Pakistan President Arif Alvi’s father was dentist to Jawaharlal Nehru
An interesting connection of Pakistan's newly-elected President Dr Arif Alvi with India has emerged. According to the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, Alvi’s father was a dentist to India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. This however, is not the only connection that Alvi has with India. He is yet another president whose family had migrated to Pakistan from India after partition.
Alvi’s predecessors Mamnoon Hussain's family came from Agra and Pervez Musharraf's parents had migrated from New Delhi.
A close ally of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, 69-year-old Alvi was elected as the new president of the country on Tuesday.
Alvi’s biography on the ruling PTI party’s website has revealed that his father, Dr Habib ur Rehman Elahi Alvi, was Nehru’s dentist before partition.
"Dr Elahi Alvi was a dentist to Jawaharlal Nehru and the family has letters from Mr Nehru to Dr Alvi in their possession," according to the website.
Apart from his political struggle, Alvi is also a professional dentist.
He acquired his dental degree BDS (Dentistry) from de'Montmonrency College of Dentistry and Master of Science degree in Prosthodontics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 1975 and Master of Science in Orthodontics in 1984 from University of the Pacific, San Francisco.
Alvi contested his first election for the PTI in 1997 but lost. His affiliation with the party continued and he steadily rose in its ranks.
The new president of Pakistan served as the Secretary-General of the PTI from 2006 till 2013.
He was elected as a Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from Constituency NA-250 Karachi in 2013 and was re-elected in July 2018.
The new president is married with Samina Alvi and the couple have four children.
