Imran Khan’s Party Nominates Umar Ayub Khan As Prime Ministerial Candidate

The prime ministerial candidate nominated by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s party on Thursday declared that his first priority would be to get Khan and other party leaders out of jail.

Umar Ayub Khan, 54, who is the party secretary general, is the grandson of former military dictator Ayub Khan. He had joined Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) before the 2018 general elections after losing the 2013 polls as a candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) from Haripur in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

“I am truly humbled to have been nominated for contesting the position of Prime Minister by Prime Minister Imran Khan sahib. I will try my utmost to come up to the expectations of Prime Minister Imran Khan sahib, PTI members and the people of Pakistan,” he posted on his official X handle, both in English and in a separate post in Urdu.

“Our first priority as a group will be to have Prime Minister Imran Khan sahib, Vice Chairman Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureishi sahib, President Chaudhry Pervez Ellahi sahib and all our women and men political prisoners released from Jail immediately,” he added.

Due to the fractured mandate with none of the parties getting a clear majority, Pakistan is yet to get a new government. Even when more than 100 independents backed by Khan’s PTI party won the February 8 polls, has alleged that its mandate was stolen.

If those troubles were any less, over the last three days, some of the independents have joined the possible coalition to be formed by PTI’s rival parties.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has announced that its President Shehbaz Sharif, 72, will be its prime ministerial candidate. The former prime minister is supported by the Pakistan Peoples Party and four other smaller parties.

“I am hopeful that Umar Ayub Khan will be elected as Prime Minister,” former PTI speaker Asad Qaiser said while talking to media persons after meeting Khan in the Adiala Jail at Rawalpindi, where he has been lodged since September last year.

Separately, PTI top leader Gohar Khan also confirmed that Umar Ayub Khan was nominated as PM by Imran Khan himself. “We will try our best that our candidate wins,” he said, talking to the media.

Umar Ayub Khan belongs to the Haripur district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and is a grandson of former military dictator Ayub Khan. He won from National Assembly Constituency NA-18 and also served thrice as a member of the National Assembly.

He was elected as a member of the National Assembly for the first time on the ticket of Pakistan Muslim League-Q in 2002 and was the Minister of State for Finance from 2004 to 2007 during the regime of former military dictator Pervez Musharraf.

He was the candidate of Pakistan Muslim League-N from Haripur in the year 2013 but was defeated by a PTI candidate. He alleged rigging and re-voting was held in seven polling stations of this constituency and Umar Ayub Khan won after re-polling.

He joined the PTI before the 2018 general elections and won on the party ticket. Later he served as Minister for Economic Affairs in the PTI government.

Meanwhile, Gohar Khan also said that the party founder nominated Mian Aslam Iqbal as the candidate for the chief minister of Punjab while Salar Saheb was nominated as the chief minister candidate for the Balochistan assembly.