PTI Chairman Imran Khan. PHOTO: AFP
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Tuesday announced it will launch the ‘Imran Khan Talent Hunt Programme’ in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) from the end of next month.
Talking to journalists at the Peshawar Press Club, PTI Sports and Culture President Iftikhar Elahi said promising cricketers will be selected at the provincial level and Imran Khan will come to Peshawar to train the players himself.
“PTI Chairman Imran Khan wants to bring the cricket team of K-P at par with the national team,” said Elahi, adding the area has “great talent” but requires training opportunities.
“We will also introduce indoor games after cricket selection,” he added. K-P General Secretary Asif Orakzai said they will select an under-19 team from Peshawar Sports Complex and train the players for three weeks. The chosen team will compete against four other teams, one from each province and Gilgit-Baltistan. The winner would be sent to Tajikistan for further training on the special directives of the party chairman.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 31st, 2013.
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I hope in future, similar plans will be announced for other sports as well.
Well, Imran has some really good ideas on cricket. Here is a detailed discussion of his views on how to fix our domestic cricket structure: http://www.pakmonitor.com/fixing-pakistans-cricket-structure-imran-khans-recipe/
@Pashto Vocab: Like Shaukat Khan hospital in Lahore and another one planned in Karachi. Tell us these are not life saving!
Imran Khan at times reminds me of an Indian politician Raj Narayan who was well known for his antics. Political career of Raj Narayan was also very similar to IK. He never won any election except in 1977 when he defeated late Mrs Gandhi. Raj Narayan became Health Minister of India. He used to give good health classes to doctors by recommending using "neem Daatoons" in place of tooth paste and brush. His antics became daily news. He lost all subsequent elections.
After one year we will all apologise to ANP
IK cannot wipe out terrorism from kpk because IK is not part of federal gov which has a main role in counter terrorism approach ........
Absolutely wonderful IK!! Pakistan needs to cure itself of social ills and have a thriving, productive society. Society does not change through motorways, but through cultivating and providing opportunities to its youth. The means to battle terrorism is engaging the youth productively into other activities and raising the morale of the region....instead of through guns and drones. Well done!
@sattar rind: Bhai Fazal, you probably haven't watched as many matches on tv, the amount of matches man has won for Pakistan. Let the man do his job !
For the other brother who was talking of priorities - U don't drop other projects dead at government level if you have priorities. They all work alongside each other, some more progressively than others.
Be patient its ONLY 60/70 days !! U have wasted 5 yrs with ANP, u can be bit more patient with IK.
Thanks
reminds me of famous story of "ghulail bana kay chiRi maron ga"..:D NS should offer Mr. Khan PCB chairmanship instead of Sethi.
This is quite hilarious. In Pakistan cheap marketing seems to drive every behavior. Is this job of his calibre? Though i'm wondering now as what is his calibre but still. How can a man speaking of moon and stars suddenly engage himself into such trivial matters. In KPK keeping people alive is the most critical task and rather than announcing Imran Khan Terrorist Hunt Programme he is announcing cricket programmes. If he is so comfortable with Cricket, maybe he should stick to cricket and stop making tall claims of progress.
In his mind taliban after reading this news will immediately drop their weapons and take part in IK Talent Hunt. Even do a press campaign that since all their MUTABLBAT have been fulfilled they see no reason to fight against the state. I mean ... REALLY? Joys every where.
IK has emerged as a leader who is shy of taking responsibilities and finds refuge is small stuff. Ask NS to make you sport minister and spare us from your HO HA HO HA speeches of moon and stars ... Umar Asad on other side is making hilarious claims of making Islamabad global village ... I mean comon guys .. we are dying here for basic necessities and you are throwing away dreams of Paris and Dubai .. Please spare us. Little Sanity here ...
I think Imran should start a talent hunt program for the post of KP CM, who made a mockery of himself by claiming that the DIK jail break was purely an intelligence failure, knowing well that it was a blatant lie even as he spoke his convoluted wisdom. Other than that the delivery of IK himself in KPK is dismal and embarrasing. Now this crickiter needs to waste his time on cricket, disregarding the crying needs of his people who valiantly put his party in power.
The whole initiave is good to bring new talent into picture but why to send the finalist to Tajikistan for training, is it cricket training or something else??
@Bhai Log: I don't have a problem with that.
Thats nice Ik. Imran khan does not see poverty, drones, rishwat, bribery etc in kpk but what is needed is a talent hunt programme. Ik is not PTI chairman but act like a sportsminister. what a waste of votes given to him.
Yeh thik hai! Make Kaptaan the Cricket Minister of KP.
i remember Imran Khan cricket club in 1994
Ch. Allah Daad... IK is 1000 times better than your supposed leader .. I know all the PML trolls here and you are among one of them.. IK could have won the election in whole country if people like have realized the true reality...
@shahid: Very apt comment brother, but those criticising IK are only doing so due to hatred and bias, and theres no cure for that. We wish IK all the success.
I belong to a very rural area of KPK, the epicentre of violence. There was a time when our playgrounds were thriving; we had regular sports days, inter school championships that led to the district level and then provincial level tournaments. Some boys from our streets were selected for national cricket team camps. This was all exciting, kept us engaged. We had municipal library even in this rural, dusty town, full of books, daily newspapers, and magazines and more importantly always full of youngsters. We never thought of picking up guns and blowing ourselves into dust and smoke in those days. Now there is nothing left of the good old days. So I say to those who know nothing but to spit poison and criticise everything that others do, this is a very good initiative and I hope, there are more initiatives like this. You want to kill every terrorist and bomb all the mountains of KPK to control militancy, and I don’t see a difference between you guys and the terrorists. We need a vision and initiatives like this and much more to bring peace back to our streets. So well-done Khan Sahab!!!!!
Must sat, it's a commendable initiative
Good Initiative we need more sportsmen like Imran that shine in sports as well in the daily life and who knows we might come up with two or three more leaders like Imran :) Thaks Kaptan
While the country is at the brink of collapse because of law and order, lack of commercial power, terrorism etc. the party head of one of the biggest parties is setting up camps to find cricketing talent.
The jail-break was orchestrated to get Taliban to participate in his talent shows.Only instead of cricket-balls,grenades will be used. What priorities!!! What an immaturity for a politician!!
Good initiative....... PTI need to prioritize the civic improvement projects, get people into sport. I mean any sport that is played in olympics or outside olympics. The idle youth should be provided training and representation in international and local event.
I hope this initiative will bring that much required change. May Allah Help you PTI.
By the way whole of the govt is PUNJABI's so cannot expect anything better from them - for KPK or Balochistan..........KPK and Balochistan should do it on it's own and they can!!!!! May Allah help you, the people of KPK and Balochistan.
Arrest terrorists, stop Nato supply, Arrest jail break culprits.
For sports develop ground in every neighborhood, worry about the grass roots and have nots. The talented should come later and usually they take care of themselves.
This is more of a marketing campaign.
Is this why he contested elections.....laughable....Is KP doing fine now....He should support the event but should not personally give his time there....He has been elected for a very important job and not to spend time on field for cricket.....
is it makes any sense? bacha log ....
Instead of wasting his talent in politics, he would have done much better in cricket world. Anyway, its not too late. He can still be very helpful, if he gives 100% of his time to cricket.
Pashto Vocab, how is it distorted priorities? He is not KPK CM but PTI head. He needs to assist CM which he is doing, can send you links to initiatives he is involved in. These kind of initiatives are MUST for youngsters who need to be engaged in positive activities.
This is a good decision. Getting people involved in sports will draw them away from crime. Imran is a cricketing hero for every Pakistani, and surely he will show people that one can make something wonderful of their lives if they put their minds to it. I'm not a PTI supporter but this is a great initiative.
Why Tajikistan?
Means more Umer Gulls to the Pakistani team.
This man has distored priorities. We need life-saving projects first and immediately.
I'm disappointed with IK's decision on Ayla Malik's fake degree decision, but when I see his good initiatives like talent hunt programme, then I say " OMG, gift 10 years from my life to IK", so that he serves poor people of Pakistan more and more.
Bringing life back to KP! Thankyouu khan! Sadly the ANP walahs while combating terrorism, avoided the basic infrastructure damage of the province! This will help the youth to indulge in healthy activities.