Army brat to Pakistan’s ‘anti-establishment’ face: Who is Omar Ayub Khan? | Politics News | USAEMALL.com

Islamabad, Pakistan – Moments after Pakistan’s newly-elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif concluded his victory speech amid a ruckus in parliament, Omar Ayub Khan bought as much as tackle the home from the opposition benches.

Posters of Imran Khan, the chairman of Omar’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) get together and a former Pakistani prime minister, have been pasted on his desk and on these of his colleagues.

Wearing a red-and-green scarf, the colors of his PTI, 54-year-old Omar invoked a line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “There is something rotten in the system of Pakistan today.”

According to Imran Khan, what’s rotten is the function of Pakistan’s army institution – which the previous cricket captain-turned-politician accused of interfering within the nation’s politics to take away him from energy in 2022, a cost the military denies.

Omar, in any other case a eager journey sports activities fanatic with a ardour for aviation and skydiving, has been much more circumspect, coaching his weapons on the political events which have mixed to kind the federal government: Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and different smaller events.

“Their faces betray the fact they are unhappy. They know a theft took place,” he stated in parliament, trying on the authorities benches. “They know the system cannot function like this. They have stolen our mandate.”

Yet the speech cemented his standing because the parliamentary face of a celebration that seems to be relishing its stature as a pressure that has challenged the function of the army in Pakistan’s politics.

It is a legacy that Omar is aware of higher than most.

It was his grandfather General Ayub Khan who delivered the primary devastating blow to Pakistan’s fledgling democracy when he grew to become its first martial regulation administrator in 1958 and dominated the nation for the following 11 years. Ayub’s tenure put in place a template that others would comply with: Military rulers have straight ruled Pakistan for greater than 30 of its 77 years as an unbiased nation.

Now, Ayub’s grandson is pitching a brand new path for Pakistan, using on the recognition of the PTI, which defied the chances within the February 8 elections to emerge because the get together whose candidates gained essentially the most seats, regardless of not even with the ability to use their get together image.

But the PTI was not Omar Ayub Khan’s first political calling. Or even his second.

Party-hopper to PTI loyalist

Until 2018, Omar Ayub Khan was often known as a party-hopper in Pakistan. He contested the 2008, 2013 and 2018 elections representing three completely different events, making him one of the crucial talked-about turncoats within the nation.

That notion started to shift almost two years in the past when Imran Khan was voted out of energy in parliament by means of a no-confidence movement, which the PTI accused the army of engineering.

To protest his elimination and demand a snap election, Imran Khan, with tens of hundreds of his supporters, deliberate an extended march from Peshawar City to the capital Islamabad in May 2022, and gave the duty of organising the protest to Omar.

But the march was met with a brutal crackdown by the federal government. Omar was amongst those that have been thrashed viciously.

“As I was trying to navigate past the obstacles to allow Khan’s container to pass through, police unleashed their fury on me, beating me non-stop with sticks,” Omar informed Al Jazeera on Sunday as he sat for an interview in the lounge of his residence in Islamabad’s leafy F-6 neighbourhood, hours after his speech within the parliament.

A pink carpet coated the ground of the huge room, with mirrors lining the partitions.

Omar cleared his throat – it was itchy, he stated, and apologised – as he recalled the assault two years in the past, which left him hospitalised for 3 days.

“I had vertigo, which I never got [previously] despite being an aviator. I had bruises all over my body. My ear drum almost ruptured. The doctors said if the beating on my back was merely inches above, I would have had irreversible spinal injury,” he stated.

Meanwhile, photographs of his bruised physique went viral – sealing his place as a distinguished chief of the PTI.

For a person whose household has been part of Pakistan’s elite since even earlier than independence, it was a turning level.

His great-grandfather was a cavalry officer within the British military through the colonial rule over the subcontinent. Omar’s grandfather Ayub Khan dominated over Pakistan for greater than a decade (1958-1969) with an iron hand, giving the nation its second structure in 1962, whereas additionally conducting elections in the identical decade, which have been rife with accusations of manipulation.

Omar’s father, Gohar Ayub, additionally briefly served within the army earlier than becoming a member of politics and rising to be the speaker of the National Assembly in addition to a international minister below three-time Prime Minister and PMLN supremo Nawaz Sharif within the Nineteen Nineties.

Omar’s mom, Zeb Gohar Ayub, was the daughter of Habibullah Khattak, a prime army basic within the Sixties who was seen as one of many contenders to grow to be the military chief. Similarly, his maternal uncle, Ali Kuli Khan, was additionally touted as a possible candidate for the military chief within the late Nineteen Nineties.

Yet, when the safety forces determined to unleash their fury on Omar, none of that mattered.

Musharraf’s man

Omar was born on January 26, 1970, in Karachi, the nation’s largest metropolis – and its first capital earlier than his grandfather moved it to Islamabad within the early Sixties – within the southern province of Sindh. His household, although, belongs to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s city of Haripur within the Hazara area, roughly 125km (77 miles) from the present capital.

He says his earliest reminiscences are of quite a few visits to Peshawar jail within the mid-Nineteen Seventies the place his father, Gohar Ayub Khan, was imprisoned by then-Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Gohar fought the 1977 elections from jail and gained, marking his entry into parliament. Slightly greater than a decade later, he turned to Omar to assist.

“I went to the United States in 1989 to study but the next year, my father asked me if I could take a semester off to help him run the election campaign,” Omar informed Al Jazeera.

Omar watched his father grow to be a key PMLN chief within the Nineteen Nineties whereas he completed his grasp’s diploma in enterprise research from George Washington University within the US.

Following a army coup by General Pervez Musharraf in 1999, which overthrew the then-Nawaz Sharif authorities, the PMLN discovered itself abandoned by a lot of leaders, together with Omar’s father Gohar, who joined the breakaway Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PMLQ) get together.

After declaring himself the president in 2001, Musharraf carried out an election the next yr, which Omar’s father was declared ineligible to contest.

So Omar contested on the PMLQ ticket and have become a parliamentarian for the primary time. His mom Zeb additionally grew to become a member of a seat reserved for girls for a similar get together.

He rose to grow to be a parliamentary secretary and ultimately, a cupboard minister between 2004 and 2007, below the premiership of Shaukat Aziz.

Defending his tenure below a army ruler’s authorities, Omar stated these have been the times of fast-paced financial and technological adjustments, which have been necessary for the individuals.

“There was a boom in different sectors. TV channels emerged and telecoms came to Pakistan. It was a period of development and delivery, which is what my constituents wanted,” he stated. “You work for your people, your constituents. They vote for you to resolve their development issues. The ideological framework did not exist in politics then.”

However, he misplaced the 2008 basic election, held solely months after the assassination of former two-time Prime Minister and PPP chief Benazir Bhutto. The PPP went on to kind the federal government.

‘You help us, we’ll provide help to’

For the entire democratic beliefs that Omar champions, it’s chilly political pragmatism that has been his fixed ally.

After his loss within the 2008 election, Omar says the PMLN approached him in 2011.

“Despite my father’s connections with the PMLN, I never developed any personal relations with the Sharifs. So, when PMLN’s local team approached me, they said, ‘You help us; we will help you,’ and that’s how I joined the PMLN,” he defined.

However, he stated, the PMLN was not his most well-liked get together then. “The PTI was an emerging force at the time, and while we had good terms with Imran Khan’s family, I never personally knew him. I was keen to join them but they picked my rival in the area, so I went with the party that offered me a place.”

While Omar gained a seat within the 2013 elections, contesting for the PMLN in opposition to his PTI rival, his victory was short-lived. In 2015, the Supreme Court ordered a re-poll on the seat because of “irregularities”.

Omar determined to not contest the polls because of his mom’s sickness; the previous parliamentarian handed away later that very same yr.

While nonetheless a part of the PMLN, Omar stated he was contacted by the PTI’s staff in his constituency in 2018, merely months earlier than the overall elections.

“Upon receiving an invite from Imran Khan to visit Bani Gala, his residence in Islamabad, I visited where he warmly embraced me and welcomed me to the fold. I have always admired him,” he stated.

Asad Umar, a former federal minister and Omar’s predecessor as PTI’s secretary basic, informed Al Jazeera that whereas he solely met Omar after he joined the get together, their working relationship flourished instantly.

Calling his former colleague a “humble, mature” politician, Umar stated the present secretary basic was somebody who has an “outstanding” understanding of macro-political points.

“He is deeply connected with his constituency and works closely with them. But with his family pedigree, he is also keenly aware of our system and he is someone with high integrity,” Umar informed Al Jazeera.

He additionally defended his pal and former cupboard colleague’s determination to modify events, saying that earlier than PTI’s emergence in 2011, most political events functioned in the same method and have been very conventional of their strategy.

“Since joining PTI, I can tell you that Omar has always exhibited behaviour that is consistent with the party’s ideology. Our political parties are divided on ideological lines. It will be rare to see a top PTI official joining the ranks of the PPP or PMLN – or vice-versa,” he added.

Defiance or desperation?

If Omar is that uncommon politician, his critics query the intentions behind his earlier choices to modify events and his present stance of standing by the PTI, asking whether it is “defiance” or “desperation”.

“Is he loyal to the PTI? Or is it forced because nobody is willing to associate with him among other political parties? It is not a revolution; it is out of necessity,” a political rival who requested anonymity informed Al Jazeera, including that Imran Khan’s imprisonment because of a number of convictions may lead others within the PTI to see it as a chance to rise to the highest.

Journalist Azaz Syed stated that Omar Ayub “figured out” that solely with the PTI may he rise to the highest tier, one thing he failed to realize with different events.

“He is now in tier 1 in the PTI, and he also saw how popular the party is. But if you notice his speeches closely, he is still not criticising the military at all, instead focusing on civilians,” he informed Al Jazeera.

When it got here to energy in 2018, the PTI was additionally accused of cosying as much as the army, till the connection between Imran Khan and the military soured.

Today, when the PTI is seen by many in Pakistan as railing in opposition to the institution – a euphemism for the army – Omar is treading a extra cautious line. He insists he’s nothing however a patriot.

“I have not met with military people. Sure, we have close family ties but I am a politician. My leader is a patriot and a democrat, and so am I. We will take parliamentary, democratic steps to recover our lost mandate,” he stated.

Islamabad-based journalist Syed added that if Omar is nominated because the get together’s opposition head, it is going to be a tactically smart move by the PTI.

It would present, he stated, that “the PTI is prepared, and even keen to barter with the institution.

“Omar has a past that hews closely to them, and while he knows what to say, more importantly, he also knows what not to say.”

Muhammad Ali Durrani, a longtime acquaintance in addition to a colleague within the cupboard below Musharraf’s rule, expressed comparable sentiments.

“For me, what stands out about Omar is his care. I have never seen him engage in loose talk. He is very careful, cautious and guarded in what he talks about,” the previous parliamentarian informed Al Jazeera.

A pacesetter from the PMLN, talking on situation of anonymity, informed Al Jazeera that having Omar on the helm in parliament offers the PTI a uncommon mixture: an in a position, skilled politician in cost, who may also assist pave the best way for his or her reconciliation with the institution.

“He is a very experienced politician and has relations with politicians as well as the establishment. He can deliver in parliament as an effective opposition leader, while also sending a message to the establishment to negotiate with and provide the party space without further agitation or provocation.”

In his speeches in parliament and in any other case, Omar has constantly demanded that the get together’s mandate be returned and was categorical that the choice to take a seat within the opposition, regardless of the get together successful the very best variety of seats, was a call made by get together chief Imran Khan – and one which he agrees with. It is a distinction from the final time the PTI was in opposition, through the PMLN authorities between 2013 and 2018, when Imran Khan’s get together carried out most of its politics on the streets, not in parliament.

“The last two years have hardened us, trained us. Khan has said this numerous times: we will not take a weak government. There is no compromise to be made with parties such as the PPP, which have ideologically nothing like us, which work on patronage and largesse, whereas we are a party represented by the whole country,” Omar stated.

“We will remain in opposition and give the government a tough time.”

‘New chapter’

At a time when Imran Khan is in jail, confronted with a deluge of circumstances and convictions – and the PTI is grappling with a crackdown on its leaders – Omar provides one other high quality to his get together chief: loyalty.

Even immediately, six years after being a part of the get together, Omar doesn’t know why or how he managed to get so near Khan, however provides clues.

“I think he saw my loyalty and my commitment, and trusted me,” Omar says.

After May 9 final yr, when Khan was briefly detained on corruption fees, a lot of get together staff stormed the streets and rioted.

The state retaliated, arresting and jailing hundreds of PTI supporters, whereas dozens of its leaders have been pressured to stop the get together – many below the alleged stress of the army.

Ahead of the February 8 vote, with PTI in clear ascendancy based on opinion polls, the get together’s election image was cancelled for violating electoral legal guidelines, forcing lots of of its candidates to struggle as independents.

Omar contested the National Assembly seat from Haripur in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the place his household roots lie, polling some 192,000 votes to defeat his PMLN rival.

The PTI, regardless of fees of rigging worsened by unusually delayed outcomes, emerged as the most important get together by successful 93 seats.

No political get together gained a transparent majority within the 336-member National Assembly however the PMLN with 75 seats and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) with 54 fashioned an alliance, like they did in 2022 to take away Imran Khan from energy.

With Khan in jail and barred from contesting, Omar was declared the PTI’s prime ministerial candidate – a mark of the deep belief his chief has in him because the get together struggled to remain within the race for energy.

“Credit must be given to him for withstanding the pressure. His resistance marks a new chapter for himself and his family history,” Durrani, the previous federal minister stated.

“He might have been tempted to leave PTI but instead, he chose to side with public sentiment in a pro-democratic act. Full marks to him.”