Imran confident of becoming premier
›
Public is demanding accountability of corrupt leaders of political parties... Each time there is an attempt to hold them accountable, they all get together and start saying its antidemocratic
IMRAN KHAN, Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf chairman
LAHORE: Pakistani cricket legend Imran Khan said he was “quietly confident” of victory in a general election this month and that as prime minister, he would drive an anti-corruption and anti-poverty campaign in the nation.
The 65-year-old opposition leader also dismissed allegations that the powerful military was working behind the scenes to favour his campaign for the poll.
Khan is campaigning hard on populist promises of a prosperous Pakistan that breaks away from its persistent legacy of corruption, even as he expands appeals to nationalist and religious sentiment in the nation.
As prime minister, he says he will partially model his anti-corruption campaign and poverty reduction programmes on China, Pakistan’s traditional ally that has financed billions of dollars of infrastructure projects.
“What Pakistan has to do is follow China’s example where they
lift people out of poverty,” Khan said in the interview in a private jet after a night of campaigning in Punjab province. “And actually we have meetings with the Chinese on all the steps they took to reduce poverty.”
A victory for Khan’s opposition party would mark a new political direction for Pakistan, which has been dominated by two parties - PML-N and the Pakistan People’s Party.
More than 20 years after Khan founded the Pakistan Tehreek-einsaf, the man still revered by many as captain of Pakistan’s 1992 World Cup-winning cricket team, feels the stars have finally aligned for him.
In recent years, he has mostly shed the playboy image of his younger days, marrying his spiritual adviser and making public shows of devotion to Islam.
Khan’s party has pulled ahead of others in one opinion poll and he said of his chances in the election: “I’m quietly confident that this time we’ll do it. I am hopeful, I am confident, but still, the match is not over until the last ball is bowled.”