Claim: Imran Khan has been nominated as a candidate for the post of Chancellor at the University of Oxford.
Fact: Imran Khan has not been nominated for the post. In fact, the University of Oxford has not even issued an official list since nominations have not yet opened, nor announced a process and timetable for the election.
On 7 February 2024, the Times of Karachi published a report (archive) titled “عمران خان برطانیہ کی آکسفورڈ یونیورسٹی کے چانسلر کے انتخاب کی دوڑ میں شامل [Imran Khan joins the race for the election of Chancellor of Britain’s University of Oxford].”
The report, which cites British media, starts as follows:
“سابق وزیراعظم، بانی چیئرمین پی ٹی آئی اور پاکستان کرکٹ ٹیم کے سابق کپتان عمران خان کو برطانیہ کی تاریخی آکسفورڈ یونیورسٹی کے چانسلر کے امیدواروں میں شامل کرلیا گیا ہے۔
[Former prime minister, founding chairman of the PTI, and former captain of the Pakistan cricket team, Imran Khan, has been included among the candidates for the chancellorship of Britain’s historic University of Oxford.]”
The claim surfaced after Lord Christopher Patten’s announcement that he would “retire as Chancellor of the University of Oxford at the end of the 2023-24 academic year”, according to the institute’s website (archive).
It is also noteworthy that Khan did hold the chancellorship of University of Bradford from the 2005-2014 period, but stepped down from the role on 30 November (archive).
2024 elections
The 8 February general elections in Pakistan were marred by allegations of rigging as results were declared (archive) “more than 60 hours after voting ended”, with PTI-backed independent candidates taking the lead over those who contested on the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) ticket.
Despite being jailed (archive) for a total of 31 years for corruption, leaking state secrets, and an unIslamic marriage, former prime minister Imran Khan declared victory in a speech generated by artificial intelligence (AI), with 93 of the 264 seats secured by his independent candidates, according to the Reuters article cited above. The party of his main opponent, PML-N Supremo Nawaz Sharif, got 75 seats, with the former premier, too, claiming he won.
The PTI cried foul over 18 seats, alleging (archive) that the results of 18 seats “allegedly won by the party were ‘falsely changed’” and called for protests not just across Pakistan but also the world.
The pre-poll political landscape in Pakistan was characterised by distinct circumstances for Khan and Sharif amid the shadow of alleged military interference. The former, incarcerated since 5 August 2023, was consequently disqualified from contesting elections whereas the latter was “once targeted by Pakistan’s military establishment” but “appeared to have won the favour of the generals for the 2024 vote”, according to an Al Jazeera report (archive).
Sharif returned (archive) to Pakistan in October 2023 after staying in London for years. He had left for the UK in 2019 on medical grounds (archive) after being handed a seven-year jail sentence over corruption charges (archive). Six years later, however, he was cleared (archive) of all charges and a lifetime ban on convicted politicians for running for office was ruled unconstitutional.
Fact or Fiction?
Using a combination of keywords and the cover image used in the Times of Karachi report, Soch Fact Check was able to find the source of the claim: London Evening Standard (archive).
In its article titled “Boris Johnson vs Theresa May? The race for Oxford Chancellor is on,” which appears to be a speculative piece, the London Evening Standard wrote about people who could be potential candidates. The list of people mentioned is neither definitive nor official since the report uses phrases like “would be a predictable choice” and “obvious candidate”.
Regarding the PTI founder, it states: “More wild-card candidates include Imran Khan, the former Pakistani PM and cricketer who has just been sentenced to a further seven years in prison in his home country, and former prime ministers Sir Tony Blair and Boris Johnson.”
The London Evening Standard does not cite any official sources nor a poll on public opinion, making the article speculative.
On its website, the University of Oxford has underscored: “The process and timetable for the election of the Chancellor by members of the University’s Convocation will be announced in due course.”
In this regard, we reached out to a spokesperson from the University of Oxford, who confirmed that there is no official list since nominations have not yet opened. “Details of the process to be followed, and a timetable, will be announced in due course,” they added.
Therefore, the claim that Imran Khan has been nominated as a candidate for the post of Chancellor at the University of Oxford is false.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found that the Times of Karachi posted the claim here, here, and here on Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and Facebook.
Shahbaz Gill, a PTI leader and aide to former PM Imran Khan, posted the claim on his X account, gaining over 574,400 views. There were multiple other false posts that gained tens of thousands of views; these can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
The claim was shared in videos here, here, and here on YouTube channels GVS NEWS, Capital TV, and MYK News Tv.
On Instagram, the claim was shared here, here, here, here, and here, as well as on Facebook here, here, here, here, and here.
A Facebook user also posted a video containing only a news clipping with the same claim here, gaining more than 1,400 views.
Multiple news outlets also published reports carrying the false claim; among these are Global Village Space, ProPakistani, MM News, The Current, The Neutral, Startup Pakistan, Dialogue Pakistan, BNN Breaking, UrduPoint, Nawaiwaqt, Mangobaaz, Sunday Times, and Siasat pk.
Conclusion: Imran Khan has not been nominated for the post. In fact, the University of Oxford has not even issued an official list since nominations have not yet opened, nor announced a process and timetable for the election.
Background image in cover photo: the.university.of.oxford
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