Despite the suppression of his get together, downed cell phone networks on Election Day, and lethal election-related violence, Pakistans 130 million voters delivered the embattled former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his allies a powerful victory on the polls final week.
Learn Extra: Pakistans Army Used Each Trick to Sideline Imran Khanand Failed. Now What?
This week, Khan, who was ousted in 2022 and now sits in jail on a bevy of legal convictionswhich, he maintains, are politically motivatedhas made clear who he wish to see turn into the countrys subsequent Prime Minister: Omar Ayub Khan. The endorsement was introduced Thursday by a senior member of Khans get together who met with the imprisoned former chief.
The 56-year-old former finance minister wrote on X that he was actually humbled by the nomination. PTI as a celebration will work for strengthening democratic establishments in Pakistan in order that the nation’s financial system may be placed on a path of constructive trajectory and we will provoke our reforms programme to profit the individuals of Pakistan, he stated. We won’t enable our mandate to be stolen.
Whereas candidates backed by Khanmost registered as independents, together with Ayub, due to strikes made by the Electoral Fee to hamstring Khans Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) partymanaged to win essentially the most seats in final weeks election, they don’t have a majority alone to type a authorities. Coalition negotiations are underway earlier than the elected lawmakers convene for a Nationwide Meeting session on Feb. 29.
As Prime Minister nominee, Ayub will face off in opposition to former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who leads a rival coalition consisting of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan Peoples Celebration and is believed to be the popular candidate of Pakistans highly effective army institution.
Heres what to learn about Ayub, who, if Khans standard motion continues to defy the percentages, might turn into the countrys subsequent chief.
He faces a number of legal costs and is in hiding
Based on native media experiences, there are 21 instances filed in opposition to Ayub, together with some linked to large protests that broke out after the arrest of Khan final Could. The fees are seen as a part of a wider try and prosecute Khanwho himself faces over 180 legal chargesand his associates to decrease the affect of PTI and enhance the ability of the army institution.
Ayub went into hiding when police began arresting PTI figures and their contactsincluding these linked to Ayub, corresponding to his private secretary and enterprise associatesin the wake of violent protests final Could.
Moreover the costs which might be being levied in opposition to him, Ayub has additionally confronted different types of intimidation from authorities, together with being beaten by police in 2022 throughout a PTI demonstration and having his home raided final Could.
Regardless of his legal costs, Ayub remains to be eligible to run for premiership.
Ayub, who was appointed as PTIs normal secretary final yr, stated that his focus if he turns into Prime Minister can be to free political prisoners.
Our first precedence as a gaggle can be to have Prime Minister Imran Khan sahib, Vice Chairman Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureishi sahib, President Chaudhry Pervez Ellahi sahib and all our ladies and men political prisoners launched from Jail instantly, Ayub wrote on X this week.
Hes the grandson of Pakistans first army dictator
Ayubs late grandfather, former army officer Muhammad Ayub Khan, dominated Pakistan with an iron fist from 1958 to 1969 as self-appointed President below martial legislation. Whereas his turbulent presidencywhich included no less than one assassination try and months of lethal riotshas been lauded for precipitating regular financial development within the nation, it additionally sparked public anger over hovering tensions with neighboring India and crackdowns on political freedom. The chief stepped down in 1969 amid rising dissent.
Ayubs father, Gohar Ayub Khan, who died in November, was additionally outstanding in Pakistans political historical past. He was a retired military officer and politician who within the Nineteen Nineties held posts because the speaker of the Nationwide Meeting, overseas affairs minister, and minister for water and energy.
He has over 20 years of expertise in politics
Ayubs political profession began in 2002, when he was elected to the Nationwide Meeting as a candidate of the conservative Pakistan Muslim League (Q). He served because the Minister of State for Finance between 2004 and 2007 however misplaced his seat within the Nationwide Meeting within the 2008 election. Re-elected to the Nationwide Meeting in 2014, he left his seat in 2015 after the Supreme Court docket dominated in favor of a petition by his opponent, PTI candidate Raja Aamir Zaman, that claimed the election was rigged.
In 2018, after he was once more elected into the Nationwide Meeting, this time as a PTI candidate, he was appointed power minister in Imran Khans cupboard, and he later took on the extra position of petroleum minister in 2019. Throughout a cupboard reshuffle in 2021, Ayub was appointed finance minister, a job that he relinquished one yr later amid mass resignations of lawmakers loyal to an ousted Khan.
He was educated within the U.S.
Ayub obtained his bachelors and masters levels in enterprise administration from the George Washington College in Washington, D.C., in 1993 and 1996, in keeping with a biography by the Pakistan Board of Funding that additionally described Ayub as an eminent determine of Pakistans political enviornment identified for his oratory, financial and administration expertise.
Imran Khan has lengthy been a vocal critic of the U.S., which he beforehand blamed for his 2022 ousterthough he has since adopted a softer diplomatic method. In the meantime, Ayubs stance on the U.S. is unclear, although as power minister in 2021 he courted stronger bilateral ties and U.S. funding in Pakistans power sector.
