IMRAN KHAN: The Pakistani Bin Laden?

Mar 7, 2006

Pakistan battles the forces within

By Syed Saleem Shahzad

KARACHI - Protests against the administration of President General Pervez Musharraf and against the US took off in Pakistan about a month ago in the guise of rallies denouncing caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed.
These protests have now reached the stronghold of al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan: the self-proclaimed "Islamic State of North Waziristan", a volatile tribal area on the border with Afghanistan.
For the past few days this region has been the scene of fierce battles between the Pakistani armed forces and the Taliban and their supporters. This, analysts believe, is the starting point of taking the nascent Tehrik-i-Nizam-i-Mustafa movement to other areas in Pakistan, that is, to enforce the Prophet Mohammed's way of life, or sharia law, on society. Underground Islamic radical groups will surface in support of this struggle that could ultimately
lead to the ousting of the Musharraf government.
People in North Waziristan who spoke to Asia Times Online claimed that the present battles between the armed forces and the tribals are unlike those of the past, which in essence were skirmishes. They said that now there was a virtual mass mutiny against both Pakistan and its pro-US government in Islamabad.
Asia Times Online broke the story about the establishment of an Islamic state in North Waziristan (see The Taliban's bloody foothold in Pakistan, February 8) after the Taliban took control of
the area. Initially, Pakistani authorities avoided clashes and restricted themselves to the district headquarters, Miranshah. There was an unwritten accord between the Taliban and Pakistani forces that they would not encroach on each other's areas.
However, an air raid last Friday, a day before the arrival of US President George W Bush in Pakistan, changed everything.Pakistani authorities claimed they had attacked a group of militants who were infiltrating North Waziristan after attacking a US base in Afghanistan. Local tribes maintain that the air raid killed a number of innocent men, women and children who had nothing to do with the suspect group.
In reprisal, tribals seized control of the district headquarters of Miranshah. Many Pakistani armed-forces personnel were killed,while dozens were forced to surrender and were arrested by the local Taliban.
Pakistan's ground forces could not take on the tribals, so more gunship helicopters were sent in, resulting in the deaths of more than 100 tribesmen on Saturday, according to local estimates. And on Sunday, dozens more were killed. Despite the air cover,Pakistani ground troops are not prepared to risk advancing too far beyond their bases.
Taliban sources tell Asia Times Online that had Pakistan not begun the air raids, sharia courts would have been operational from this month. The Taliban have already established centers all over the tribal area to run local affairs, including their own system of policing.

The fight spreads:

The Taliban intend to extend from their base in North Waziristan to Afghanistan to fuel the resistance there against the US and its allies. Similarly, the movement will spread to "mainland" Pakistan in an effort to topple the pro-American government in Islamabad. Pakistan is a key component of the United States' "war on terror".
This anti-government movement will need a leader. The jihadi hardcore is looking for one who will be untainted and not hand-in-glove with the military establishment. So far, a general consensus is emerging that international cricketer turned politician Imran Khan, head of the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf (Pakistan Justice Movement), might be the man for the job.
Khan took a lead role in the protests against Bush's visit to Pakistan, although he received some support from the six-party opposition religious grouping the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA). In fact, Khan was placed under house
arrest before his main rally, and in his absence his workers gathered in Rawalpindi, where they were dispersed by police and many people were arrested.
In his distinguished cricket-playing days, the charismatic Khan was featured on the cover of international magazines, and he had a huge following in his own country because of his exploits on the field. Pakistani Islamists, a constituency in the army and the powerful Jamaat-i-Islami Pakistan party saw Khan as a
leader who could be cultivated as a figure to charm the masses for Islamic revolution in Pakistan.
This was soon after Pakistan won the Cricket World Cup in Australia in 1993, when Khan's popularity knew no bounds. At this time, he retired from the sport and became involved in establishing a cancer hospital.
However, Khan's marriage to Jemima Goldsmith, a daughter of British industrialist James Goldsmith, messed up the designs of the Islamists, and the whole scheme was put on the back burner.
Educated at Oxford, England, and coming from a family that is considered among the elite of Lahore, Khan nevertheless turned out to be a genuine ally of the Islamic radicals as he sided with their cause and the Taliban. The majority of his party comprises progressive thinkers, women's-rights activists and a faction of Marxists, some of whom left the fold because of Khan's tendencies toward Islamic radicalism.
Yet Khan remained a vocal voice against US designs in the region, and even launched a campaign in support of some army officers who were arrested for alleged al-Qaeda connections, and he openly supported the Taliban movement.

Taliban Khan is a Bad Influence on Bradford Students Bedford University Producing "Future Talibans"

Saturday, July 28, 2007

‘I’m off to join soldiers of Islam’

LAHORE: A British schoolboy, who was jailed on Thursday for two years, left his parents a farewell letter telling them that he was going to fight as a soldier of Islam and would meet them again in the “garden of paradise”, said a report published in The Times on Friday.

Mohammed Irfan Raja ran away from his home in Ilford, East London, in February last year hoping to join four Bradford University students determined to train as terrorists in Pakistan to fight British soldiers and die as martyrs, said the newspaper. “Raja, who was then 17, urged his parents in the letter not to blame each other for failing to stop him but his resolve was weakened by a tearful telephone conversation in which his parents begged him to come home. He was arrested on his return after three days away and the rest of the members in the would-be terrorist cell were rounded up.”

Four others – Aitzaz Zafar, 20, Usman Malik, 21, Akbar Butt, 20, and Awaab Iqbal, also 20, who had amassed a small library glorifying Islamic terrorism to persuade others to fight the holy war – were sentenced to serve between twenty-seven months and three years. All had been found guilty this week of possessing articles that could be used for terrorism.

Judge Peter Beaumont, the Recorder of London, said that they should be punished for being prepared to train in Pakistan and then fight in Afghanistan against British soldiers. He told them: “Each of you is British. You were born here, your families live here, you went to school and university here. You hold British passports. You live under the protection of its laws, which give you freedom of speech and religious observance. Yet each of you was prepared to break its laws. Why? Because in my judgment you were intoxicated by the extremist nature of the material that each of you collected, shared and discussed – the songs, the images and language of violent jihad. “So carried away by that material were you that each of you crossed the line. That is exactly what the people that peddle this material want to achieve and exactly what you did.”

Iqbal, Zafar and Malik had been at the centre of a radical Islamic group at Bradford University. Police later found downloaded material said to be intended to encourage terrorism or martyrdom. Raja, now 19, had been introduced to the group by another 17-year-old student. Andrew Edis, QC, for the prosecution, said: “Irfan Raja was not as firm in his purpose as he hoped he would be, and as the people in Bradford hoped he would be. He had hidden his purpose from his family, who were beside themselves with worry and fear when they found out what he had done. They are orthodox Muslims and do not subscribe to this extremist or radical strain of thought.” daily times monitor

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007/07/28/story_28-7-2007_pg4_7

Imran bailing out Al-Qaeda after Benazir's assassination.

By IBNlive.com
Friday December 28, 05:37 PM

New Delhi:Cricketer-turned politician Imran Khanhit out at Musharraf, saying he's part of the problem in Pakistan and no solution could be expected till such time that he's in power.
“The moment Bhutto arrived in Pakistan, she was under threat. We hold Musharraf responsible for this. They are talking of a judicial inquiry. However, the fact is that 60 per cent of our judges have been sent home,”
says Imran Khan.
Lamenting on Bhutto’s death, Imran Khan said that there was no sense in going ahead with the General Elections. Added that credible elections can take place only when there is an independent judiciary. The first step would be, however, to reinstate the judiciary and hold an enquiry into Benazir’s
assassination.
He also said that no one had any faith in the current government, and the only solution is to hold free and fair elections. “Musharraf should resign,” adds Imran.
The cricketer turned politician also said that no one in Pakistan was safe. “Anyone can be bumped off in Pakistan and the blame put on Al Qaeda. Even Nawaz’s rally was attacked yesterday,” adds Imran. It is doubtful to say who could be responsible for this, however, the moment the US backed Benazir, they put her life in jeopardy, says Imran.

Imran Khan opposing operations against al-Qaida militants in the tribal areas.

'When you speak out, people react'

The Guardian, Wednesday 31 August 2005

Imran Khan's skill with a bat made him a hero in Pakistan. Now his outspokenness has left him on the sidelines. Declan Walsh meets a man of contradictions.

A framed portrait of a suave young man with a confident smile and a bouffant hairstyle sits on the table of Imran Khan's gloomy basement office in Islamabad's Parliament Lodges. This is the Khan we once knew: the cricket legend who captained Pakistan to World Cup glory; the playboy prince who bedded many glamorous women but married just one, the English heiress Jemima Goldsmith; the airbrushed icon of 80s glamour such as Simon le Bon, Stringfellows nightclub and DeLorean sports cars.

Today, Khan's handsome looks are creased by wrinkles, small bags shadow his proud eyes and the shaggy mane of hair looks tousled and dishevelled. Of course, at 52 he has a right to look older, but he also wears a more careless, even dog-eared, appearance. He is wearing a tapioca-coloured shalwar kameez, the classless uniform of every plain-thinking Pakistani from off-duty army generals to humble tea-wallahs in sweaty bazaars.

Khan is late but flushed with excitement. He had to drag himself away from a "riveting" cricket Test on television. "It's been a long time since I've enjoyed cricket, especially the one-day game," he declares in a big, embossed voice that fills the room. "The problem is that there are no quality bowlers, just mediocre ones that look good."

But much the same could be said of Khan himself. Since he forswore sport and sex for politics and piety about a decade ago, Khan's form has been highly erratic. As a politician, he has singularly failed to inspire fans to convert their love for him into votes. And since divorcing Goldsmith last summer, after a nine-year marriage, he has edged his views ever closer to the fringes of Pakistan's radicalised political spectrum.

He has voted with the MMA, a coalition of hardline Islamic parties, in the national assembly. He has also followed the mullahs' lead on several policy issues - opposing operations against al-Qaida militants in the tribal areas, railing against madrassa reform, and criticising women who participate in mixed-sex road races. But his most famous stand came last May when, brandishing a story in Newsweek magazine about the desecration of the Qur'an at Guantánamo Bay, Khan declared to journalists that Islam was "under attack" - a widely publicised gesture that inflamed sentiment across the Muslim world and sparked a week of riots in neighbouring Afghanistan that killed at least 16 people. Khan remains unapologetic.

"To throw the Qur'an in the toilet is the greatest violation of a Muslim's human rights. Should we close Amnesty and the Red Cross because they bring up violations?" he says. "When you speak out, people react. Violence is regrettable, but that's not the point."

To paint him as a fundamentalist is plain wrong, he says: "People support the MMA because it is anti-Musharraf and anti-America, not because they want Islamisation. American cultural and religious persecution - like Abu Ghraib - is helping the terrorists and playing into Bin Laden's hands."

Pakistan's greatest problem is not the radical Islamists but its power-crazed president, he insists. "Musharraf is destroying our democracy by using this war on terror. Why did he put 700 people behind bars when Pakistan had no connection with the London bombings? In the world's eyes, Pakistan became a hub of terrorism. And at home, it reinforces the idea that Musharraf is a stooge implementing an American agenda."

You would not have heard such harsh words some years back. After the 1999 military coup, Khan was one of the general's most ardent supporters, so much so that he claims he was offered the prime minister's job. "I was charmed by him. I believed this was a man who could set our country straight, end corruption, clear out the political mafias," he says. But after a blatantly rigged referendum in 2002 extended Musharraf's grip on power, the myth "began to shatter" he says: "Here was a man who claimed to support democracy and he was rigging the elections, just like [former dictator] General Zia had."

But that sort of U-turn is partly why the brilliant cricketer has made such a miserable politician. Khan's ideas and affiliations since entering politics in 1996 have swerved and skidded like a rickshaw in a rainshower. An undisputed national hero after the 1992 World Cup, he first eroded confidence by promising to marry a local girl, then choosing the daughter of a British tycoon. Later, he supported and spurned Musharraf. Now he preaches democracy one day but gives a vote to reactionary mullahs the next.

As a result, Khan's Tehrik-e-Insaaf party has been creamed twice at the polls- once at the 1997 general election, and again in 2002. Now if Khan wants to address his entire parliamentary party, he need only look in the mirror - he holds the sole national assembly seat. Still, he has avoided obscurity - newspapers still report his statements - but has traded it for notoriety.

"Imran's life is riddled with contradictions," said Najam Sethi, editor of the liberal Daily Times, which recently ran an editorial entitled Imran Khan's Simplistic Notions. "He is essentially a do-gooder but has these half-baked ideas, the sort you would pick up in an airport. And now he is caught in a no man's land, satisfying neither liberals nor conservatives."

For Pakistan's thin middle-class crust, he is an intense disappointment. Mention his name at dinner tables and the reaction is the same: people roll their eyes, chuckle lightly, then exhale a sad sigh. The star has burned up, they say, consumed by its own heat and oxygen. "He used to be my hero," a friend told me, shaking his head. "But now . . . I don't know. He seems to have thrown it all away."

Can it be that bad? Khan himself is curiously unsentimental about the passion that made his name. Since retiring from cricket 13 years ago, he has played only a handful of charity matches and offers his match commentary to TV sports stations only "when I need to make some money again". The reason is religion. His spiritual reawakening began after a chance meeting with a Sufi mystic at a dinner party about 17 years ago. "I was impressed by his complete wisdom; he opened me up to a whole spiritual world," he says. "Cricket and professional sport breeds this ruthlessness in you, because coming second has no prizes. The killer instinct you need has no compassion for the losers. But this is totally different, it breeds compassion."

Khan's Sufism also provides a defence against critics who, recalling those racy reports about wild nights with fast women in London, accuse him of hypocrisy. "Those people are exactly like the fundamentalists who try to tell you how to live your life," he says testily. "Our Islamic practice is divided in two. One half is the rights of society - rape, murder, corruption, public immorality. When you violate these rights, people should attack you."

"But then there are the rights of God - worship, drinking alcohol, fornication, and so on. These things are part of the sacred relationship between man and God. The Qur'an says to put a veil on your sins. So whatever I do, as long as I kept it between me and my God, it's not hypocrisy."

He has endured many accusations about his private life. He laughingly recalls speculation that his marriage to Jemima Goldsmith was part of a global Zionist conspiracy: "It was so bizarre and ridiculous. One newspaper printed a fake cheque for $40m from Jimmy Goldsmith on its front page. Of course they had to retract it but that was three weeks before the [1997] election, so the damage was done."

His attraction to politics partially scuppered his marriage, he admits. "Jemima suffered because of my political life," he says. "Sometimes you had to go on tour for three or four days. For a Pakistani girl that is not difficult but a cross-cultural marriage needs more time. I gave it less."

The phone rings. It is his eight-year-old son Suleiman, back in London after a trip to Los Angeles. The booming voice, previously unenthused, brightens up. "So you are coming on Sunday? All your cousins are waiting for you," he says. By agreement with Goldsmith, he only sees the two boys - Qasim is six - during the holidays. It is a "void", he admits, but he firmly denies tabloid reports of a possible reunion with his ex-wife. "No, that chapter is completely closed. There's only speculation because of Jemima's relationship with Hugh Grant. But it has no bearing on us. I can't live anywhere else and she can't live in Pakistan. It's not an option."

Although he claims to be insulated from the Hugh Grant tittle-tattle, his private life has not entirely eluded the gossip columnists. Last May, lurid local press reports linked him to actress Goldie Hawn at a party in India. Khan snorts in amusement. "I just happened to be sitting next to her at a party last November. But then the ISI [Pakistan's formidable intelligence agency] picked it up and reproduced it here in May to discredit me after the Qur'an affair. The whole thing is a big joke."

Now that he has reordered his priorities post-Jemima - he resented having to spend four months a year in the UK - he says he is happy with life in Pakistan. He enjoys shooting partridge, hill walking and has a new farmhouse outside Islamabad. He still runs Pakistan's largest charity - a Lahore cancer clinic with an annual budget of $18m. A second hospital in Karachi is in the works.

But he curtly denies being in a new relationship, even though Islamabad's dinner-party circuit is rife with stories of a recent trip to the northern areas with an unidentified European woman. If he marries again, he says it will only be to a woman who is "on the same road as me, someone who knows the life and can take it. Otherwise, I'll go it alone."

So the top priority remains politics. He reels off his wish list - reform of the courts, a return to democracy, the demise of the "crooks" currently running the country. But is anybody listening? He is convinced that they are. "I still say that if there was a presidential election in Pakistan tomorrow I would be able to put up a very good fight, because I have something that hardly anyone else has - credibility. The basic ingredient for getting votes is trust, and people trust me."

Still, the shadow of the old Imran is hard to shake off. After posing restlessly for a few photographs, he rises from his chair. "God," he says, darting for the door, "I'm dying to know what happened in the match."

10 Million Talibans are with Imran Khan. Says FATA Tribal Heads!

Read the following  item published in various newspapers and decide yourself where Mr. Imran (Talibaan) Khan is heading.
“Various Tribal Heads from FATA have rigorously protested against Muttahida QuamiMovement over the statements from the leaders of MQM against the Head of Tehreek-e-Insaaf, Imran Khan and have said that by making these statements against their belovedhero Imran Khan, MQM was making mistakes over and over again, and that by doing soMQM would eventually alienat itself in the politics. These heads of the tribes were addressing “Lui Jirga” at North Wazeeristan last Saturday. This Jirga was attended by heads of the tribes, elites, and general public from South and North Wazeeristan, Kurram Agency, Orakzai Agency, Bajore Agency, and FR areas. Those who addressed the Jirga summoned MQM that it should realize that over 10 million warriors from these tribes were with the “National Hero” Imran Khan and if somebody would dare to harm The Khan, would bear the grave consequences in retaliation from tribes. They further warned MQM that if it would not change its course, protests on large scale would be staged intribal areas and NWFP.”

Imran Khan Organizing Haqiqi Terrorists, Once Again, to Create Death and Destruction in Karachi

 Imran mediating between Haqiqi factions

Friday May 09, 2008 (0849 PST)

KARACHI: Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has been trying for the last few months to broker a deal between the two factions of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM-Haqiqi) that split during the previous government’s tenure, media has reliably learnt.

 Emerging as a staunch opponent of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) after the May 12, 2007 mayhem in which several political workers were killed in Karachi, Imran Khan subsequently launched a campaign against the Muttahida. His anti-Muttahida drive started with the help of the MQM-Haqiqi which provided him with evidence of alleged brutalities against it.Officials of the PTI and both groups of the MQM-Haqiqi confirmed that they have had meetings with Imran Khan on April 17 in Islamabad separately, during which Imran tried to convince them to resolve their mutual differences and work as a single party against the Muttahida in Karachi. Although both the Haqiqi factions and the PTI termed these recent liaisons ‘routine meetings’ — and part of Imran Khan’s case against Muttahida’s London-based Quaid Altaf Hussain — insiders claimed that the PTI chief wanted the Haqiqi leaders to get reunited and face the Muttahida in Karachi as a single force.It is learnt that similar efforts were also being made by other parties of the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM), including the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI). The APDM leadership was also in touch with the out-of-prison leadership of both the Haqiqi factions.

A leader of MQM-Haqiqi’s Afaq group admitted that a five-member delegation of their party had a meeting with Imran Khan in Lahore last month, which lasted for around two hours. Several issues, including reconciliation between the Afaq Ahmed and Amir Khan factions of the party, also came under

discussion.

“Our delegation, comprising Akhtar Hussain, Shamshad Ghauri,Riaz Qureshi, Sohail Anjum Advocate and Rafi Dad, met PTI chief Imran Khan and discussed the Muttahida’s vendetta against our workers, the no-go areas issue as well as the frequent killing of our workers in Karachi,” he revealed.

When asked whether that meeting had any specific agenda, he said it was a routine meeting but admitted that Imran Khan expressed his wish of building unity among the estranged factions of the party, arguing that a single Mohajir Qaumi Movement would have a lot more political weight and clout than the one divided into two.

On the other hand, PTI officials confirmed that another delegation of the MQM-Haqiqi led-by former MPA Younus Khan had also called on Imran Khan in Lahore in April 2008 and they were also given the same advice by the PTI chief.

However, PTI office-bearers said that so far there was no breakthrough in their efforts to bridge differences between the two Haqiqi factions but added that efforts were still under way as some other parties were also trying to reunite the Haqiqi leadership.

The MQM-Haqiqi and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement have been bitter rivals ever since the former faction split from the main party in the ‘90s. The Muttahida retained its position as the main voice of the people of Karachi in subsequent years with the Haqiqi reduced to a small rump with tiny pockets of influence. At the time of their split, during the anti-MQM operation in the 90s the Altaf Hussain’s party accused its rival

faction as a creation of the agencies. Many of the Haqiqi leaders and workers fled Sindh to take refuge in Punjab during that period and most of the Haqiqi leadership was eliminated, incarcerated or driven underground.

PTI chief Imran Khan could not be immediately contacted for comment but his spokesman Umar Cheema confirmed that the MQM-Haqiqi leadership has been meeting the PTI’s central leadership, including Imran, in recent months. Although he described these ‘secretive’ meetings as a bid by the MQM-Haqiqi to highlight their plight and miseries at the hands of the Muttahida, Cheema refused to reply to the question: why both factions of the MQM-Haqiqi were meeting Imran Khanalone and not the leadership of the mainstream political parties of the country.

According to Cheema, contacts with the PTI and the MQM-Haqiqi started when Imran decided to lodge a case in the British courts against Muttahida chief Altaf Hussain and requested people to furnish evidence against the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s ‘ wrongdoings’.

“People from all over the world, including the MQM-Haqiqi leadership, approached the PTI and provided him evidence against the Muttahida,” the PTI spokesman claimed. “It was the previous government that did not permit a Scotland Yard team to come to Pakistan and investigate the allegations,” he said. But when asked why the PTI and Haqiqi leadership was meeting so frequently these days even though Imran Khan did

not seem enthusiastic in pursuing the London case, Umar Cheema said the Haqiqi leadership was trying to gain political support through these meetings.

Cheema added: “But that does not mean that we want them to remain divided. We wish them to get united and play their political role in Karachi as effectively as in the past.”. A Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) spokesman, when contacted in this regard, said he could not comment on themeetings till more information was available.

Look in the mirror Imran Khan

Imran Khan, Islamist politician by day, London playboy by night.
by James Forsyth and Jai Singh KHAN EMBODIES THE HYPOCRISY of Muslim elites who inveigh against the West by day and enjoy its pleasures by night. His fame in Pakistan comes from cricket not politics: the best cricketer Pakistan ever produced. In London many remember him as an even greater playboy.Throughout 1980s Khan was linked to a string of beautiful women. In 1988 he told Australia's Sunday Mail, "Pakistan society encourages marriage. There, I lead a very steady,
comfortable life.Here, it is more exciting. The pace is faster. Because of the nightclubs and parties, it is a very good place to be single."
As his cricket career wound down he began to develop political ambitions, he became more reticent about his
lifestyle. In 1992 a London Evening Standard reporter asked him if he found his conquests fulfilling he turned bashful: "Er, by answering that question I put myself in a difficult position because this will get quoted in Pakistan.
And, in Pakistan, the mere fact that you admit you're having affairs upsets a lot of people's sensitivities. I respect my culture. a lot of young people look up to me. It's a big responsibility for me not to make these
admissions in public. Everyone knows I'm single and a normal man. But there's no need to stick it down their
throats." His ex-girlfriends were less discreet, though. Oneobserved to the Times, that Imran "juggled his girlfriends extremely elegantly".
A man who once captained the Oxford University cricket team and was a feature at London's trendiest places, now turned against the culture he had previously enjoyed. In 1995 he denounced the West with its "fat women in miniskirts" (presumably the skinny ones in miniskirts Khan had dated were okay) and proclaimed that the "West is falling because of their addiction to sex and obscenity." He also chastised Pakistanis who looked to the West for ideas, saying "I hate it when our leaders or elite feel that by licking the soles of the feet of foreign countries we will somehow be given aid and we will progress."
So it came as something of a surprise that year when he married an English society beauty, Jemima Goldsmith,
who was half his age and far worse--for the Islamists he was courting politically--half-Jewish. The reaction to the marriage in Pakistan was hostile and put a rapid stop to Khan's political momentum. In a Pakistani newspaper column defending his marriage Khan mused that, "Isuppose if my marriage proves one point, it is that I am not a politician."
Khan initially won liberal and Western hearts by building a cancer hospital and fashioning himself as a reformer, but he has turned increasingly to hard-line Islamist politics.After Khan cast a vote in favor of the Islamist candidate for prime minister in 2002, a leader in his party told a Pakistani monthly, "Khan has more than a soft corner for the ousted Afghan Taliban. He thinks that the orthodox