How Pakistan's New PM, Imran, Is Settling Down At The Helm

Imran Khan has to fix a faltering economy. Drawing India within the ambit of the CPEC might be a good start.

- Pranay Sharma

A spectacularly moth-eaten superstructure can inspire only the doughtiest of architects tasked to fix it. A looming economic crisis that may force Pakistan to arrive, cap in hand, at the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) door to beg for yet another bailout is hardly the ideal atmosphere for a new prime minister to take charge of a nation’s affairs. In a nation that is already beset with a complex variety of problems, the job at hand for the new leader becomes more onerous.

Yet, when icon-turned-politician Imran Khan takes over as prime minister on August 18, the people of Pakistan and beyond would like to witness the beginning of a promised journey—a transformation of the world’s second largest Islamic nation into a model welfare state.

Though he comes from an elite Pashtun family from Punjab’s capital, Lahore, Imran has not trodden the usual political ground of his contemporaries. He is completely self-made. He arrived at the crease with characteristic style—as a cricketing icon in a country where the game is followed with fervid passion, he has always drawn large crowds and hogged media attention. However, his entry into politics was regarded with scepticism by Pakistani political observers. Though he started dabbling in politics nearly 20 years ago, with the launch of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), few Pakistanis took him seriously, barring the enthusiastic brigade of disillusioned urban youths eager for change.