'We need a leader'

Cricketer turned politician Imran Khan says crisis-hit Pakistan desperately needs strong leadership to stop it plunging into the financial abyss.

In an interview with Emirates Business, the 56-year-old sporting legend claimed that despite the country's recent elections, which saw the Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) take power, the nation had gone through an "institutional collapse".

Khan, who was in the UAE to attend a cricketing dinner, said: "We are facing many crises in Pakistan – financial, judicial and social – and we need a strong leader right now.

"Unfortunately, we do not have one. In cricket, when there is a crisis, that's when you need a captain. It's the same thing in a country."

Khan's comments come as Pakistan confronts the toughest challenges in the country's 61-year history. Financial analysts estimate it needs $15 billion (Dh55bn) over the next 24 months to stabilise the economy that took a battering after the rupee went into freefall.

Security concerns stemming from the nation's role in the "war on terror" have created great instability and led to a decline in FDI from a height of $8bn to $3.5bn for the current fiscal year.

It has also forced a massive capital flight to the Gulf leaving the country with a gaping trade deficit and soaring inflation. For the first time in years, it may have to seek external funding to support its balance of payments.

However, despite the gloomy outlook, Oxford University-educated Khan remains optimistic and believes this could be a turning point for the nation. He said: "I always feel a crisis is an opportunity – an opportunity to change.

"We're going into a situation where, for the first time, most Pakistanis are unhappy with the way the country is run, there is a great opportunity to change our system and institutionalise the country."

His comments made a thinly disguised broadside at the ruling PPP. They received the popular mandate in an election in February after nine years of military rule under General Pervez Musharraf. The nation's current President, Asif Ali Zardari, is the widower of former Pakistan PM Benazir Bhutto. She returned to the country last year to fight elections after a self-imposed nine-year exile in Dubai. But her hopes of leading the nation again were ended when she was assassinated days before the poll at a political rally. Bhutto enjoyed the popular support in the country, where she was idolised as a hero of the people. And Khan, who was similarly put on a pedestal by the public during his playing days, now believes he is the right man to lead the country.

He said: "What Pakistan is going through is a down cycle, but being an optimist, I see it as a great opportunity to change. What I'm hoping for is when elections take place next year my party will form government."

However, despite his claims this is one battle that Khan, who led Pakistan to victory in the 1992 World Cup, is unlikely to win. The divorced father-of two – who was married to English socialite Jemima Goldsmith for nine years – is chairman of Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice), a party that has been nothing but marginal since he founded it 12 years ago.

He won a seat in the National Assembly in 2002, but lost it when he refused to run in February's general election because he believed a fair and free democracy in Pakistan was "impossible".

In 2002, Tehreek-e-Insaf garnered less than one per cent of the popular vote and Khan's political ambitions are repeatedly mocked in his home country. The fact the PPP won power less than a year ago and yet Khan talks of elections next year, only add to the cynicism. But if his aim is to win hearts and minds, his philanthropic activities, including the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital he established in memory of his mother who died of cancer, are doing exactly that. The facility opened its doors in Lahore in 1994 following fundraising efforts from Khan and his celebrity friends – including the late Princess Diana – is the biggest charitable institution in Pakistan, spending one billion rupees every year treating cancer patients.

"We are the only private cancer hospital anywhere in the world that treats 75 per cent of patients for free," Khan, who revealed he was already building a second centre in Karachi, said proudly. In Mianwali, Punjab, he has also recently opened the Namal College, a technical school associated with England's Bradford University, which will see 50 per cent of its entry places going to underprivileged students on scholarships. And in various cities around the country, "because inflation has destroyed the lower strata of society", he has opened 'sasta tandoors', cheap bakeries that sell roti and naan at heavily subsidised prices.

So with the UAE population consisting of a large Pakistani contingency, did he intend using his time in the UAE to gather donations – and voters? "Not really," he said. "The real battle is in Pakistan right now – although the overseas Pakistanis are my biggest supporters, especially in Europe and the United States.

"They understand what I am talking about when I say I want to fight for a genuine democratic system in the country and an independent judiciary. I do get a lot of support from them, but still, basically, the fight is in Pakistan."



Just not cricket

Khan, who attended the HSBC Cricketing Legends dinner at Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai this week, admitted he was "more worried about Pakistan than Pakistan cricket right now".

But he added that if people focus on strengthening stability in the country – then cricket will look after itself. Khan said: "Cricket is a reflection of what is happening in the country."

Strife in Pakistan, he continued, was hurting the country's team. The national side has, of late, lost several major players to rebel leagues and doping controversies. Last month's Champions Trophy– to be played in Pakistan– was postponed on security grounds and the country's cricket board dismissed coach Geoff Lawson for non-performance earlier this month. The West Indies also recently refused to visit for a two-Test series. Khan, who will have left the UAE by the time his nation face the West Indies in a One Day International in Abu Dhabi next week, added: "The state of the team and the game in Pakistan is just mirroring the institutional collapse in the nation."

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