Arif Alvi

Arif Alvi is a Pakistani politician and former dentist who served as the 13th president of Pakistan from September 2018 to March 2024. He began his political journey in 1979 by joining Jamaat-e-Islami before later becoming a founding member of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

Early life and education

Arif Alvi was born on 29 July 1949 in Karachi. His father, Habib-ur-Rehman Elahi Alvi, was a dentist who migrated from Lucknow, British India, to Karachi following the establishment of Pakistan. The elder Alvi opened a dental clinic in Saddar Town and maintained political affiliations with Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan. According to the PTI website, his father served as a dentist for Jawaharlal Nehru.

Alvi attended the Anglican Karachi Grammar School but was expelled after his father campaigned against compulsory catechism. He moved to Lahore in 1967 to pursue studies in dentistry. He earned a Bachelor of Dental Surgery from De'Montmorency College of Dentistry. Later, he completed a master's degree in prosthodontics at the University of Michigan in 1975. He also obtained a master's degree in orthodontics from the University of the Pacific in San Francisco in 1984.

After returning to Pakistan, he established the Alvi Dental Hospital to practice his profession.

Career

Alvi entered politics as a student leader while attending De'Montmorency College of Dentistry. He joined the Islami Jamiat Talaba, which is the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, and served as president of the student union. During a protest at The Mall in Lahore in 1969, he was shot twice while criticizing the Ayub Khan regime. A bullet remains lodged in his body from that event.

He ran for a seat in the Provincial Assembly of Sindh as a Jamaat-e-Islami candidate in 1979 but did not win. He resigned from the party in 1988 because he felt disillusioned with their political focus. In 1996, he joined Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf as a founding member and helped prepare the party constitution. He served as the president of the PTI Sindh chapter in 1997 and later became the vice president of the party in 2001. Following his tenure as secretary general from 2006 to 2013, he successfully entered the National Assembly.

He was elected to the National Assembly from NA-250 Karachi-XII in 2013 after receiving 77,659 votes. He secured re-election in 2018 from NA-247 Karachi South-II with 91,020 votes. During the 2014 Tsunami March, police invoked the Anti-Terrorism Act against him for allegedly inciting violence. However, the Anti-Terrorism Court granted him pre-arrest bail in 2018 regarding cases related to attacks on Parliament House and PTV.

Alvi was nominated as the PTI candidate for the presidency on 18 August 2018. He won the election on 4 September 2018 by receiving 352 electoral votes, defeating Fazal-ur-Rehman and Aitzaz Ahsan. He was sworn into office on 9 September 2018 to succeed Mamnoon Hussain. During his presidency, he initiated the Presidential Initiative for Artificial Intelligence & Computing in 2018. He dissolved the National Assembly on 3 April 2022 upon the advice of Prime Minister Imran Khan. His term officially ended on 8 March 2024.

In his professional dental career, he held several leadership roles. He served as Chairman of the first Pakistan International Dental Conference in 1981 and the third conference in 1987. He was also the Patron of the Fifth Pakistan International Dental Conference. In 1997, he became a Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics. He served as the President of Asia Pacific Dental Federation in 2006 and as a Councillor of the FDI World Dental Federation in 2007.

Personal life

Alvi is the son of Habib-ur-Rehman Elahi Alvi. He belongs to the third group of Pakistani presidents whose families migrated from India after the Partition.