Who’s who of Sindh’s senators

Karachi
Here are the profiles of the candidates elected in the upper house of parliament from Sindh.
Rehman Malik
Returning to the senate this year, the former interior minister began his career in 1973. He is a senior member of the PPP’s central executive committee besides being a recipient of highest civil award Nishan-e-Imtiaz and Sitara-i-Shujaat.
He worked in various capacities in the emigration bureau, Federal Investigation Agency/Interpol, ministry of interior before holding the post of chairman of the country’s security installations.
In 1989, he was posted as the Director of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
He was the security chief for Benazir Bhutto when she arrived in the country in 2007 after replacing Amin Fahim as her most-trusted political aide.

Abdul Lateef Ansari
Youngest senator ever to be elected in Pakistan, Ansari began his political career by forming a student union in Sindh University in 1963, with Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto as its patron.
A close confidante of the PPP’s founder, he joined the party in 1967 as a pioneer member from Hyderabad.
After Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was sentenced to death, Benazir Bhutto’s first public campaign began from Ansari’s house in Goods Naka area of Hyderabad, on account of which he also spent a lot of time in jails across the province.
In 1986, Benazir Bhutto returned after exile, Ansari helped her reorganise the party and appointed him as a member of the parliamentary board.
He was elected as a senator in 2003, 2006 and was nominated for the third time this year by the party.

Engineer Gianchand
Engineer Gianchand’s association with the PPP spans more than two decades. Hailing from Diplo in Tharparkar district, he is an arch-rival of former chief minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim.
He said the former chief minister got him arrested in 1991, in the tenure of Jam Sadiq. “I am the son of a primary schoolteacher and I never planned for politics, but thanks to Arbab Rahim, I entered the fray,” he remarked sarcastically.
He was elected as an MPA as independent candidate on a seat reserved for minorities in 1993 before he joined the PPP.
He had contested and lost the 2013 general election on PS-60 against Arbab Rahim.

Saleem H. Mandviwalla
The returning senator served as the president of the Lasbella Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Balochistan, before being appointed as the minister of investment and finance between 2008 and 2013.
Saleem Mandviwalla belongs to a well-known business family which has been dealing mainly in real estate since 1921.
However, the family has now expanded into manufacturing, media and automotive sectors.

Islamuddin Shaikh
Also a returning senator, he was elected as a senator for a term of six years in March 2009 on a ticket of the PPP-P. His son Nauman Islam Shaikh is already an MNA elected from NA-198 Sukkur.

Khushbakht Shujaat
She joined the MQM in 2007 and in 2008 was elected as a member of the National Assembly from NA-250. However, in 2013, she lost the seat to PTI’s Dr Arif Alvi.
She is an educationist by profession but did her masters in journalism. She was renowned television host who came into the limelight in the mid 70s.
Her husband Shujaat Ali Baig was the education minister during the last Sindh caretaker government.

Mian Ateeq Shaikh
Relatively new to the MQM and hailing from Punjab, he joined the party in 2012 and won from the NA-54, Rawalpindi.
Three months ago he was appointed as the president of MQM’s Punjab chapter.
Though new, he enjoys confidence of MQM chief Altaf Hussain and is a businessman by profession.