ISLAMABAD – Jordan’s Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center has namedPrime Minister Imran Khan as its ‘Man of the Year’ in its recent list ofthe most persuasive Muslims in the world, Arab News reported on Tuesday.
The center is an autonomous research entity with the Royal Aal Al-BaytInstitute for Islamic Thought in Jordan.
“If The Muslim 500 was in print back in 1992 and I was the Chief Editorthen, I would have nominated Imran Khan as our Muslim Man of the Yearbecause of his brilliant performance in cricket, which culminated inPakistan winning the 1992 Cricket World Cup — a sport I have always admiredfor its combination of elegance and intense competitive play,” saidProfessor S Abdullah Schleifer, a Professor Emeritus of Journalism at theAmerican University in Cairo, who chose Imran Khan winner of the title.
Schleifer was quick to add that Khan’s role in cricket was not the onlycriterion for him being bestowed with the title.
He said he was also impressed by Khan’s launching of a successfulfund-raising campaign to build a hospital devoted to both the care ofcancer victims and its research.
“This was his magnificent response to the loss of his mother to cancer in1985 and given Khan’s extraordinary popularity with Pakistanis both at homeas well as among the large number of Pakistani expats – along with his own,no doubt, generous personal contribution — he raised sufficient funds sothat by 1994, the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital opened its doorsin Lahore whereby 75 percent of its patients receive treatment free ofcost,” he added.
However, it was PM Khan’s desire for peace with neighbouring India whichearned him the title, Schleifer said.
Khan assumed the office of Prime Minister of Pakistan last year afterdevoting 22 years of his life to building an opposition political partythat was committed to reforming and confronting Pakistan’s civilianpolitical establishment over the issue of embedded corruption andmismanagement, he added.
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This and his other accomplishments, professor Schleifer said, were detailedin the biography that accompanies his ranking (Number 16) in the latestedition of The Muslim 500.
“But what is particularly to his credit is that upon taking office inAugust 2018, Khan made it quite clear that one of his top priorities was towork for lasting peace with India,” he said.
In his first televised speech as the premier of the country, Khan addressednot just the people of Pakistan and the world, but India in particular. Atthat time, he’d said that Pakistan wanted lasting peace with India and “Ifit takes one step forward, we will take two.”
A meeting between the foreign ministers of both the countries was arrangedon the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September 2018, but Indiacancelled the meeting, Arab news report said.
“Khan says that while all his efforts to start a dialogue were rebuffed byIndia, he and his cabinet assumed that Modi’s increasingly hard-linedpositions and his rhetoric against Pakistan were aimed at whipping up anationalist frenzy among the Indian voters with an eye on the Indianelections,” Schleifer said.
“This is Imran Khan’s great dilemma— how do you make a much desired lastingpeace with a nation governed by those who have neither interest nor need tomake a lasting peace with Pakistan, and against whom any form of war wouldbe hopeless,” he concluded.
