Imran Khan observes: “Our foreign policy has to be sovereign and needs to be reviewed with all our neighbors — especially India. All our disputes with India should be settled through political dialogue…The US should be made to understand that it is in their interests to back a sovereign democratic government in Pakistan.”
Envisioning the future, Imran Khan states: “The way forward has to be for this puppet government to resign, as it has failed on every front. Then, under the auspices of the Supreme Court, free and fair elections should be held. Only free and fair elections will bring in a credible sovereign government that represents the aspirations of the people of Pakistan…I am convinced the moment the next elections are announced, a 'soft revolution' will explode on our political horizon and sweep away the corrupt status quo from Pakistan once and for all.”
Pakistan — A Personal History , is an interesting book that provides personal history and political and economic philosophies of a great leader — Imran Khan. The book is essential reading for all.
(Dr Ahmed S. Khan — dr.a.s.khan@ieee.org — is a Fulbright Specialist Scholar)
