SARGODHA: Four members of the Cheema family – Aamir Sultan Cheema from NA-85 (Sargodha-5), his son Muneeb Sultan Cheema from PP-74 (Sargodha-4), Faisal Farooq Cheema from PP-77 (Sargodha-7) and Faisal Javed Ghuman (PP-78, Sargodha -8) – have yielded to the alleged pressure and withdraw from the elections.

They were contesting general election from their native constituencies as independents, disassociating from the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf after the May 9 mayhem. Their withdrawal may benefit PML-N on three seats.

In a joint statement issued on Thursday, they said serving the electorate of their constituencies is their main objective and they will continue their liaison and serve the voters and supporters; however, in prevalent circumstances they cannot continue with the electioneering and do not want to put their supporters in any problem.

It is learnt that they were being pressured to join Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP).

Chaudhry Aamir Sultan Cheema has a close relationship with the family of Chaudhry Shujaat Husain and Chaudhry Parvez Elahi as he married their cousin Tajamal Hussain’s daughter Tanzeela. He was a member of the National Assembly from February 2019 until November 2022. Previously, he served as MPA. He is the son of Anwar Ali Cheema, a former federal minister for industries and production.

Amir’s son Muhammad Muneeb Sultan Cheema was a member of the provincial assembly from August 2018 to January 2023. They are the scions of Chaudhry Anwar Ali Cheema who remained unbeaten.

It is worth mentioning that this constituency is a test case for all political parties. It consists of Sillanwali tehsil and its adjoining areas, the native constituency of late Chaudhry Anwar Ali Cheema, who had set a record of achieving the highest lead against Dr Khalid Ranjha, who remained federal law minister in Gen Pervez Musharraf regime, in the 1985 elections when Mr Cheema had received almost double the votes bagged by Mr Ranjha. He had won the election as MNA five times consecutively.

Faisal Farooq Cheema, son-in-law of Anwar Ali Cheema, is a seasoned politician having unblemished political background and after the May 9 incident, parted ways with the party when his in-laws and family women were allegedly harassed.

Faisal Javed Ghuman is a cousin of Aamir Sultan Cheema and a young emerging politician. His father Farrukh Javed Ghuman made it to the Punjab Assembly thrice.

His grandfather Dr. Nasrullah Khan Ghumman was the first MBBS doctor from Sargodha. He completed his education from King Edward Medical College, Lahore, in 1937. Owing to tremendous efforts of Dr Nasrullah, major development was carried out in the regime of Gen. Ayub Khan. Consequently, the village, Chak no 104 N B was given the title of model village of Punjab in 1965, and the award was given by the then governor of West Pakistan, Gen Musa Khan.

Aamir Cheema was contesting as an independent from NA-85 against PML-N’s Dr. Zulfiqar Bhatti and as per political pundits, he had an edge over the PML-N candidate, but, all of a sudden, he along with his family members decided to withdraw from the contest by issuing a joint statement.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2024