The Guardian calls Imran Khan 'Taliban-friendly', 'unfit' for Oxford University's role

LONDON: As incarcerated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder seeks nomination for the ceremonial post of Oxford University's chancellor, The Guardian newspaper — one of UK's most respected newspapers — strongly opposed the potential candidacy and called him “Taliban-friendly” and “supporter” for former Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

Khan had said from jail that he has submitted his nomination to run for Oxford’s new chancellor because the university helped him in his early years and he wanted to "give back" and that "I am committed to giving back to the world the resilience, determination and integrity that life has taught me, even when the odds are stacked against me".

The move drew backlash with the varsity sources confirming that its office has received several emails raising concerns about his support for the Taliban in the past and corruption cases.

In an article published on Sunday, the regular columnist Catherine Bennett wrote that the deposed prime minister had once called Osama bin Laden a “martyr” and refused to call him a terrorist.

She asked what kind of impact a person like the PTI founder would create on a UK academic career for saying that the Taliban were “breaking the shackles of slavery” when they deposed the Afghan government and took over Kabul, including providing excuses for the Taliban’s ban on women's education.

The Guardian article also questioned Khan’s stated belief on rape, where he said that women should remove “temptation” because “not everyone has willpower”.

“Opinions like these, though widely shared, have probably deprived Oxford’s contest of countless male applicants,” it stated, likening Khan to social media influencer and sportsman, Andrew Tate.

“Fans ambitious for Khan’s popular fellow sportsman, Tate, must be kicking themselves for worrying about, for example, his ‘if you put yourself in a position to be raped, you must bare [sic] some responsibility’.”

She questioned the Conservative peer, Lord Hannan, for calling Imran Khan “a towering figure”. “He would make a superb chancellor for the world’s foremost university,” Hannan said.

According to Bennett, if the election of Oxford chancellor can appear, including from within the potential voting pool, roughly as significant as crown choices at the state opening of parliament, unprecedented campaigning for a Taliban-friendly candidate suggests, however, that if the prize is worth exploiting, it must also be worth defending.

She wrote: “The appointment is for a decade. Khan is months into his latest, 14-year sentence (seemingly imposed, his allies say, for political reasons) and the Oxford job involves, along with administrative duties, presiding over several key ceremonies. Not onerous, but involving ceremonial robes, performance and speeches. The chancellor must be readily accessible and available throughout the year.”

The 71-year-old cricketer-turned-politician has been in prison for more than a year after he was booked in a plethora of cases, including the Toshakhana case, cipher case, and the un-Islamic marriage case.

Despite securing relief in several cases, the PTI founder remains behind bars after he was booked in a new Toshakhana case and other cases related to the May 9 mayhem.

Meanwhile, Catherine vied for a candidate named Lady Elish Angiolini – who according to the columnist is “apolitical and respected”.

“She was the first in her family to go to university, became Scotland’s first female procurator fiscal and its first female lord advocate, subsequently principal of St Hugh’s College, then a pro-vice-chancellor of Oxford. Having headed official reviews on policing, rape and deaths in custody, she now chairs the Angiolini inquiry into the abduction, rape and murder of Sarah Everard,” she wrote.

Last week, Britain’s prestigious University of Oxford received several emails and a petition raising concerns about the university’s decision to allow former prime minister Imran Khan, who is currently languishing in Adiala jail, to apply for the ceremonial post of Oxford’s chancellor.

The plea stated: “Khan has frequently expressed views and taken actions that align with extremist elements, particularly the Taliban. He has proposed allowing the Taliban to open an office in Pakistan, which sparked widespread criticism both within the country and internationally. This suggestion was particularly alarming given the Taliban’s history of violence and human rights abuses.”

“He has referred to the Taliban as freedom fighters’, especially during the US presence in Afghanistan. After the US withdrawal, Imran celebrated the event as the Afghans ‘breaking the shackles of slavery’, a statement widely interpreted as support for the Taliban’s return to power.”

The PTI founder has confirmed he has applied to be in the running as the next chancellor of University of Oxford for a 10-year term. Khan graduated from Oxford in 1975 and studied philosophy, politics and economics at Keble College.

He has previously served as chancellor of the University of Bradford from 2005 until 2014, and is vying to replace conservative peer Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong, who announced in February his resignation as Oxford’s chancellor.