ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was named Man of the Year 2020 by a Jordanian publication, The Muslim 500, for his efforts to ensure “lasting peace with India” since assuming office in August 2018.
“I was touched when Khan launched a successful fundraising campaign to establish a hospital devoted to both the care of victims of cancer as well as research. But what is particularly to his credit is that upon taking office in August 201, Khan made it quite clear that one of his top priorities was to work for a lasting peace with India,” S. Abdallah Schleifer, emeritus professor of journalism at the American University in Cairo said in a statement.
He added that “this and other accomplishments are detailed in the biography” that accompanies PM Khan’s ranking at Number 16 in the latest edition of The Muslim 500 magazine.
The magazine, which is spearheaded by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center (RISSC) – an autonomous research entity with the Royal Aal Al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought in Jordan – also named American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib as its Woman of the Year.
While former cricketer Khan was sworn in as Pakistan’s prime minister on August 18 after his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e- Insaf (PTI), won the majority seats in the July 2018 elections; Tlaib is the first Palestinian-American woman and joint first Muslim woman – along with Democrat Ilhan Omar – to be elected to the American Congress as a member of the House of Representatives.
Professor Schleifer, who conferred the titles on both the personalities, added in his statement: “If The Muslim 500 had been in print in 1992 and I was the Chief Editor then, I would have nominated Imran Khan as our Muslim Man of the Year because of his brilliant performance in cricket when he won the 1992 Cricket World Cup for Pakistan.”
