Three aspirants for PTI ticket if Arbab Jahandad isn’t retained

PESHAWAR: Arbab Jahandad Khan must be a worried man as there are three other major contenders for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ticket for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly constituency, PK-69 Peshawar (previously PK-9) from where he was elected in the May 2013 general election.

If he doesn’t get the ticket and some PTI sources claimed he won’t, then it opens the door for the three relatively younger candidates seeking the PTI ticket. All remain hopeful as they continue to show their strength and use their connections to get the ticket.

The three aspirants are Nawabzada Shakeel Afridi, Taimur Khan Jhagra and Arbab Mohammad Usman. All three belong to well-known, land-owning families. In fact, Shakeel Afridi and Taimur Jhagra are from the same village, Jhagra, though they belong to different clans. Obviously, only one of these three can get the ticket, but questions are being asked if those losing out would be accommodated elsewhere, such as being named the candidate for the National Assembly constituency.

Shakeel Afridi joined PTI much earlier than the other two and, therefore, believes he is more deserving than the rest for the party ticket. He also claims to be enjoying the backing of PTI workers in both PK-69 and in the National Assembly constituency, NA-28 (earlier known as NA-4), as he has done grassroots work in his area and mobilized the party cadre for taking part in all major PTI campaigns.

Shakeel Afridi’s father Nawabzada Fazal Karim Afridi is the honorary consul general of Japan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and had received a medal of appreciation from the Emperor of Japan for his services. From organizing sports events and doing community work in his area to taking part in the 2013 PTI ‘dharna’ against the Nato supplies passing through Pakistan in protest against the US drone strikes, he has been in the thick of events. During the PTI’s 126-day ‘dharna’ in Islamabad, Shakeel Afridi claims to have been part of it for every single day. He also took active part in the PTI campaign to lockdown Islamabad in October 2016, the NA-4 Peshawar by-election that the PTI won and the party’s public meetings in Lahore, Islamabad and other places. He organized a PTI workers’ convention in his village in February 2018 and managed to make 6,000 new members of the party.

Taimur Jhagra is the son of retired civil servant Saleem Khan Jhagra, who rose to the position of a federal secretary. He is the grandson of late President Ghulam Ishaq Khan and nephew of late provincial minister Iftikhar Khan Jhagra, who had joined the PTI for a brief period before rejoining his original party, PPP.

The 40-year old, highly educated Taimur Jhagra left his professional job as partner at the global consulting firm, Mckinsey and Company, and entered politics. He had more than a decade of experience working for the governments and multinationals in Europe, the Middle East and South Asia. He also led the education reforms effort focusing on government schools in Punjab under the then Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

It was natural for Taimur Jhagra to join politics as his paternal grandfather, Mohammad Ibrahim Khan Jhagra, was among the top politicians in the province during the struggle for freedom and after independence of Pakistan. He is the third generation of politicians from the Jhagra family belonging to Jhagra village near Peshawar. Many in the PTI circles believe that the party’s central leader Jehangir Khan Tareen is supporting Taimur Jhagra’s bid to secure the ticket to contest for PK-69. The Jhagra family has solid vote-bank in the area, but a win without getting the PTI ticket would be difficult.

Arbab Usman is the son of late provincial minister Arbab Mohammad Ayub Jan, who had remained associated with other parties also but was in the ANP at the time of his death. Arbab Usman didn’t stay with the ANP and instead opted for the PPP. However, his association with the PPP was brief as he soon joined the PTI. It is said former Chief Minister Pervez Khattak facilitated Arbab Usman’s entry in the PTI and is supporting his claim for the party ticket in the coming polls. His family has his own vote-bank in the area, but being late entrant in the party may lessen his chances for getting the PTI ticket.