Imran taken off plane and reportedly quizzed on drones

It is not a surprise that fans of Cricket see the game and learn Politics, Geography, Worldly knowledge and more from the game. Today there are reports of this man being taken off from a New York bound plane and reportedly questioned on ‘drones’….

To unravel more, he founded a political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), in 1996  which emphasized on anti-corruption policies. The newly formed party was unable to win a seat during the 1997 Pakistani general election. He supported General Pervez Musharraf's military coup in 1999, believing Musharraf would "end corruption, clear out the political mafias".  In May 2005, hen became one of the first Muslim figures to criticise a 300-word Newsweek story about the alleged desecration of the Qur'an in a U.S. military prison at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.

Recently, he reacted angrily to a statement by Nawaz Sharif that his family had paid Rs 92 crore as taxes in the year 1990, Chairman PTI said that this is a deliberate attempt at misleading the people.  He said that as per FBR records the declared income of Nawaz Sharif for the year 1990-91 was only two lacs forty nine thousand five hundred and thirty seven (Rs 249,537). On this income he paid Rs fifty one thousand three hundred and eighteen (51,318) as income tax.  Where has the figure of ninety two crores that Nawaz Sharif family have supposed to paid as tax come from,  he thundered in public forums.  Nawaz Sharif is a  steel mill industrialist and business magnate,  who served  as the 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from November 1990 to July 1993, and from February 1997 until the military coup in 1999.  He is a  leading steel mill conglomerate,  and  also one of the country's wealthiest industrialist.

When India toured Pakistan prior to the World Cup in 1983, he was at his fearsome best cutting through the Indian batting line up – he played for two decades culminating with him captaining and winning the ODI World Cup at Australia in 1992 – that man is - Imran Khan Niazi – a fast bowling allrounder who later plunged to politics.  He also founded a Cancer hospital and research centre in memory of his mother.   One of the most illustrious players of Pakistan, he played from 1971 to 1992.    He scored  3807 runs and took  362 wickets in Test cricket, making him one of eight world cricketers to have achieved an 'All-rounder's Triple' in Test matches.

Photo courtesy : toronto sun.com

He is in news as there are reports that Imran Khan was taken off a New York-bound plane at Toronto; Imran claimed that he was questioned by American officials about his stance on US drone strikes in Pakistan, before he was allowed to travel by the US officials.

"I was taken off from plane and interrogated by US Immigration in Canada on my views on drones. My stance is known. Drone attacks must stop," Khan tweeted.  "Missed flight and sad to miss the Fundraising lunch in NY but nothing will change my stance. Still looking forward to meet family there," Khan said.

Khan was heading for to New York to attend a fundraiser organised by his party's US chapter in Long Island. Earlier, Imran had intended to hold a demonstration outside the United Nations headquarters in protest of the US drone strikes on his country's soil. In a development not directly connected to this, it is stated that the proposed rally in NY was cancelled as it coincided with the festival of Eid and several supporters of  Imran had cited their inability to participate in the demonstrations due to the Id celebrations on October 26.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.

27^th Oct 2012