How Imran Khan became the man set to 'lead Pakistan into the future'

Carelessly dubbed a 'duffer' in the 1990s, Khan has since undergone a comprehensive metamorphosis, burying most of his socialite past and emerging the man of the moment in Pakistan

In the 1990s, when Pakistani journalists were still permitted to come to India, one of Pakistan’s most respected political commentators and a truly decent human being, the late M B Naqvi, was approached by an Indian news magazine to write a profile of Imran Khan. The context? Khan was Pakistan’s hottest property, one of its most colourful personalities, and Indians were riveted by the charmed life he seemed to lead – a cancer hospital in his mother’s name, institutions of learning and the first forays into politics, but with a seemingly liberal and often confused agenda.

“Imran Khan,” asked the