Nominated by Hamza for caretaker CM slot: Who are Mohsin Naqvi, Ahad Cheema?

LAHORE: Opposition leader Hamza Shehbaz has sent names of Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi and Ahad Raza Cheema to Punjab governor for appointment as the caretaker chief minister Punjab.

After dissolution of the Punjab Assembly, consultations between the ruling parties – Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League Quaid (PMLQ), and the opposition Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) are under way for appointment of the caretaker chief minister.

Who are the two persons, nominated by Hamza Shehbaz? Here’s their brief introduction. Mohsin Raza Naqvi is a journalist by profession. He was born in Lahore and moved to America for higher education. During his stay in Miami, he was associated with the American TV channel CNN and was made the regional head of CNN when he returned to Pakistan. He also interviewed the martyred Benazir Bhutto. According to a report, Benazir Bhutto had made the last call to him before his assassination.

At the age of 30, he founded the local media City News Network in 2009. Now he owns six news channels and a newspaper. He is also very popular in political circles. He has strong relations with the leading political figures of the country. PMLN leader Nawaz Sharif also approved of the nominations made by Hamza.

The second name presented by the PMLN is Ahad Raza Cheema, who is a former bureaucrat and was known as the best administrator in the Shehbaz Sharif chief ministership. Among his close friends and political circles, he is also known as ‘Metro Man’.

A PAS (Pakistan Administrative Service) grade 20 officer, he served as the chief executive officer of QATPC, owned by the Government of Punjab. Quickly making a name for himself in his field, in 2005 the then chief minister Parvez Elahi selected him to oversee his project ‘Parha Likha Punjab’.

Ahad Raza was appointed as the supervisor of the project in collaboration with the World Bank. The Punjab civil servants attribute the project’s success to Ahad’s management skills and hard work. During the Imran Khan government, he remained in NAB custody in a corruption case. Later on, he was acquitted of the charge.