Though the just concluded elections for Pakistan’s National Assembly threw up a fractured verdict, former cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan is likely to be the next Prime Minister of the country. Although his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party has emerged as the largest party with 115 seats in the National Assembly (till the time of writing this), Imran Khan appeared likely to fall short of the 137 seats needed for a majority in the National Assembly, his better-than-expected results mean he should have no problems forming a government with a handful of small coalition partners. The opposition has alleged massive rigging during counting of votes and Pakistani army’s tacit support for Khan.

During the campaign, Indian media has alleged that if Imran comes to power, he will be a great threat to India since his support base, according to these reports, is in Rawalpindi Cantonment. There is no denying the fact that the cricketer Imran who had travelled extensively in India and has a massive fan following both among Muslims and Hindus, is not the politician Imran Khan. He had loudly espoused the causes of Kashmir and still does it. 

During a presidential style address on Thursday night soon after it was clear that his party is emerging as the largest party, Imran Khan mentioned Kashmir as a thorn in the relations between India and Pakistan. "The biggest dispute between us is about Kashmir. We need to talk about Kashmir... We're still on Square 1. India sees Baluchistan, we see Kashmir... this blame game has to stop. We are ready to take two steps forward if you take one," he said. And he said he is ready to talk with India.

 

And like a true statesman he offered to investigate opposition claims of rigging and vowed to improve relations with India and Afghanistan, while calling for "mutually beneficial" ties with the US. India is closely monitoring the political situation in Pakistan.  However, it is early days to pass a judgment. Maybe, Imran the politician may turn out to be better than Imran the cricketer.