- Mumtaz Kahloon
-
Muhammed Mumtaz Akhtar Kahloon Chairman of the National Vocational & Technical Training Commission of Pakistan {NAVTTC) Incumbent Assumed office
21 December 2010President Asif Ali Zardari Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani Deputy Tariq Shafi Chak Preceded by Adnan Khawaja Personal details Born 1 November 1956
Sialkot, PakistanPolitical party Pakistan Peoples Party Residence Sargodha, Pakistan Alma mater University of the Punjab Religion Islam Mumtaz Akhtar Kahloon (born on 1st November 1956) is the current Chairman of the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission of Pakistan. He was appointed to this position by the incumbent Pakistani Prime Minister, Yousef Raza Gilani on 21st December 2010. This position holds the equivalent rank of a Federal Minister of the Government of Pakistan.
Contents
Family, Early life and Education
Mumtaz Kahloon was born in his ancestral village of Qaderabad-(Pasrur) in Sialkot on 1st November 1956. He hails from the Kahloon family of the Jat clan and is a descendant of two prominent Zaildars, Chaudhary Ghulam Mustafa Kahloon-(from Dholum) and Chaudhary Rehmat Khan-(from Khanawali) in British Colonial Punjab, from both from his paternal and maternal side. Kahloon descends from a leading land-holding family in Sialkot. His grandfather, Chaudhary Mohammedin Kahloon was a prominent figure in Sialkot and had a permanent seat in the City Senate of Sialkot. Kahloon is also the great grand nephew of the leading statesman and jurist of the 20th century, the late Sir Muhammad Zafarullah Khan and a nephew of the late Chaudhary Mumtaz Ahmed Kahloon, founder of the Pakistan Peoples' Party movement in Sargodha and ex-cabinet minister, for Welfare, Colonies and Auqaf.
Mumtaz Kahloon's then grew up in the city of Sargodha, after his late father (Chaudhary Sultan Ahmed Kahloon) moved from his ancestral village in Sialkot to look after his land estate in Sargodha. Kahloon graduated with a Bachelors in Arts from the University of the Punjab in 1981. He then moved to Saudi Arabia as a young entrepreneur in a country that was growing and developing as a result of the oil boom.
Business ventures
After having briefly worked in the accounts department of a leading transport company in Saudi Arabia (AUTORAM) in November 1981, which later become insolvent; Kahloon started his own trucking and transport business (OTE Trade and Transport Ltd.) with his Saudi business partner, Sheikh Omer Bin Saad in the beginning of 1982. OTE grew rapidly in the next two decades in Saudi Arabia with offices in Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam. In the summer of 1999, Kahloon decided to open a new business in Dubai and Sharjah, 'Qaswa General Land Trading'. Shortly after Kahloon formed another company, 'Masafi General Land Transport'. This company gained quick exposure and obtained lucrative contracts suchs as supplying the building materials for the palace of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (Ruler of Dubai).
In the winter of 2001, Kahloon opened a new courier service 'OTEX Express Service' in Saudi Arabia for partial cartons and cargo. This service now works throughout the Gulf Cooperation countries with 12 offices in Saudi Arabia, 2 offices in the United Arab Emirates, 1 office in Kuwait and 1 office in Bahrain. This business is now the leading partial cargo service in Saudi Arabia.
In the spring of 2006, Kahloon opened another business, 'CityLink Cargo' which entailed the import and export of material from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan and other Southeast Asian countries. In Pakistan, Kahloon opened up offices in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Multan, Peshawar and Sargodha.
In the summer of 2008, Kahloon opened another business, 'OTEX Automotives' which entailed the purchase and export of second-hand luxury vehicles from Canada and the Americas to the Middle East.
In early 2009, Kahloon was able to scure the sole distribution rights to the western province of Saudi Arabia from Shell Oil and formed another venture, "CityLink Lubricants".
Political Career
Mumtaz Akhtar Kahloon has been active on the political front from a very young age. He campaigned for his Uncle, Chaudhary Mumtaz Ahmed Kahloon in 1970s elections for the member of Provincial Assembly of the Punjab and was an active member of the Pakistan Peoples Party Youth Wing.
After moving to Saudi Arabia, Kahloon became active in the Peoples' Party group in Jeddah and after some years was elected 'Senior Vice President' of the Peoples' Party in 1993. In early 1996 (before the assasination of Mortaza Benazir Bhutto), Kahloon tendered his resignation to the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, the late Mohterma Benazir Bhutto, as he was unhappy about the large scale corruption by some of the party office bearers in Pakistan.
After leaving the Peoples' Party, Kahloon became active in setting up a 'Kashmir Committee' in Saudi Arabia, which organised fund-raisers as well as food and clothing drives for the Kashmiri people in Jammu and Azad Kashmir. He was instrumental in bringing together all the different Pakistani political parties in this Committee. The Committee is now managed under the auspices of the Pakistan High Commission in Saudi Arabia. In his position as founder and the first General Secretary of the 'Kashmir Committee', Kahloon had the opportunity of meeting many Kashmiri leaders such as Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.
Kahloon briefly joined the Jamaat-e-Islami party as he was inrtigued by the teachings of the theologian, Abul Ala Maududi. In being in this party, Kahloon was active in meeting with the Party's leaders, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Syed Munawar Hassan and Liaqat Baloch and creating future political and social policies for the party.
After the Jamaat-e-Islami chose not to contest, the elections of 2008, Kahloon announced in the beginning in late 2006, that he was joining Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N) group. He frequently met and discussed the future policies with the exiled leadership of PML-N in Saudi Arabia and was close to the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mian Nawaz Sharif's son-in-law, Captain(r) Safder. At the end of 2007, Kahloon advised Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif, Mian Shahbaz Sharif, Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan and Ahsan Iqbal to contest the 2008 elections soon after the assassination of Mohterma Benazir Bhutto. In 2008 elections, Kahloon's brother's (Chaudhary Ijaz Ahmed Kahloon)name was overlooked for the candidacy of the Punjab Pronvicial Assembly seat PP-34. Rizwan Gill was instead nominated by the Punjab leaadership of the PML-N. Rizwan Gill won the elections in PP-34 after continued support from both Kahloon and his brother, at the personal request of Mian Nawaz Sharif.
In the summer 2010, Rizwan Gill was disqualifed from the Punjab Assembly on the grounds of a fake university degree. The latter took up his case at the Pakistan Supreme Court and the the Apex Court rebuked Gill for wasting their time and imposed severe cost penalties. As a result of Gill's disqualification, the PP-34 seat in Sargodha for the Punjab Provinvial Assembly became vacant. This time, Kahloon again approached the senior party leadership, including Mian Nawaz Sharif and Mian Shahbaz Sharif to nominate his brother, Chaudhary Ijaz Ahmed Kahloon to be the PML-N candidate. After much deliberation and a closely matched contest, the PP-34 seat was again allocated to Rizwan Gill's cousin, Tabraiz Gill.</ref>
As a result of this decision, Mumtaz Kahloon decided that his brother, Ijaz Kahloon would run independent in the PP-34 by-election, that was to be held on 26th July 2010. Ijaz Kahloon ran independent against two political party candidates, federal party PPP - Fiaz Otthi and provincial party PML-N - Tabraiz Gill. Ijaz Kahloon beat both candidates in the highly contested by-election in PP-34.</ref>
After winning the election, Kahloon was approached by the incumbent Pakistani Prime Minister, Yousef Raza Gilani, the late Governor of the Punjab, Salman Taseer, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Chaudhary Pervaiz Elahi, Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain, Imran Khan, Syed Munawar Hassan and countless other political parties to join their party. On the 1st August 2010, Kahloon and his brother, MPA-elect, Ijaz Ahmed Kahloon announced at the Punjab Governor House that they had rejoined the Pakistan Peoples' Party under the wise and courageous leadership of the incumbent Pakistani Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani.</ref>
On 21st December 2010, the incumbent Pakistani Prime Minister, Yousef Raza Gilani appointed Mumtaz Akhtar Kahloon Chairman of the National Vocaational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTEC), which carries the rank of a federal cabinet minister of Pakistan.
References
Categories:- Living people
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