Former Engro CEO Asad Umar with PTI chief Imran Khan at a press conference at PTI Secretariat in Islamabad. PHOTO: SANA
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Asad Umar plans turning Islamabad into the country’s economic hub if elected to parliament.
“Islamabad being the capital should be linked to the global network to make the city an economic hub by diversifying strategies like Bangalore and Dhaka,” said the PTI leader contesting for the NA-48 Islamabad by-elections.
In an interview with The Express Tribune he stated “it’s absolutely critical to devolve power to village councils—once we have a political system in place in Islamabad," adding that it was shameful for any government to not being able to provide drinking water in the federal capital.
Elaborating his plan of action he said that he would implement the party’s institutional reforms similar to the ones being implemented by the PTI in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa which revolved around empowering citizens.
Being the party’s central senior vice president, he wished to transfer power to village councils and vowed to raise the matter up in the National Assembly. “Islamabad will be a global capital of knowledge—youth must be given education,” he said, adding that “It is a shame that the government is cutting down on the higher education budget. PTI aims to increase the budget four- to five-fold.”
He also said that the party aimed to increase the percentage of children receiving vocational training to 20% to 25%.
By kicking off his door to door campaign, Umar is contesting in the upcoming July by-elections after the seat was vacated by PTI Central President Javed Hashmi who defeated Anjum Aqil of PML-N.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 22nd, 2013.
COMMENTS (24)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
we love you asad come on .......we simply love you.
Asad Umar is such a fine man that it feels strange sometimes to have him in our midst. Reason? He is not only well educated but very well mannered as well; the qualities getting rarer in our society because of our lack of interest in knowledge, research and hard work which he displays in abundance. For these reasons, I will not only vote for him but work hard for his election as it is the voice of my conscience.
Asad Umar needs to be voted in even if he belonged to PMLN or PPPP.Best of the lot in parliament.
@Javed Khan Usmani: I am quite surprised to see a baseless point raised by you. How simply you labeled him as Non-Creative. And you seemed to be over-impressed by India as PML-N, how on earth you came to know that there are some formulas laid down by "India", grow up man you need some more general knowledge and education....
Asad Umer is a whiff of fresh air. Hope and pray he succeeds
utopian in modern age
@Javed Khan Usmani: So if somebody is doing something right, you shouldn't follow him just because that WoW is made by west or india?
@Uza Syed: Very poor selection. How a person who been lived in Karachi can represent Isloo people. PTI should change its decision.
@Javed Khan Usmani: So in your view, creativity is the solution to all of the world's problems and West & India don't produce 'creative' corporate executives? Any data backing these claims? Please raise a company's revenues by 100 Bn rupees by giving 35% CAGR YoY (like Asad has done) and after that I will ask you how much of that were you able to do without being 'creative'.
Asad Umar is such a fine guy in addition to being well qualified to add lot of positive ideas and roadmaps as opposed to the man Nawaz League has for this serious job. I'm no PTI supporter generally, frankly detest IK's attempts to portary himself as 'The Party' (PTI), however if the choice becomes as challenging as between Asad Umar and a Hanif Abasi then I confess I just can not oppose PTI. When the struggle is for virtue to prevail then evil must be opposed by all thinking people with all their might.
Hes an MNA, so all these things dont fall under his purview.
"PTI aims to increase the budget four- to five-fold.”
Like you did in the KP budget? Oh wait, you increased KP education budget by 4% in real terms. I guess there was no education emergency in that province. If you insist on lying, stop claiming that you're different from other politicians.
And whats the point of increasing higher education budget if most of our graduates don't have a solid base because our primary education system sucks?
Unless he is CDA chairman dreams like turning Islamabad into the country’s economic hub are far from reality. Again, there is no harm dreaming.
First you have to get people to pay their taxes, rather than the CDA selling state land to subsidise the rich.
MY vote is in this constituency (NA-48) and I cant wait to see Asad Omer represent us in NA.
Empowering the citizens is the 'dream' of PTI as rightly pointed out by Asad Umar but the same thing is a 'nightmare' for the traditional politicians who have thrived on looting the citizens' assets. How can a thief like to 'empower' those from whom he has been stealing? Fark saaf zaahir hay! So plz try your best for the election of Asad Umar.
Hi
Best Wishes
Hello Mr. Imran Khan
Countless regards from letter sender
" At least some one is there, who can dare to complain about miss use of Constitutional Powers by past time Rulers. Country had given fundamental right to every Pakistani citizen regardless of upper class lower class, power full or Power less. They do come with some sort of liability. This is called duties. When every body will learn his her responsibilities. Life will be like a paradise in it's own village, town or City."
Yours Truly
Jatinder
The day people of the caliber of Asad Umer enter the parliament is the day I'll consider things are changing for the better finally in Pakistan.
The best man for the job. Come on Asad Umer, we are with you
Good luck. Pakistan needs people like you.
this guy is just one of the numerous traditional corporate executives who rely on formulas already laid down by the West and India and on heavy budgets without them they are worthless for productivity. They are not creative nor tolerate genuine creative people. I have voted for PTI but if this party did not get rid of people like him lots of people including me would be scared to vote again for PTI
Asad Umer is by far the best choice.
My prayers for Asad Umar. Who is contensting against him from PMLN?
A soft spoken civilized politician and a truly gentleman. We all are very proud of you Asad! Even PTI haters can not point fingers on you. Such Ian impressive character.