ISLAMABAD: The central hierarchy of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) predominantly includes professionals and technocrats, who are little known in the political and electoral field but have deep interest in politics and elections. Included in the top twelve federal office-bearers is Ejaz Ahmed Chaudhry, the son-in-law of late Mian Mohammad Tufail, who headed the Jamaat-e-Islami for years. “All the federal leaders are working hard in their respective constituencies, bracing up for the next general elections,” Sadaqat Abbasi, PTI President of North Punjab told The News when approached for comments. He said that the central leaders, associated with the PTI since long, were not politicians in the strict commonly understood sense that they had been associated with major political parties and tested and tried, but nobody can raise even an accusing finger on their past and present. “This is the revolution Imran Khan has brought by introducing new clean faces, who have no skeletons in their cupboards,” Abbasi said. “Every central office bearer will be vying for different seats in the parliamentary polls.” The PTI is buoyed up with the joining of some potential winning candidates. “The new entrants having good reputation will belie the claim that the PTI lacks electable contestants,” Abbasi said and added that the central committee meeting on Sunday would decide to induct the newcomers in different tiers of the party. In the top PTI hierarchy as displayed on the party website, noted dentist Dr Arif Alvi is its Secretary General. On Friday, a message from him, urging restraint to his party leaders, appeared on it, which read: “In victory, what suits your leadership and workers is a sense of humility before God and his generosity towards us. This has to be shown in our attitudes towards other people also. The chairman and the secretary general have received complaints that some of our friends are being rude on the social media and in other forums. People hate arrogance and misbehaviour. People hate being proven wrong too. It is fine to say we told you so... but when said with an attitude of superiority it pushes people away and then they become jealous of our success. Be polite and courteous always.” He apparently felt the necessity to issue this note in view of the exceptional but unnecessary aggression being shown by some PTI leaders participating in TV talk shows after they are being regularly invited in the wake of Imran Khan’s successful Lahore show on Oct 30. However, in his own words, Alvi was the President of the Students Union in Dental College Lahore; was active in pro-democracy movement in 1969; was shot and wounded by security forces; and worked for Jamaat-e-Islami for some time. “What we have are leaders who are dishonest and enslaved to western powers. They sell their country and our interests for a song”. He was one of the few people who helped write the PTI constitution. Alongside Dr Alvi is Mrs Fauzia Kasuri, President, Women’s Wing. She did her Bachelor of Arts from St. Joseph’s College Karachi; and also studied at Graduate School of University of North Carolina. She has done the first part of the MBA programme. Currently, she is completing Masters in International Relations from Punjab University. She lived in the US most of her adult life. According to Sadaqat Abbasi, she is sister-in-law of former Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri. In her own words, when she moved to Bahrain, she was introduced to Imran Khan by her brother, who was his long time friend from London. “Having watched Imran closely, seeing his determination, energy and commitment to the cause, I naturally joined him day one in his resolve to change the political dynamics of Pakistan and make it a fair, livable society, for all, based on the rule of law and constitutionalism.” Ejaz Chaudhry is the Vice President & regional organizer of South Punjab. In his own words, in his 35 years of political career he started off as a student leader and was elected as Nazim-e-Alla of Islami Jamiat-e-Talba Pakistan. Later he joined Jamaat-e-Islami and was nominated as its Deputy Secretary General. He left Jamaat-e-Islami as he believed that the stance of religious political parties since 1999 was not the true representative of Pakistan’s interests on national or international fronts. However, a Jamaat leader told The News that Ejaz Chaudhry quit the party over differences on some organizational matters. Chaudhry was elected as Councillor/Nazim of local government three times and also served as Deputy Mayor, Lahore Metropolitan Corporation, from the Jamaat quota. He contested seats of national and Punjab assemblies from his Lahore area but lost. Then, the PTI has former ambassador Admiral (R) Jawaid Iqbal and Air Marshal (R) Shahid Zulfikar as central vice presidents. Hamid Khan, who heads the famous professional group of lawyers, is the senior vice president. Shahid Zulfiqar also served as managing director of the Shaheen Foundation. He was PTI candidate from a Lahore seat in the 2002 elections and secured 6500 votes. Yusuf Malik Gabol is another Vice President of the PTI. In his own words, he comes from a well known political family of Sindh, which has been in politics for four generations since pre-partition. His grandfather Khan Bahadhur Sardar Allah Bux Khan Gabol was member of the Bombay legislative assembly, which governed Sindh at the time. He was also the Deputy Speaker of Sindh, and Mayor of Karachi. Omar Sarfaraz Cheema is the central Information Secretary. He is actively involved in agriculture and livestock and dairy services sector since 1991. He contested elections to a Punjab Assembly seat from Wazirabad in 1997, to National Assembly and Punjab Assembly seats from Wazirabad in 2002 and a by-election to the Lahore Cantonment seat of the Punjab assembly, but never won or gained any noteworthy number of votes. Azhar Tariq works as the Finance Secretary and Zubair Khan is the President of Labour Wing.
