Pakistan: A Personal History

Speaker(s): Imran Khan
Recorded on 20 September 2011 in Old Theatre, Old Building.

Born only five years after Pakistan was created in 1947, Imran Khan has lived his country's history. Pakistan now stands alone as the only Islamic country with a nuclear bomb, yet it is unable to protect its people from the carnage of regular bombings from terrorists and its own ally, America. Now, with the revelation that Pakistan has been the hiding place of Osama bin Laden for several years, that relationship can only grow more strained. How did it reach this flashpoint of instability and injustice with such potentially catastrophic results for Pakistan? In this talk he will discuss his new book Pakistan: A Personal History providing a unique insider's view of a country unfamiliar to a western audience.

Imran Khan was born in 1952 and grew up playing cricket in Lahore, Pakistan. He played his first international match for his country in 1971. In 1972, he began his studies at Oxford University, where he was a contemporary of Benazir Bhutto. He went on to play cricket for Pakistan until 1992, and was captain of the team from 1982. In 1994 he established a hospital in Pakistan offering free cancer treatment to the poor and is in the process of setting up a second. He also founded Namal College (2007), the only private sector university outside the cities. In April 1996 Imran Khan established his own political party, the Tehreek-e-Insaf, which aims to bring good governance and social justice to the people of Pakistan, and make Pakistan a just and humane society.

mp3 audio available at - http://www2.lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/vi...