https://arab.news/nqv8q
- Rafiq Khan, 45, fled his home in Quetta as a child to meet his cricket hero Imran Khan in 1989
- Rafiq has been attached to Khan since, working at his cancer hospital and later as a political volunteer
ISLAMABAD: Rafiq Khan fled his home in Quetta as a kid in 1989 and traveled nearly 1,000 kilometers to the eastern city of Lahore to meet Imran Khan, three years before he led Pakistan to Cricket World Cup victory and nearly thirty years before the sports hero-turned-politician would become prime minister.
For several years after, Rafiq, now 45, lived at Khan’s Zaman Park residence in Lahore and devoted his life to the cricketer. He enrolled in school while continuing to live at Khan’s house, playing cricket and later working for the Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital that Imran founded in 1994, and as a volunteer for his political campaigns after he launched his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party in 1996, becoming a prime example of the superfans who have flocked to Khan through the decades.
“I came to Imran Khan in 1989 and I have been with him since then,” Rafiq told Arab News in an interview this week at the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s central secretariat in Islamabad.
“Basically, I came to him due to cricket and then when he started the party [Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf], I remained with him, making my contribution.”
This combination of photos, created on January 26, 2024, shows Rafiq Khan with former prime minister Imran Khan. Rafiq, 45, devoted his life to the cricketer-turned-politician and has been with him since 1989. (Photo courtesy: Rafiq Khan)
Rafiq moved to Islamabad when Khan began running his party’s affairs from the Pakistani capital in 2002-2003, living at the party office for more than a decade, before moving into a rented house on Khan’s direction. The ardent Khan fan, who refused to marry or join his family’s business in Quetta, currently manages the PTI’s central secretariat in Islamabad.
Sociologists say the phenomenon of political superfans, with an “obsessive admiration” for their political leaders, exists around the world.
“The phenomenon of being political super fans is not unique to Pakistan or any specific political party, but as Imran Khan has been a heart-throb since his cricket days, therefore it is obvious that he would have diehard fans,” Dr. Aisha Shahzad, a professor of political science at the Lahore College for Women University, told Arab News.
This undated photo shows a cricket bat signed by former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan for his fan and follower Rafiq Khan. Rafiq, 45, devoted his life to the cricketer-turned-politician and has been with him since 1989. (Photo courtesy: Rafiq Khan)n
“People get attached to their political leaders and dedicate their lives to them when they start loving their ideologies and personal traits like honesty, bravery and compassion.”
Rafiq has certainly dedicated his life to Khan.
“I have five brothers and five sisters, they all are well-settled,” he said. “Among them all, I am alone because I haven’t married. [I have] no other business, just PTI and Imran Khan. I have devoted myself to Imran Khan.”
Rafiq said he had Khan’s personal phone number and has always had the freedom to directly call him and “discuss things.” He last met Khan in June last year, when the former premier was in Lahore for Eid Al-Adha celebrations and around two months before he was jailed after being convicted in a graft case..
In this undated photo Rafiq Khan (left), the follower of former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan, gestures for a photograph with Khan at his Zaman Park residence in Lahore. Rafiq, 45, devoted his life to the cricketer-turned-politician and has been with him since 1989. (Photo courtesy: Rafiq Khan)
Khan is currently behind bars and disqualified from running in Feb. 8 elections but Rafiq said he was still a “brand” in the country.
“[Imran Khan] was a brand then and a brand now,” Rafiq said, as he prayed for Khan to be released from prison soon.