Arif Alvi: An activist who wants to be an ‘Active President’

The two chambers of the Parliament – National Assembly and Senate – and four provincial assemblies elected Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Arif Alvi as 13th President of Pakistan with a sizable majority.

Dr. Arif ur Rehman Alvi is a founding member and former Secretary-General of Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI). He was born on 29th August 1949.

A dentist by profession, Alvi was the president of the Asia-Pacific Dental Federation and of the Pakistan Dental Association.

Read: Arif Alvi says he won’t be an ‘inactive president’

Dr. Arif Alvi had previously contested the 1997 general elections as a provincial assembly candidate from DHA area and then later again in the 2002 general elections as a National Assembly candidate. He, however, lost to his opponents in both the elections.

He served as PTI Secretary-General from 2006 till March 22, 2013.

In 2013 he was elected a Member of the National Assembly from the Constituency NA-250 Karachi. He is the original author of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party constitution.

Alvi started out his political career serving as the president of the student union at the de’Montmonrency College of Dentistry in Lahore, Pakistan.

In 1969, during General Ayub Khan era Dr. Alvi was active in the student movement and fought for democracy in Pakistan. During one of the protests on The Mall Road, Lahore he was shot and wounded and still proudly carries a bullet embedded in his left arm as a mark of his struggle for democracy in Pakistan.

He was the Jamaat-e-Islami candidate for a Sindh Assembly constituency in 1979. However, the military government of General Zia, cancelled the schedule for general elections.

He was appointed the President of PTI Sindh Chapter in 1997. In 2001, he was promoted to Vice President of PTI. In 2006, Dr. Arif Alvi became the Secretary General of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf until 2013, when he was replaced by Parvez Khattak.