Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has reportedly thrown his hat in the ring to become chancellor of Oxford University despite languishing in prison with more than one hundred legal cases nipping at his heels.
“Victory for Khan appears unlikely,” the UK Telegraph remarked dryly on Wednesday, noting that Khan’s competition for the job includes two other former prime ministers, Tony Blair and Boris Johnson, who have the advantages of (a) being British and (b) not being in prison.
Khan could also be facing off against author J.K. Rowling, who is also British and not in prison, and whose resume includes inventing one of the world’s most popular fictional institutions of higher learning.
Khan’s imprisonment has become a source of international controversy. Dozens of ethics complaints have been filed against him for his actions while prime minister, and more charges were filed after he was pushed out of office by a parliamentary vote of no confidence in April 2022. Many of the later charges stem from riots that Khan’s followers held after he was arrested on corruption charges in May 2023.
Khan and his supporters charge that he was illegally imprisoned to keep him out of the February 2024 election, which he might, very possibly, have won. His Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Party did extremely well in the election despite a government order that removed the party logo from the ballots.
In early July, a United Nations human rights working group said Khan’s detention was “arbitrary and in violation of international law.”
Courts have either overturned or suspended all of the convictions that originally landed Khan in prison, most recently including the charge that he illegally married his wife, Bushra Bibi. He still faces charges of inciting riots and violence after he was arrested in May.
The U.N. working group also agreed with Khan’s allegations of “widespread fraud on election day, stealing dozens of parliamentary seats.”
Khan announced he would run for chancellor of Oxford after the current holder of the office, 80-year-old former Hong Kong Governor Lord Christopher Francis Patten, resigned from the post after 21 years.
Khan’s ambition might seem unusual, but there are no formal requirements for becoming chancellor of Oxford. Candidates do not have to be British or graduates of the university. The position is filled by a vote of the Oxford Convocation, which includes about 350,000 graduates of the institution. The Convocation will hold its first online vote for chancellor in 2024.
Khan does have ties to Oxford, including time spent as a student of economics and politics at Oxford’s Keble College in the 1970s. He was captain of the Oxford cricket team and went on to fame and fortune as a star cricket player before entering politics. He also has experience as a university chancellor, having served in that capacity for Bradford University from 2005 to 2014.
“Imran Khan will contest for the chancellor of Oxford University, as there is a public demand that he should contest. We will announce it publicly once we get a go-ahead from Khan and start the signature campaign for it,” Khan adviser Syed Zulfi Bukhari said on Wednesday.
