A Financial Times article alleged that Pakistani tycoon Arif Naqvi used a charity cricket tournament to facilitate donations to Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party from his Dubai-based private equity group Abraaj and a member of Abu Dhabi’s royal family.
In the long history of families’ politics and unchallenged corruption by party leaders, Imran Khan, a superstar in every field he touches, introduced the fundraising tradition among political parties of Pakistan. As such, his party PTI furnished to the Election Commission, a list of 40,000 Pakistani-origin individuals or their companies as contributors to his party fund. The phenomenon is never known in Pakistani politics as the major political parties do not public their funding sources which are, supposedly, big companies or individuals, who, in turn, expect to exploit the public resources unhindered by the authorities.
While Imran ignites heated argument against corruption and even ridicules the opposition leaders in public addresses, the public see a silver lining in his rise in a country where 2.1 million cases of murder, rape, thefts, land grabbing, cheating etc are pending in the courts leaving the masses at the mercy of all the bullies. To counter Imran, the current cabinet whose 60% members are on bail, mostly in money laundering cases, has adopted a policy of hue and cry against Imran Khan to get their cases buried under the carpet.
Article By a Foreign Journal
At such a critical moment, an article by Financial Times titled as “The strange case of the cricket match that helped fund Imran Khan’s political rise” added fuel to the fire. Revealing one party’s story only may give the opponents a chance to have an undue dig at it. Khan has to be, legally, concerned only with the fact that funds he receives are sent by a Pakistani or a company owned by a Pakistani.
Two specific payments have been mentioned in the article, one by a Pakistani individual Ejaz Shafi and the other by a company owned by a Pakistani Arif Naqvi. Arif Naqvi was a regular attendee at World Economic Forum at Davos. As per law of the land, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) means Pakistan Justice Movement directly receives funds only from Pakistanis or companies owned by Pakistanis in Pakistan and abroad. It was all in good trust that PTI accepts fundraising from Pakistanis. The same trust that put Arif Naqvi “A board member of the UN Global Compact, which advises the UN secretary-general”.
The article did mention an event of cricket organized by Wootton Cricket Club for philanthropic purpose, however, it is not shown that its proceeds were ever transferred to PTI. The Wootton Cricket was in fact a company owned by Arif Naqvi which might have 100s of transactions, philanthropic as well other purposes. Also Imran Khan has at his credit so many philanthropic feats recognized at home and abroad. His political party does not need a philanthropic event to its assistance. Moreover, Tehreek Insaf says they have declared the funding from Wootton Cricket also.
Facts If Referred In Isolation
i. The writer also said that “As prime minister, he (Khan) became increasingly critical of the west”. If read in isolation this sentence looks anti-west, though he has always referred to welfare states of Scandinavian countries of the West. He only objects to US and that too for pressurizing Pakistan to take side with the US for its war in Afghanistan the facilitation that cost Pakistan 80,000 deaths. He says he is not anti-US. Upon knowing that his regime change was caused by US he openly blames US for regime change citing the history of US and the fact that is confessed by ex US National Security Advisor John Bolton recently.
ii. The writer said Imran Khan was “praising Afghanistan’s Taliban when US forces withdrew in 2021″ which was not exactly the case. He kept saying that what else was the option other than the Taliban and that knowing this the US sought Pakistan’s help to negotiate their exit deal with the Taliban.
iii. The writer is also quoted as saying “visiting Vladimir Putin in Moscow on the day Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February”. Imran Khan has, time and again, expressed his view that the visit was planned a few months earlier; he reached Russia a day earlier of the attack and that, though the build-up was there, he never thought Putin would be actually attacking Ukraine. Khan is on record that he is an anti-war man.
Imran Khan a populist leader, of Pakistan and beyond, has challenged all power centers and the masses are following him. Discrepancies may occur, however, an honest leader such as him is destined to lead the nation again. The article seemingly put questions that are easier to answer in an academic way. The article seems to damage the reputation of Imran Khan however, such populist leaders can turn the tide in their favor.
Mushtaq Jumma is an Ex-Airliner and Business Consultant. He can be reached at mushtaqjumma@hotmail.com. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Global Village Space.