Arif Alvi

Dr. Arif Alvi (Urdu: عارف علوی‎)
Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan
Incumbent
Assumed office 19 May 2013
Preceded by	Khushbakht Shujaat
Constituency	Constituency NA-250 Karachi
Secretary General of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
In office 2006 – 22 March 2013
Appointed by	Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Mr. Imran Khan
President	Imran Khan
Vice President	Hamid Khan (lawyer)
Deputy	Saifullah Khan Niazi
Succeeded by	Parvez Khattak
Constituency	Karachi
Personal details
Born	(1949-08-29) 29 August 1949 Karachi
Nationality	Pakistan
Political party	Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
Spouse(s)	Samina Alvi
Children	Awab Alvi, Naima Alvi Bawany, Marhama Ali Shah, Radhia Alvi Sumar
Alma mater	University of the Pacific MSc University of Michigan MSc University of the Punjab BDS
Occupation	Dentist
Profession	Prosthodontist Orthodontist
Religion	Muslim
Website	na250.com

Arif Alvi (عارف علوی) (b. 29 August 1949, Karachi) is a Pakistani politician, dentist and a parliamentarian. Dr. Arif Alvi is the founding member of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and was the Secretary-General of the party from 2006 till 22 March 2013 where then succeeded by Parvez Khattak. Dr. Arif Alvi had previously contested the 1997 general elections as a provincial assembly candidate and later again in the 2002 general elections as a National Assembly candidate. In 2013 he won as a Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from Constituency NA-250 Karachi defeating MQM's candidate Khushbakht Shujaat with 76,305 votes. He has been the original author of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party constitution and is known to write occasionally on a blog titled Teeth Maestro.^[1][2]

Education

Dr Arif Alvi is a dentist by profession and has been recognised as one of the leading dentists in Karachi. His father Dr. Habib ur Rehman Elahi Alvi and his grandfather practised dentistry initially in India and then later migrated to Pakistan in 1947 and opened a dental practice in Saddar, Karachi. Dr. Arif Alvi was the first one to acquire a formal dental degree, with BDS (Dentistry) from de'Montmonrency College of Dentistry an affiliate of University of Punjab. He then received a Master of Science degree in Prosthodontics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 1975 and later went to University of the Pacific, San Francisco, completing a Master of Science in Orthodontics in 1984. Dr. Alvi is now in full-time dental practice at his Alvi Dental Hospital^[3] based in Sindhi Muslim Society, Karachi. In 1997 Dr. Arif Alvi was declared a Diplomat of the American Board of Orthodontics^[4][5]

Political history

Arif 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, Dr. Alvi was active in the student movement during General Ayub Khan era 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 PS in 1979. However, elections were not held.^[6] Dr. Alvi was one of the founding members of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in 1996. He has been serving in the CEC since 1996. 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. Dr. Arif Alvi contested as a Sindh Provincial Assembly candidate from Defence / Clifton area in 1997 and later in 2002 as an National Assembly candidate from the Baldia, Karachi area, in both these elections he lost in the general elections.

Finally after a political struggle of 17 years he won the National Assembly seat from NA-250 Karachi^[7] in the general elections held in 2013. The elections were initially held on 11 May but was plagued by election irregularities and the Election Commission of Pakistan decided to re-poll 42 polling stations out of a total of 186 polling stations, on the 19th May securing 17,489 votes which were tallied with votes held on 11 May, Dr. Arif was declared victorious with 76,305 votes combined from voting held on both dates.^[8]

Constituency Efforts

Ever since the elections in 2013 Dr Arif has a tremendous team of volunteers helping him manage the NA-250 Constituency. Two offices are located in the area one for the DHA residents primarily known as the PS-113 office on Zamzama (address: 20-D, 14th Street, Khy-e-Shamsheer, DHA-4) which works with the assistance of MPA Samar Ali Khan,^[9] while the other at Khadda Market for the Clifton and Saddar areas called the PS-112 office (address: E-23, 2nd. Zamzama Commercial Lane, DHA-5) which works in combination with MPA Khurrum Sher Zaman^[10]

National Assembly Work

Dr Arif Alvi while in the National Assembly has taken extensive part in legislative work, he maintains an online blog of his activities in the parliament, he has been active in the Protection of Pakistan Bill,^[11] the Anti-Terror Action Plan,^[12] the Anti-Terror Ordinance #7^[13] & #8,^[14] he also voiced his concerns on the issue of Reasonable Apprehension before Firing^[15] as stipulated in the Pakistan Protection Ordinance.

NA-250 Work

The NA-250 team has a strong focus on resolving issues of the area, from basic health, education, water & environment along with abundant other problems of the area. Being in the opposition of the Sindh Assembly the MP's of the area face constant hindrance from the Sindh govt, but continue to lobby to resolve the issues as best as possible.

Rebuilding the Railway School

More recently due to the efforts of Dr Arif Alvi, the have partnered with The Citizens Foundation, to revamp the Railway School near Kalapul Karachi, to its old 1963 glory, this massive school has deteriorated over time from a potential to house over 2000 children has been reduced to a mere 200+ children enrolled, with the TCF the aim is to upgrade this school to better edcuate students of the area

Dental Services

Dr. Arif Alvi has been the President of the Pakistan Dental Association. He was Chairman of the first Pakistan International Dental Conference in 1981. In 1987 too he was Chairman of the Third Pakistan International Dental Conference which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Junejo. He was the Patron of the Fifth Pakistan International Dental Conference inaugurated by the President of Pakistan, and then the Chairman of the 28th Asia Pacific Dental Congress.^[16] Dr. Arif Alvi has been awarded the Fellowships of: International College of Dentists, The American College of Dentists and The Pierre Fauchard Academy in recognition of his outstanding academic, clinical and professional achievements. He is the Dean of the Faculty of Orthodontics of the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan.

Dr. Alvi has been practising dentistry since 1972 with numerous international achievements in the field of dentistry. In 2006 he was elected as the President of Asia Pacific Dental Federation.^[17] In 2007 he was elected as a councillor^[18] in the FDI World Dental Federation, the first time a Pakistani who has represented Pakistan in this arena

See also

• Ali Zaidi
• Asad Umar

References

External links

• Alvi Dental Hospital
• NA-250 Constituency Website