Qadir to Qadri, Imran Khan changes partner yet again

From being famous as a Casanova cricketer to doing some serious politics, Imran Khan has changed partners - both on and off the field - all this while quite often.

The legendary bowler, who dominated international cricket for nearly two decades, had switched over to politics hoping to ride on a wave of immense popularity he earned by leading the Pakistani side to its only World Cup victory in 1992.

But launching Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice) party in April 1996 could not do much as Imran might have had expected. The 61-year-old leader was looking for a threshold that could propel his political career to Pakistan’s corridors of power.

Imran had the company of world’s some of the best players, including Wasim Akram, Javed Miandad, Waqar Younis and Abdul Qadir in his campaign as a cricket captain across the globe. The legendary spinner, Qadir, helped Imran win many matches.

Circumstances forced Imran to sacrifice his nine-year-long marital life with Jemima Goldsmith, a British citizen by birth, in 2004, but Imran still failed to make much political gains.

Probably, the PTI leader lacked a winning combination in his political sojourn, as he had in his days of cricket. A couple of failed electoral campaigns, it seems, forced Imran to do something different.

Then happened the twin attacks on the Nawaz Sharif government this summer. Suddenly, PTI and Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) started hogging the limelight.

Tahir-ul-Qadri and Imran Khan

Though there was no declared pact between Imran and his apparent partner Qadri, their parties launched a two-pronged attack on the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government.

PTI and PAT simultaneously took up the Azadi March and Inquilab March respectively, aimed at uprooting the comparatively stable civilian government in Pakistan. The two parties’ sit-ins also started almost simultaneously in Islamabad.

Supporters of both the parties barged into the government-controlled broadcaster Pakistan Television (PTV), halting its programmes for some time and their respective leaders again almost simultaneously denied participation of PAT or PTI.

Some accused army chief General Raheel Sharif of being the architect of the agitation, which has been continuing since August 14, the day Pakistan was observing its 67th Independence Day. As the name might suggest, but Gen Sharif is not related to PM Sharif.

Pakistan Army as well as the parties concerned have vehemently challenged such reports, denying any underhand deal.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s National Assembly stood firmly by the embattled prime minister, terming the acts of PTI and PAT as “unconstitutional” and “undemocratic”.

It remains to be seen if Qadri would be able to help Imran realise his dream for power by destabilising the Sharif government as the first step.