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Imran Khan Niazi:
(born 25 November 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former Pakistani cricketer, playing international cricket for two decades in the late twentieth century and being a politician since the mid-1990s. Currently, besides his political activism, Khan is also a philanthropist, cricket commentator and Chancellor of the University of Bradford.
Khan played for the Pakistani cricket team from 1971 to 1992 and served as its captain intermittently throughout 1982-1992. After retiring from cricket at the end of the 1987 World Cup, he was called back to join the team in 1988. At 39, Khan led his teammates to Pakistan’s first and only World Cup victory in 1992. He has a record of 3807 runs and 362 wickets in Test cricket, making him one of eight world cricketers to have achieved an ‘All-rounder’s Triple’ in Test matches. On 14 July 2010, Khan was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
In April 1996, Khan founded and became the chairman of a political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice). He represented Mianwali as a member of the National Assembly from November 2002 to October 2007. Khan, through worldwide fundraising, helped establish the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre in 1996 and Mianwali’s Namal College in 2008.
Family, education, and personal life
Imran Khan was born to Shaukat Khanum (Burki)[ and Ikramullah Khan Niazi, a civil engineer, in Lahore. A quiet and shy boy in his youth, Khan grew up in a middle-class Niazi Pathan family with four sisters. Settled in Punjab, Khan’s father descended from the Pashtun (Pathan) Niazi Shermankhel tribe of Mianwali in Punjab. Imran’s Mother Shaukat Khanum (Burki’s) family includes successful hockey players and cricketers such as Javed Burki and Majid Khan. Khan was educated at Aitchison College, the Cathedral School in Lahore, and the Royal Grammar School Worcester in England, where he excelled at cricket. In 1972, he enrolled to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Keble College, Oxford, where he graduated with a second-class degree in Politics and a third in Economics.
Social work:
For more than four years after retiring from cricket in 1992, Khan focused his efforts solely on social work. By 1991, he had founded the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust, a charity organisation bearing the name of his mother, Mrs. Shaukat Khanum. As the Trust’s maiden endeavour, Khan established Pakistan’s first and only cancer hospital, constructed using donations and funds exceeding $25 million, raised by Khan from all over the world. Inspired by the memory of his mother, who died of cancer, the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre, a charitable cancer hospital with 75 percent free care, opened in Lahore on 29 December 1994. Khan currently serves as the chairman of the hospital and continues to raise funds through charity and public donations. Princess of Wales Lady Diana also visited Lahore in 1996 in order to raise funds for the Cancer hospital.
During the 1990s, Khan also served as UNICEF’s Special Representative for Sports and promoted health and immunisation programmes in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
On 27 April 2008, Khan’s brainchild, a technical college in the Mianwali District called Namal College, was inaugurated. Namal College was built by the Mianwali Development Trust (MDT), as chaired by Khan, and was made an associate college of the University of Bradford (of which Khan is Chancellor) in December 2005. Currently, Khan is building another cancer hospital in Karachi, using his successful Lahore institution as a model. While in London, he also works with the Lord’s Taverners, a cricket charity.
Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre:
Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH&RC) is a state-of-the-art cancer centre located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. It is a project of the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust, which is a charitable organization established under the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860 of Pakistan. The institution is the brainchild of Pakistani cricket superstar, Imran Khan. The inspiration came after the death of his mother, Mrs. Shaukat Khanum, from cancer.
Recently, the plans to build the second Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre in Peshawar are underway. The construction work for the project is started and the hospital is expected to be functional in about 3 years. Funds are being raised for the cause and the government of Pakhtunkhwa province has donated 50 Canals of land for the hospital.
Mission statement:
To act as a model institution to alleviate the suffering of patients with cancer through the application of modern methods of curative and palliative therapy irrespective of their ability to pay, the education of health care professionals and the public and perform research into the causes and treatment of cancer.
History:
Imran Khan made a nation-wide appeal for the collection of funds from a match between Pakistan and India on November 10, 1989 at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore which raised Rs. 2,902,600. This was followed by a series of more than 50 successful fund-raisers held throughout the world. Pakistan’s win under Imran’s captaincy in the 1992 cricket world cup in Melbourne helped fundraising efforts. He was able to collect one and a half million pounds in just six weeks after the World Cup when the same amount had taken 2 years to collect earlier. He donated his entire prize money of 85,000 pounds for the project. In 1994 when the project required more financing for the ongoing construction, Imran Khan launched a mass contact campaign in which he toured 27 cities in the country and collected Rs. 120 million. During the entire campaign for the construction of the hospital, over a million individual donors from ordinary citizens to the rich and famous pitched in. Everything from cash to jewelry and valuables was donated.
Designing and execution of the master plan was overseen by Dr. Nausherwan K. Burki, MB, PhD, FRCP, FCPS, FCCP, of the University of Kentucky Medical Center, Lexington, Kentucky, USA in collaboration with an international team of cancer physicians and research workers. Designing and architectural services were provided by Arrasmith, Judd & Rapp, Architects in Health Planning of Louisville, Kentucky, USA. Architectural details were handled by Messrs. Nayyar Ali Dada & Associates of Lahore. Local engineering was performed by Messrs. Progressive Consultants, Lahore. Ground was broken in April 1991 and the hospital opened its doors on December 29, 1994.
Board of Governors:
The Hospital is a project of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust, a non-profit legal entity established under the laws of Pakistan. The Board of Governors formulates overall policy and consists of bankers, researchers, businessmen and physicians. The Hospital is managed by a professional team from clinical, administrative and nursing backgrounds.
Mr. Imran Khan, Chairman
Dr. Nausherwan Khan Burki
Mr. Ashiq Hussain Qureshi
Mrs. Aleema Khanum
Dr. Uzma Ahad
Mr. Rashid Khan
Mr. Ahsan Rasheed
Mr. Sarfaraz Rehman
Mr. Zain Hussain Shabbir
Mr. Farrukh Irfan Khan
Mr. Mujahid Hamid
Mr. Imtiaz Hydari
Mr. Mansur A. Javed
Imran Khan is the most popular Pakistani politician: Survey:
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan has crisscrossed the terror-scarred country, addressed rallies and led dharnas when the country’s top politicians have confined themselves to their fortress-like houses in exclusive security zones.
The world cup-winning captain also did the unthinkable by leading a dharna under open sky in northwestern city of Peshawar that has seen near-daily Taliban attacks in the last few years.
Is the 1970s and 80s heartthrob a fool rushing where angles fear to tread? No, say his admirers who call him the next big thing in Pakistan’s politics.
They assert that Imran would most likely emulate his exploits in the cricketing field in electoral politics in 2013 when Pakistan goes for the next general elections.
Latest surveys ranking Imran by far the most popular Pakistani politician must be music to their ears.
In a YouGov@Cambridge opinion poll in July, 77% respondents considered him the best-suited politician to lead the country.
Just 11% backed former PM Nawaz Sharif and 13% present incumbent Yousaf Raza Gilani.
Earlier, 86% respondents in a Newsweek Pakistan poll backed the cricketer-turnedpolitician to lead the country while US-based PEW survey ranked him the most popular politician in the country with 78% people surveyed giving him thumbs up. He is often described as “clean”, a word rarely used to describe Pakistani politicians.
It is this image that boosts his popularity in a country where 94% people, according to the Cambridge survey, consider corruption as Pakistan’s biggest problem. His criticism of US policy in Pakistan where many have died in the American drone attacks has also boosted his stature. Many say Pakistan’s all-powerful army also favours him, as they do not want inept and corrupt political and social elite to continue ruling the country.
Social Media Political Campaign: Jaag Utho:
Last month, I was glued onto Twitter as I saw the official Twitter account of President Barack Obama send out endless tweets with the twitter handles of Republican Senators. The flurry of activity was created to gather support from the citizens of America to arrive at a ‘bipartisan resolution to the US debt ceiling debate’.
The following day the story was covered in all major news papers & websites. As I scanned through each of the news article, I understood a couple of facts –
a. Organizations and Government institutions are using the social media network to create awareness and generate a force in order to bring change rather than just create noise
b. Government social media campaigns have moved beyond just the ‘Like’ button on Facebook
America, in particular President Obama’s media-strategy team has been the forefront runner to use social media in order to build support for his campaigns. Obama’s presidential win is a testimonial to the fact that social media is a powerful tool. In recent times the upsurge in Libya, Egypt and Tunisia scream that change is possible through the use of social media.
This time I wanted to explore a new country and a new campaign. I wanted to understand if there was any other country which was using Social Media to mobilize the mass apart from the above mentioned countries. To quench my thirst for unique social media campaigns I stumbled upon a very recently launched campaign called ‘Jaag-Utho’ or ‘Wake up’.
‘Jaag-Utho’ which means ‘Wake up’ is a political campaign launched by Imran Khan’s party called Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Imran Khan a former Pakistani cricketing icon and now Chairman of PTI announced the campaign on 28th of July 2011. “Jaag-Utho” campaign aims to mobilize the youth of Pakistan through the means of social media to bring a change and transformation in Pakistan’s civil and political society. It urges the Pakistani youth to contribute to stand against corruption. The campaign also aims to help re-build Pakistan into a society based on the principles of integrity, sovereignty and prosperity.
1. An online rally curates more voice in comparison to an offline rally
The ‘Jaag-Utho’ campaign happens to be the first social media campaign by any political party in Pakistan. For young Pakistanis, the virtual rally ‘Jaag-Utho’ is a platform to speak their mind without fear of oppression. As I continued to keep a track on the development of the campaign on Facebook, I was amazed to see the page explode with conversation.
For me reading those viewpoints of common Pakistanis seem to capture the real emotions, not what I always find in newspapers. The pent up frustration with respect to unemployment, government corruption and growing panic about foreign interference were very much evident. Imran Khan and his team seem to have their finger on the pulse of the young generation in Pakistan and the necessity for a common platform for their voices to be heard.
I was pleasantly surprised to find young Pakistani women participate in the discussion forums as well. I had read about the rigid religious customs encircling the life of a Muslim woman in Pakistan. Thus, I was absolutely thrilled to find women actively participating in the page. Such instances truly amplify the power of Social media. The ‘Jaag-Utho’ campaign provides these women with –
a) A subject to discuss, form opinions and debate on them
b) A common active platform where people are listening and acknowledging their views
2. Ask for viewpoints and opinions rather than imposing them on the mass
Two important components of a successful social media campaign are –
a) Allow your audience to speak
b) Actively listening to your audience
The ‘Jaag-Utho’ campaign has been able to attract a huge mass in a short period of time due to the above stated reason. In a span of twenty days, I have seen the Facebook page grow upto 59,000+ members. While the Youtube page has been slowly moving up the ladder. Till date the ‘Jaag-Utho’ channel on Youtube has 170+ subscribers with total upload views at 15,000+. However, its not just about the growing number of membership its about the roaring conversations in these platforms that caught my attention.
The group, regularly updates its status which would seek for opinions from its members but would never impose them. The wall posts also continue to encourage and reinforce faith among the youth. You definitely won’t be disappointed if you saw the flow of conversation. Each ‘status update’ receives 50+ comments and 200+ ‘likes’. The dialogues in these pages are not just mere noise but the rising voice of a young Pakistan wanting to change itself.
Empowered by social media, the ‘Jaag-Utho’ campaign is determined to make these voices heard. It was also evident that tech savvy youth in Pakistan are regular users of social networks and the campaign rightly provides a podium for the voices spread across the web to come together and form a force.
3. It is important to keep the social networks active with regular updates and usable information
The ‘Jaag-Utho’ campaign has been on their toes with regular status updates, sharing photographs from rallies and conventions of PTI and relevant videos on other political events in Pakistan.
What I really liked about the campaign is the fact that they have been constantly trying to educate and increase awareness about the current political scenario in Pakistan. The ‘Jaag-Utho’ team invites the members to view live sessions of rallies online. Every time I visit the group, I find the page buzzing with conversation and information.
It becomes very important for a common social platform to have useful and valuable information. The usability and value will ensure an enriching experience for the party workers as well as online users. The constant effort by the team to connect and communicate to the young adults are constantly attracting large active audiences to the page.
Following are the few key takeaways from the campaign which can be replicated by other social/political organizations:
a) Provide a common social platform to give momentum to the central theme
b) Be receptive to end-user feedback and opinions
c) Engage the members with usable information and an active discussion forum
The Jaag-Utho campaign showcases that prior to mobilizing a group for a cause it is important that we create awareness about that cause. This campaign sets an example which shows us that by sharing relevant information we can move towards the desired goal.
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