Mushtaq Ahmad Khan: newly elected senator who has served JI for years

PESHAWAR: The newly elected senator and provincial amir of the Jamaat-e-Islami, Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, has remained a student leader and later served for years as provincial general secretary and naib amir of the party.

Hailing from Sheikh Jana village in the Swabi district, he was the JI candidate for the general seat in the Senate election. He was the only candidate fielded by the party that had seven MPAs in the provincial assembly.

The 44-year-old senator-elect did his matriculation from the Government High School in Mansabdar, Swabi and later did his masters in physics from the University of Peshawar.

Mushtaq was elected provincial nazim of the Islami Jamiat Talaba, a student wing of the JI, in 1997, central general secretary in 1999 and later Nazim-e-Aala Pakistan in 2002 for being an active student leader.

The newly elected senator also served as private secretary to the former amir of the JI Qazi Hussain Ahmad in 2002 and 2003.

In 2003, he was elected provincial general secretary of the JI and served against the position till 2006. Later, he remained provincial naib amir of the party till 2015.

He was elevated to the position of the provincial amir when Sirajul Haq was made central amir of the party. He once contested general elections from his native Swabi district on the ticket of JI but failed to win.

Jamaat-e-Islami on Saturday managed to win a seat in the upper house of parliament for its provincial head after joining hands with the opposition.

The opposition parties supported the JI candidate on the general seat and in return the JI lawmakers backed the opposition’s nominees for the reserved seats for the technocrats and women.

Mushtaq Ahmad bagged seven votes, all given to him by his party members in the KP Assembly.

Opposition parties had placed his name on the second priority, which helped him win the seat in the Senate.

A large number of workers and leaders of JI as well as other parties and elders of Swabi are still visiting the residence of Mushtaq Ahmad to greet him over his election to the upper house of the parliament.