Tehreek-e-Insaf’s prime ministerial candidate is also a jet pilot

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday nominated former federal minister and party secretary general Umar Ayub Khan as its candidate for the post of prime minister.

He was born in Rehana village of Haripur district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 1970 in a family with political and military background and completed his primary education from Army Barnhall College, Abbottabad.

Later, after completing high school from Aitchison College, Lahore, he obtained a bachelor’s and master’s degree in business administration from George Washington University, USA.

Lucky Marwat is the father-in-law of influential political figure and former federal minister Anwar Saifullah Umar Ayub, while his wife is the granddaughter of former President of Pakistan Ghulam Ishaq Khan.

He was included in the list of ‘Global Young Leaders’ by the World Economic Forum in 2007 for innovative entrepreneurship and other economic services in Pakistan.

According to the profile of Umar Ayub published on the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development (PLDAT) website, he founded the polymer industry in 1997 and was also the head of Universal Health Insurance founded by his father.

He also chaired the 2007 USAID-supported economic project.

Political journey of Umar Ayub

Umar Ayub’s father Gauhar Ayub, mother Zeb Gauhar Ayub, wife and brother Arshad Ayub have been members of various assemblies.

His father Gohar Ayub retired from the Pakistan Army as a captain and became the Foreign Minister of Pakistan in 1997 under Nawaz Sharif.

His grandfather Muhammad Ayub Khan was the first Marshal of Pakistan in 1958, who later became the President of Pakistan.

Umar Ayub’s father Gohar Ayub was a part of Pakistan Muslim League (N) from 1990 to 1999. However, after the imposition of martial law by Pervez Musharraf, Gohar Ayub joined the Pakistan Muslim League-Q.

Umar Ayub was first elected as a member of the National Assembly in 2002. According to Puldat, in 2004 he was made the Minister of State for Finance.

After the 2008 general elections Gauhar Ayub rejoined PML-N, Umar Ayub also joined PML-N with his father.

In 2013, Umar Ayub contested the election from Haripur and was defeated in the preliminary results. However, in 2014, the Election Commission declared him successful on a revision appeal.

After the decision of the Supreme Court in 2015, it was decided to hold elections again in this constituency.

Travel with PTI

Umar Ayub was elected Member of National Assembly from Haripur after joining PTI in 2018.

From 2018 to 2022, he was Federal Minister for Water and Power, Economic Affairs and Minister of Petroleum on various occasions.

Kamal Hussain is a local journalist of Haripur and belongs to Umar Ayub’s village.

He said that today if Umar Ayub is respected in the area, it is because of his grandfather and former military dictator Ayub Khan and father Gohar Ayub.

According to Kamal Hussain, his grandfather gave a great gift to the people of the area in the form of electricity in 1958.

He said, “At that time there was no electricity in the big cities of Pakistan, but there was electricity in Haripur and the wooden electricity poles of that time are still there.”

He further said that when Umar’s father Gohar Ayub was the foreign minister in 1998, at that time Pakistan carried out nuclear explosions, due to which this family has great respect.

According to Kamal Hussain, one criticism of Umar Ayub is that he changed parties in his political journey.

Umar Ayub told the Discover Pakistan channel in an interview two years ago that he has a passion for paragliding, which he started a few years ago.

According to Umar Ayub, he has a license to fly commercial and jet aircraft and can fly various types of aircraft.

According to him, during his student days in America, he used to fulfill his passion for flying airplanes in his spare time.

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