People & Power

Imran Khan: Run out?

With exclusive access, we look at the events that led to Imran Khan and his party being sidelined in Pakistan’s elections.

“It’s not a movement. It’s more like a tsunami that will sweep the country.” This is what Imran Khan told People & Power when we started filming with him in 2010.

Filmmaker Karim Shah was holding the camera that day and knew Khan wasn’t talking about conventional politics. Khan believed something radical was needed to change Pakistan. More than a decade later, the former cricket star had won Pakistan’s premiership, was removed from power and had even taken a bullet.

Amid allegations of corruption and other wrongdoing, Khan spoke with People & Power as we began to follow him for a fourth film before he was jailed in August last year. His party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, or PTI, has been accused of inciting violent protests and faced a harsh crackdown. Khan has been sentenced in several criminal cases, and his party’s symbol has been kept off the ballot in long-delayed national elections. So has his political movement been ‘run out’?