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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Power struggle in ruling Cong has 'created massive confusion' in Karnataka: BJP leader Ashoka
Bengaluru (PTI): BJP leader R Ashoka on Friday claimed that the ongoing power struggle between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar has created massive confusion in Karnataka.
He remarked that the proverb “when two people fight, the third one benefits” has come true, as AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge is also now making efforts to become Chief Minister.
Speaking to reporters here, Ashoka said the entire government has turned into a house of confusion due to the alleged power tussle.
Kharge’s new statement has only added to the chaos, he said.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge had on Friday said that no date has been fixed yet to discuss possible leadership change in Karnataka.
This came a day after Kharge said there was no change of CM in Karnataka "for now" and that the leadership issue in the state would be resolved soon.
The BJP leader said that Kharge too has aspirations and that he was cheated earlier.
"Perhaps he has received a green signal from the Congress high command to become CM. Everyone is already saying Kharge should become CM. Kharge himself has declared, “I am ready to become CM.” Despite many attempts in the past, he never became CM. Now he is trying to seize the opportunity," the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly said.
According to him, the situation in Congress has perfectly become a case of “two people fighting, third one benefits.”
