Ashraf Jabbar Qureshi is a founding member of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf. His affiliation with the political party and PTI Chairman Imran Khan spans over 26 years.
Discussing the beginning of his career and his first brushes with politics with ToK, Qureshi said “I first joined politics when I joined the Jamat-i-Islami’s Paasbaan committee in Karachi. I became its president and then even after JI stopped its affiliation with the project, I continued to support it and remained president for another year.”
“I joined PTI when we realised that a visionary like Imran Khan needed a political platform to bring about the change that he wished to see in the country. I basically became a part o PTI before PTI even came to be,” Qureshi said, talking about his commitment to reforming the country and specifically Karachi into a visionary state using PTI’s platform. His commitment to the PTI is evident in the fact that he was the Founding Chief of the Imran Tigers Force.
Over the course of his political career, Qureshi has been the president of PTI Karachi and Sindh separately. He was also elected the Deputy Secretary General of Sindh at one point.
“1996, the year the party was formed was a tough year for us. But even in the face of all the opposition we were facing from other parties when the 1996 operation against MQM happened, I suggested to Khan Saab that we should visit 90 and we did because, since the beginning, Imran Khan has been against the idea of holding operations against any one group in urban areas. While we showed our support to them, we continued to get opposition from our political opponents.”
“The thing was that our slogans and mottos were against corruption and for accountability, so for them, we were not really political rivals but people who were against their illegal earnings and that was their real problem with us, so, of course, the opposition w have faced has always been strong.”
“All of that said, we have always taken the peaceful route and defeated them via ballot which is why we have no political shaheeds in the party, no one has lost their lives in a political battle from our party.”
Qureshi has contested the elections as a candidate from NA 243, NA 253, and PS 94. He has also been a covering candidate for the Senate. One of Qureshi’s most significant achievements has been that he has contested 7 elections from the areas that are considered to be no-go areas of Karachi.
Qureshi had the honour of being the first nominated candidate for Mayor Karachi back in 2001. He is currently also contesting the elections for Karachi Mayor’s office.
Speaking of his plans for the city in the event that he is nominated mayor, Qureshi said that he wishes to ensure that Karachi gets its fair share in the national economy. “I truly believe that every young citizen from Karachi should have fair representation from here, that the people deserve to live in a city where sewage is fixed, where roads are not broken and where they get water through their taps rather than through tankers. I as mayor will ensure that I fight this fight for our people and that I win it so that after years of deprivation the people of Karachi can finally have the basic rights that they deserve.”
