Dawn Images

British-Pakistani boxer Amir Khan was granted the honorary rank of captain by the Pakistan Army on Saturday.

In a video shared to his Instagram account, Khan thanked the army for the honour.

The boxer clarified that the title was “simply an honorary rank” given to him by his country, Pakistan.

“I have a lot of love for the people of Pakistan and the country as a whole. So, I wanted to share this experience,” he wrote in a comment under the video.

Khan emphasised that he did not have “any involvement in the politic[al] side of things”.

The move comes shortly after Khan disclosed that the Frontier Corps (FC) paramilitary force had taken over his boxing academy in Islamabad and set up residence in the academy, which is located within the Pakistan Sports Complex.

According to Dawn, after suffering criticism, the Pakistan Sports Board got the Amir Khan Boxing Academy vacated by the FC, which had been residing on its premises for almost two years.

Khan appreciated the government for getting the facility vacated, saying he would ensure it becomes activated in a month.

“I want to say big thank you to Pakistan Sports Board and Pakistan Army and also government, also Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who helped us a lot for getting the premises vacated,” the former WBC silver welterweight world champion said in a video message from Dubai.

“All FC personnel have gone from [the] gym [academy]. We will open the gym after one month and we will bring all new required equipment. I had been receiving a lot of messages from aspiring boxers that they had been unable to train. But now they can do that and aspire to fight for Pakistan on the world stage.”

In a post still available on Instagram, Khan called his visit to Lahore in April a “productive trip”.

“Don’t believe all the false news about the academy — I still have the gyms and after speaking to the right people it will reopen very soon,” he stated.

The boxer also met Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir in Rawalpindi.

Khan had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to set up the academy in 2015 and subsequently set up a state-of-the-art facility. The facility was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic and was taken over by the FC in 2022.