Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman (; born 7 November 1973) is a

Pakistani Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...

Social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives fro ...

Activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

, engineer,

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and Central Ameer of

Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan (JIP), is a Pakistani Islamism, Islamist political party. It is the Pakistani successor to Jamaat-e-Islami, which was founded in colonial India in 1941. JIP is a "vanguard party", whose members are intended to be leade ...

(JIP) for the session 2024-2029. Previously he served as the President of JIP, Karachi from 2013 to 2024.

Early life, education and family

Naeem was born on 7 November 1973 in

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

to middle-class

Urdu-speaking Native speakers of Urdu are spread across South Asia. The vast majority of them are Muslims of the Hindi Belt, Hindi–Urdu Belt of northern India, followed by the Deccanis, Deccani people of the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in south-central I ...

Muhajir Muhajir or Mohajir (, '; pl. , ') is an Arabic word meaning ''migrant'' (see immigration and emigration) which is also used in other languages spoken by Muslims, including English. In English, this term and its derivatives may refer in a general s ...

parents who had migrated from

Aligarh Aligarh (; formerly known as Koil) is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Aligarh district and lies northwest of state capital Lucknow and approximately southeast of the capital, New Delhi. ...

, India during the 1947

Partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

. In his youth, Naeem memorized the Qur'an at the Jamia Masjid Darul Uloom in Latifabad, a town located in

Hyderabad, Sindh Hyderabad, also known as Neroonkot, is the capital and largest city of the Hyderabad Division in the Sindh province of Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Sindh by population, second-largest city in Sindh, after Karachi, and the List of citie ...

. Later, he got his Bachelor's degree in

Civil Engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

from NED followed by a Master's degree in

Islamic History The history of Islam is believed, by most historians, to have originated with Muhammad's mission in Mecca and Medina at the start of the 7th century CE, although Muslims regard this time as a return to the original faith passed down by the Abra ...

from

Karachi University The University of Karachi (; informally Karachi University, KU, or UoK) is a public research university located in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Established in June 1951 by an act of Parliament and as a successor to the University of Sindh (which is ...

. His wife is a doctor while his children, three sons and a daughter, are all involved in politics.

Professional career

Naeem is an engineer with 20 years of expertise as a water treatment engineer in industrial and large-scale residential projects.

Political career

1990s

Naeem joined

Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba () IJT is the largest student organization in Pakistan. It was founded by 25 students on 23 December 1947 at Lahore, Pakistan. Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba is working in Pakistan to eliminate the non-Islamic elements and secul ...

(IJT) in the early 90s and eventually served as its Central President (Nazim-e-Aala) twice. Hafiz Naeem joined the IJT at the age of 16. By the age of 20 "he had been booked and arrested in numerous cases due to his activism", and due to his perceived leadership qualities and sacrifices he'd eventually represent IJT at the national level, becoming its Nazim-e-Aala in 1998.

2000s

In 2000, he became a member of JI. He also served as General Secretary and Deputy Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi.

2010s

He became the Ameer of

Jamaat-e-Islami Jamaat-e-Islami is an Islamist fundamentalist movement founded in 1941 in British India by the Islamist author and theorist Syed Abul Ala Maududi, who was inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood. It is considered one of the most influential Isla ...

's Karachi chapter in 2013. He ran for the seat in Sindh Provincial Assembly as a candidate of JI from Constituency PS-103 (Karachi-XV) in the

2013 Pakistani general election General elections were held in Pakistan on Saturday 11 May 2013 to elect the members of the List of members of the 14th National Assembly of Pakistan, 14th National Assembly of Pakistan, National Assembly and the four Subdivisions of Pakistan, Pr ...

but was unsuccessful. He received 16,441 votes and lost the seat to MQM's Sajid Qureshi.

2020s

2020 protest against K-Electric

Naeem has led many protests against Karachi's electric utility company K-Electric, due to government's alleged favoritism to the utility company, and its dis-service to the people of Karachi in terms of not returning its consumers their money under a claw-back clause applicable to the company. Naeem claimed the company's Rs 9 billion profits in 2020, were at a cost of large subsidies received from the government, which costed tax payers money to benefit the owners of the utility company. Naeem also demanded a forensic audit of K-Electric, claiming that the utility company has been in close relations with all ruling political parties, and alleged that the company enjoyed benefits from the ruling parties.

2022 Karachi rights campaign

Naeem has led multiple protests in Karachi to fight for the rights of his city and pledged to address water supply and drainage issues of Karachi if his party is voted into power in 2022 local body elections.

Protest against Election Commission of Pakistan

During the 2022 local body elections, the

Election Commission of Pakistan The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is an independent, autonomous, permanent and constitutionally established federal body responsible for organizing and conducting elections to the national parliament, provincial legislatures, local g ...

(ECP) delayed the agreed upon date of elections from 24 July 2022 to 28 August 2022 citing bad weather as the reason. ECP claimed that it delayed elections on the request of JI's local leadership, i.e. Naeem. Naeem challenged the ECP against this allegation and sent a legal notice to ECP, and threatened a sit-in against the ECP against this allegation.

2023 Karachi Local Government elections

Naeem led JIP emerged as the second largest political party behind

Pakistan People's Party The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is a political party in Pakistan and one of the three major Pakistani political parties alongside the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. With a centre-left political position, it is cu ...

in 2023 Karachi local elections. JIP secured more than 30% of popular votes as well as 85 Union Council seats and emerged as the second largest party according to the final results.

2023 Karachi mayoral election

In the 2023 election,

Murtaza Wahab Murtaza Wahab Siddiqui is a Pakistani politician who is the current mayor of Karachi. He was a member of the Senate of Pakistan from August 2017 to March 2018. Early life and education The son of the late senior PPP politician Fauzia Wahab ...

and Naeem competed to become the mayor of Karachi. Murtaza Wahab, from the

(PPP), won the election with 173 votes, while Naeem from Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan received 160 votes. After the results were announced, there were clashes between PPP and JIP supporters outside the Arts Council of Pakistan. JIP accused the

Sindh government The Government of Sindh () () is the provincial government of the province of Sindh, Pakistan. Its powers and structure are set out in the provisions of the 1973 Constitution, in which 30 Districts of 7 Divisions under its authority and juri ...

of kidnapping 29 members of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party who were supposed to vote for Naeem as PTI had announced to support JIP officially.

2024 Sindh provincial elections

Following the

2024 Sindh provincial election Provincial elections were held in Sindh on 8 February 2024 to elect a new provincial legislature. On 5 August 2023, after the approval of the results of the 2023 digital census by the Council of Common Interests headed by Prime Minister Shehbaz ...

, Naeem relinquished his seat as a protest over alleged mass rigging in Karachi. He claimed that Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan candidates had won on majority seats as per Form 45 however

Pakistan Peoples Party The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is a political party in Pakistan and one of the three major List of political parties in Pakistan, Pakistani political parties alongside the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. With a Cent ...

and Mutahidda Qaumi Movement candidates originally on 3rd or 4th position were declared winner as per Form 47 through alleged rigging. In April 2024, weeks after the provincial election, the ECP notified the victory of Naeem from PS-129 (Karachi Central-VIII). He secured the highest votes i.e. 26,296.

Emir of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan

In April 2024, Naeem was elected as the sixth Ameer of the Jamaat-i-Islami Pakistan (JIP) for a five-year term (2024-2029).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rehman, Hafiz Naeem ur Muhajir people Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan politicians Living people 1970 births People from Hyderabad, Sindh NED University of Engineering & Technology alumni University of Karachi alumni People from Karachi