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Thursday March 28, 2024

Clan clarification

This refers to the article, ‘Ayaz Sadiq: yet another Arain legislator wins from Lahore’ (October 12, page 2). I would like to clarify a few points. Sardar Ayaz Sadiq is not an Arain; he belongs to the Sheikh community. The Bhutto clan is also not Arain; they are Rajput, as

By our correspondents
October 14, 2015

This refers to the article, ‘Ayaz Sadiq: yet another Arain legislator wins from Lahore’ (October 12, page 2). I would like to clarify a few points. Sardar Ayaz Sadiq is not an Arain; he belongs to the Sheikh community. The Bhutto clan is also not Arain; they are Rajput, as elaborated by Maulana Kausar Niazi in his book in which he had detailed the Bhutto family’s ancestory. Further, Mian Shuja-ur-Rehman was elected mayor of Lahore with only 24 votes out of 150 votes (during the Zia regime). His brother, Mian Zaka-ur-Rehman, was a BD member during the Ayub regime and was not elected to any assembly. Chaudhry Mohammad Ali was from Jalandhar and not from Lahore. Mian Ameer-ud-din (not Amin-ud-din) contested the 1937 elections on the Unionist Party’s ticket but was defeated by Krishin Lal Gaba who embraced Islam and named himself Khalid Latif Gaba before the elections. Salmaan Taseer was from the Jat community.
The Arain/Kashmiri business was started by Gen Zia and his followers. Malik Akhtar and Malik Ghulam Ali were elected from Lahore in the elections held during the early 1950s, Both were Kakezais. In the 1970 elections, no Arain or Kashmiri was elected from the entire Lahore district. Similarly in the 1988 elections, Gen Ansari, Aitzaz Ahsan, Malik Miraj Khalid, Salmaan Taseer, Dr Bangash, Aslam Gurdaspuri and Chaudhry Qadir were neither Arain nor Kashmiri. The same pattern was followed in subsequent elections as well.
Javed Akhtar
Lahore