Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan has applied to become the next chancellor of Britain’s prestigious Oxford University, his party said.
Khan, who was prime minister from 2018 to 2022, has completed a year in jail on various charges ranging from corruption to inciting violence. He said these charges were politically motivated and were leveled to keep him away from power.
“Imran Khan had given instructions that he wants to submit his application and now the application will be examined,” Syed Zulfiqar Bukhari, London-based spokesman for Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, told AFP.
He said: “It is a ceremonial post but one of great prestige and importance and Imran Khan is one of the bigger and more popular names to come out of Oxford so it would be fantastic to see him as Chancellor.”
Hong Kong’s last British governor, the Conservative Party’s Chris Patten, announced in February that he was resigning as Oxford’s chancellor.
According to the university’s website, the list of candidates for the 10-year term won’t be made public until October, and voting will take place at the end of the month.
Khan graduated from Oxford in 1975 after studying philosophy, politics and economics.
During his career as one of Pakistan’s greatest cricketers he adopted a playboy lifestyle, and regularly graced the pages of Britain’s gossip magazines.
He married three times, including to British socialite and film producer Jemima Goldsmith, later turning to philanthropy and politics.
While serving as Prime Minister, he faced severe criticism from women’s rights groups for linking Pakistan’s high rate of sexual violence to women’s clothing.
Khan was ousted from office in 2022 and then launched a comeback campaign in which he criticised Pakistan’s powerful military, whose leading generals had once backed him, and drew huge crowds to the country’s streets.
“If he becomes chancellor, he will be the first person of Asian origin. It will be a great achievement not only for Pakistan but for the whole of Asia and the rest of the world,” Bukhari said.
Other prominent applicants and Oxford alumni include former Foreign Secretary William Hague and former EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, according to British media reports.
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