Imprisoned cricketer applies for top job at Oxford University.

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Imran Khan, the former prime minister of Pakistan, has submitted a formal application from his prison cell in Pakistan to become chancellor of the University of Oxford, a close aide to the president announced today. In the United States, this would be the equivalent of the office of president of a university.

Khan served as Pakistan's political leader from 2018 to April 2022, when he was ousted by an opposition vote of no confidence in parliament that he claimed was planned by the powerful Pakistani military.

“As per the instructions of Imran Khan, his application form for the Chancellor election of Oxford University 2024 has been submitted,” Sayed Zulfiqar Bukhari said on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

“We look forward to everyone’s support for a historic campaign,” he wrote.

Khan, who remains Pakistan's most popular politician, has been in jail since August last year after being embroiled in a series of charges and trials, including corruption, sedition and inciting violent anti-army protests. He denies the allegations as baseless and claims the military is behind them.

All convictions against the 71-year-old former cricket star and current prime minister before Pakistan's February 8 general election were stayed or overturned by appeals courts due to lack of evidence. Yet Khan remains in prison on new charges.

The convictions also prevented him from running for public office. Candidates backed by his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party won most of the parliamentary seats, but not enough to form the government amid allegations that the election was massively rigged to prevent a PTI victory. This allowed the military-backed rival political parties to form a coalition government with Shehbaz Sharif as prime minister.

Khan graduated from Oxford in 1975 with a degree in philosophy, politics and economics. Candidates for the post of university chancellor include former British prime ministers Tony Blair and Boris Johnson.

The members of the Convocation, which include all university graduates, are responsible for electing the Chancellor of the University of Oxford. Anyone wishing to run for the office must receive a nomination from at least two members of the Convocation to be considered eligible.

The University of Oxford website states that the Convocation will be called to elect the new Chancellor in an unprecedented online vote in the third week of the Michaelmas term, which begins on October 28.

The new Chancellor will hold office for ten years. Traditionally, the office of Chancellor is given to university graduates, often politicians.

The United Nations last month declared Khan's detention arbitrary, saying there was no legal basis for his imprisonment. Hundreds of his party workers and leaders, including women, have been detained or tried on charges that their defenders reject as baseless and part of the military-backed state crackdown on the party.

Khan was Chancellor of the University of Bradford from 2005 to 2014.

The Pakistani military and Khan's successors have denied allegations that they orchestrated his removal from power or were involved in the numerous legal proceedings against him.

Source: VOA, BBC, CNN.

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