*ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehrik-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan, the primeminister-in-waiting, has an opportunity to reshape Pakistan’s image, aleading American newspaper reported Monday.*

Imran Khan, who has more star power and mystique than any recent Pakistanileader, could use his fame and charisma to reset Pakistan’s troubledrelations with the West, said The New York Times.

Times’ correspondent Jeffrey Gettleman wrote that Imran Khan, the cricketstar and A-list celebrity whose political party won July 25 elections, hasperhaps a better chance to change the country’s narrative, adding thatPakistan has reached a turning point that could possibly alter itsdysfunctional trajectory.

“Relatively few Pakistani leaders have won over the West,” MichaelKugelman, deputy director for the South Asia Programme at the WoodrowWilson Center in Washington, was quoted as saying. “But Khan is familiarwith operating in the international world. He already has strong namerecognition. He doesn’t need to be introduced.”

The Time pointed out; “In many ways, Pakistan is a pivotal nation. It isthe world’s sixth-most populous country, with 200 million people. It isalso nuclear-armed and strategically located next to India, China, Iran andAfghanistan,”

Noting that for decades it has been cast in turmoil by suicide bombers andextremist groups, the Times said, “But many parts of the country are safertoday than they were a few years ago. New malls, new schools and new Dunkin– Donuts outlets are going up. And now Pakistan is poised to get a newglobal salesman.”

According to report, it is widely expected that if Mr Khan, 65, becomesprime minister, there will be an initial fascination with him as he toursthe world. Most likely, he’ll visit foreign capitals and business titans,seeking help to solve Pakistan’s dire debt crisis and bring in investors.He also seems to have China in mind…”

The report also referred Khan’s earlier address to the nation last week,in which he mentioned China no fewer than seven times, praising it forlifting millions out of poverty and for fighting corruption. “God willing,”he said, “we’ll learn that from China.”

Pakistan, the dispatch pointed out, is hurtling toward possible default andinsolvency, and China has already lent it billions of dollars for new roadsand railways, at discounted rates. Two days after Khan’s speech, Pakistaninewspapers reported that China would lend the incoming government $2billion more for “breathing space.”

Referring to opposition parties’ criticism of the way the elections wereconducted, the Times said, “With the competition so thoroughly evisceratedand Mr Khan genuinely popular, especially among the youth, he now wouldsurge into office with a strong national following.”

According to the latest updated results released this weekend, his partywon nearly four million more votes than its nearest competitor, the PML-N.Khan’s party commands a huge lead in the National Assembly with more than100 seats, compared with PML-N. at around 64; it also performed well inprovincial assemblies.

“Khan might be more inclined to butt heads,” Marvin Weinbaum, a scholar atthe Middle East Institute in Washington and former State Departmentintelligence analyst, was quoted as saying. “The difference with Imran isgoing to be because he’s a populist, he feels he can go further than Nawaz.”

About his views on religion, the Times pointed to his stance that that hewants to reform the madrassa system.

Citing analysts, the dispatch said there are only two issues the Westreally cares about in Pakistan: militant groups and nuclear arms. But thebiggest issue that Imran Khan will control is the economy. “This is wherehe could shine as a leader or quickly be subsumed,” it said, pointing outthat Pakistan is facing a balance of payments crisis, its currency hasrapidly devalued, its debt is soaring.”

It quoted economists as saying that the steps the next prime minister musttake are obvious were painful. “The national budget needs to be cut,Pakistanis must pay more for energy, old state-run businesses need to beprivatized and taxes – many more taxes – need to be collected,” thedispatch said.

According to the Pakistani government, last year less than one million outof Pakistan’s 200 million people paid taxes.