Pakistan new President Arif Alvi is son of Nehru's dentist
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's newly-elected President Dr Arif Alvi shares an interesting connection with India as his father was a dentist to India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, according to the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
Alvi, 69, a close ally of Prime Minister Imran Khan and one of the founding members of the PTI, was elected as the new President of Pakistan on Tuesday.
The former dentist defeated Pakistan Peoples Party candidate Aitzaz Ahsan and the Pakistan Muslim League-N nominee Maulana Fazl ur Rehman in a three-way contest to become the 13th president.
Being a son of Nehru's dentist is not the only connection that Alvi has with India. He is yet another President whose family migrated to Pakistan from India after partition. His predecessors Mamnoon Hussain's family came from Agra and Pervez Musharraf's parents migrated from New Delhi.
Alvi's father Dr Habib ur Rehman Elahi Alvi was a dentist to Nehru before partition, according to short biography of the new president on the website of the ruling PTI party.
"Dr Elahi Alvi was a dentist to Jawaharlal Nehru and the family has letters from Mr Nehru to Dr Alvi in their possession," according to the website.
President Alvi, whose full name is Dr Arif ur Rehman Alvi, was born in Karachi in 1949 where his father settled after partition.
He inherited the profession of a dentist from his father who practised dentistry in India before partition and opened a dental practice in Saddar, Karachi after migration.
His father, who was also connected with the Jinnah family, was made a Trustee of the trust established by Shirinbai Jinnah (Jinnah's siter) to which she gift all her worldly belongings including the Mohatta Palace in Karachi.
Alvi started his political career about five decades ago when he was a student of de'Montmonrency College of Dentistry, an affiliate of University of Punjab in Lahore. He was part of the students' wing of Jamaat-i-Islami (JIH) and protested against military ruler Ayub Khan.
"During one of the protests on the Mall Road in Lahore, he was shot at and wounded, and still proudly carries a bullet embedded in his right arm as a mark of his struggle for democracy in Pakistan," according to the PTI website.
He participated in elections from the JIH in 1979 but lost. Later he became disillusioned with the politics of the JIH and joined the PTI as one of its founding members in 1996. He also helped in writing the Constitution of the new party.
Alvi contested his first election for the PTI in 1997 but lost. His affiliation with the party continued and he steadily rose in its ranks.
He was the Secretary-General of the party from 2006 till 2013. In 2013 he was elected as a Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from Constituency NA-250 Karachi and was re-elected in July 2018.
Apart from his political struggle, Alvi is also a professional dentist.
He acquired his dcourtesyental degree BDS (Dentistry) from de'Montmonrency College of Dentistry and Master of Science degree in Prosthodontics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 1975 and Master of Science in Orthodontics in 1984 from University of the Pacific, San Francisco.
In 1997, Alvi was declared a Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics. He was the primary author of the constitution of the Pakistan Dental Association and has been elected the President of the Pakistan Dental Association.
The new President is married with Samina Alvi and the couple have four children.
courtesy : ndtv.com
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
