Newsmakers 2018: Jehangir Tareen – Hard man to shake off

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    For a man that was disqualified in the December of 2017 from his seat in parliament for not meeting the standards of sadaqat and amanat set out in articles 62 and 63 of the constitution, Jehangir Tareen has done quite well for himself. After his disqualification, he had resigned as General Secretary of the PTI. His son Ali Tareen had caused controversy by contesting for his father’s seat, and then losing it to a relatively unknown PML-N politician in the by-polls. In short, it was embarrassing.

    But to his credit, and much to the chagrin of some others in the party, Imran Khan stuck to his guns and refused to accept Tareen’s resignation. Since then, he seems to be an even larger figure in the PTI cadre than before. There were of course some fireworks between him and Shah Mehmood Qureshi when the elections rolled around, but nothing that a couple of private jet rides could not fix. Even after the elections were done, Tareen was once again out and about with his trusty steed rounding up every stray independent candidate he could. His efforts helped Imran Khan become Prime Minister with no cold sweats, and more importantly securing a majority in the Punjab Assembly. No surprises then that the whispers have him holding the reins in the Punjab. Whatever credence there may be in the puppetmaster theory, Jehangir Tareen does remains a mover and shaker.