Islamabad — Imran Khan, Pakistan’s former prime minister, has formally applied to run for chancellor of the University of Oxford in Britain from his prison cell, a close aide announced Sunday.
Khan served as Pakistan’s leader from 2018 until April 2022, when he was ousted through an opposition parliamentary no-confidence vote he alleges was planned by the powerful Pakistani military.
"As per Imran Khan’s instructions, his application form to Oxford University Chancellor Election 2024 has been submitted,” Sayed Zulfiqar Bukhari said on 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 last August after becoming embroiled in a series of prosecutions and lawsuits on charges that include corruption, sedition and stoking violent anti-army protests. He rejects the allegations as baseless and claims the military is behind them.
The 71-year-old former cricket star turned prime minister has had all convictions against him before Pakistan’s February 8 national elections suspended or overturned by appellate courts because of lack of evidence, yet Khan remains incarcerated on newer charges.
The convictions also barred him from running for public office. Candidates backed by his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI, party emerged winners on most parliamentary seats but not enough to form the government amid allegations the vote was massively rigged to prevent PTI from sweeping the polls. This allowed military backed rival political parties to form a coalition administration with Shehbaz Sharif as the prime minister.
Khan graduated from Oxford in 1975, studying philosophy, politics, and economics. Former British prime ministers Tony Blair and Boris Johnson are also among the candidates to become the university’s chancellor.
The Convocation members, which include all university alumni who have been granted a degree, are responsible for electing the chancellor of Oxford University. Anyone seeking to run for the position must receive a nomination from at least two Convocation members to be considered eligible.
The University of Oxford website states that the Convocation will be asked to elect the new chancellor through an unprecedented online ballot during the third week of the Michaelmas term, beginning on October 28.
The new chancellor will hold the position for 10 years. The chancellorship traditionally goes to university graduates, often politicians.
The United Nations last month declared Khan’s detention arbitrary, saying there is no legal basis for keeping him in jail. Hundreds of his party workers and leaders, including women, have been jailed or being prosecuted on charges defense attorneys reject as baseless and part of the military-backed state crackdown on the party.
Khan served as the chancellor of Bradford University from 2005 to 2014.
The Pakistani military and Khan’s successors denied allegations of orchestrating his removal from power or being involved in the numerous legal challenges facing him.
