Pakistan Cricketer's Doomed Marriage with a Westerner Mirrors Pakistan's Failed Relationship with the West

Mr. Khan's life is the very epitome of what the new ideals of Pakistan as a modern Muslim nation should be. Being born in the Pashtun tribe, his origins are thus inexorably linked to the soil of Pakistan's heritage; raised in a conservative Islamic household, he was nevertheless instilled with the secular values by being educated in a school run by Christian missionaries.

Handsome, toned, hairy-chested Mr. Imran Khan was the international playboy. Once voted as the sexist man of the year by an Australian magazine, he continues to be Pakistan's most respected cricketer.

In his cricketing life, it was under his captainship that Pakistan went on to won its first and only Cricket World Cup victory; later he displayed his kinder instincts by opening a cancer hospital that provides free treatment to poor patients. Gradually he even shed the trappings of his colorful life and started inclining towards Islam - in a powerful but subtle manner. Mr. Khan is deeply religious but never flaunts his born-again religiosity in public.

And finally, Mr. Khan jumped into politics. Though unsuccessful, he is one of the very few uncorrupt politicians in the country whom Pakistanis genuinely admire.
Undoubtedly, Mr. Khan possesses the essence of the best the east and west has to offer. Even the woman he married could not have been a better choice - Jemima Goldsmith, a London-based woman of Jewish origin!
Unfortunately, the marriage ended in a divorce in 2004.