Arsalan Taj Ghumman

Introduction

Arsalan Taj Ghumman, is a Commerce Graduate from University of Karachi and ACCA foundation level student. He belongs to a middle class non-politicized family. His political struggle started at Insaf Students Federation (ISF), student wing of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, in 2009. After being an active member of the organization, he was then appointed as the first Senior Vice President Karachi Division in September 2010 and later promoted to the position of Secretary General Insaf Students Federation Karachi Division in November 2010.

He was the first elected President ISF Karachi in August 2011. Karachi Jalsa was held in his tenure as President ISF Karachi. He is considered as the one of the unsung heroes behind the success of PTI massive rally at Mazar-e-Quaid on 25 December 2011. He worked at this position up till June 2012. He was then appointed as Vice President ISF Pakistan (Head of Marketing Department) in September 2012. He is currently the Central Secretary General of ISF Pakistan, he is also a vibrant part of PTI’s Social Media Team.

He was among four youth members of Youth Task Force who had presented Youth Policy of PTI in November 2012. He is the core member of the committee who had worked hard for the constitution of ISF which later was approved by the Chairman which led to the centralization of ISF.

Arsalan Ghumman is one of the honored 25% young members who were nominated by Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Mr. Imran Khan to represent PTI as candidates in elections 2013. He contested in General Election 2013 for the provincial constituency PS-118.

Socio-political activism

Arsalan developed his interest in politics after getting inspired from the struggle of Lawyers during "Lawyers Movement". He participated in the lawyer’s movement against the illegal acts of the dictator and struggled hard for the fundamental citizen rights. He through his dedication and hard work became one of the most devoted and inspiring youth leaders among the students. He strongly supports the idea to de-weaponize the educational institutes and disarm the student organization. He considers "Ballot" as the effective tool for change in the society and rejects the use of "Bullet".

In the Floods 2010 in Pakistan, Arsalan along with his young team established a flood relief camp at NIPA, Gulshan-e-Iqbal Karachi which was later converted into Pukaar Campaign, a joint effort by Mir Khalil-ur-Rehman Foundation and Imran Khan Flood Relief Fund. The Flood relief camp existed at NIPA for more than 40 days; it helped the Pukaar Campaign to collect millions of rupees for the flood affected people of Interior Sindh. Arsalan Ghumman spent his Eid along with Imran Khan in Jamshoro among flood affected people.

During his tenure as President ISF Karachi he raised the voice of youth and students on various issue especially violence in educational institution, cheating culture, increase in education budget and other related issues. In 2011, He also led the Movement against devolution of Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) and held two-days hunger strike sit-in at Karachi Press Club; on the second day morning of hunger strike Chief Justice of Pakistan took notice of the matter and took sou-moto action against the devolution of HEC. In 2012, He also led the protests movement against awarding of honorary Ph.D degree of University of Karachi to Interior Minister Rehman Malik by Governor of Sindh Province Dr Ishrat-ul-Ibad. Arsalan criticized the Governor for awarding honorary degree to a person who was responsible for the thousands of killings in the country and especially in Karachi City. Arsalan played an important role in building awareness about the force deposition of HEC Director Sohail Naqvi. ISF filed petition in Islamabad High Court and which was successfully taken up by the Supreme Court.

Arsalan has always raised his voice against feudalism and he also raised voice against the killing of Shahzeb Khan, a student of Greenwich University Karachi, by an influential feudal. He also initiated awareness campaigns for Voters registration, Education for all; and led protests against Drone Attacks by US, Release of US spy Raymond Davis, Sectarian Killings and other national issues.

PTI Candidate for PS-118 Karachi in Elections 2013

Arsalan Taj Ghumman was awarded the party ticket for Provincial Assembly of Sindh Constituency PS-118 Gulshan-e-Iqbal. He was supported by the famous youth icons of Pakistan i.e. international acclaimed rock-band artists Salman Ahmed of Junoon Band, Mani the famous TV artists. It is also claimed that famous international cricketer-star Shahid Khan Afridi also voted for Arsalan Taj Ghumman in Elections 2013. During his campaign he Arsalan led a very successful election campaign and it was acclaimed by most critics that his election campaign was one of the most effective campaigns in Karachi.

Despite receiving Taliban support in the 2013 elections, Ghumman secured only a runner-up position.

Movement against rigging in elections 2013

On 12 May, the very next day of Elections, PTI along with civil society activists launched a protest movement against the massive rigging. Arsalan played a vital role in organizing the protest rallies in various parts of the city and in his own constituency. He led two massive protests in his constituency at Hassan Square and Millennium Mall. Arsalan was appreciated for his role in the movement and he also appeared on various TV talk shows to represent the point of view of young Karachiets.