ISLAMABAD  -  Following the Supreme Court’s decision to dismiss review petition of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Jahangir Khan Tareen against his lifetime disqualification, PTI on Monday appointed senior party leader Arshad Daad as new secretary general of the party.

The position of PTI’s secretary general had been lying vacant since December 2017 after former secretary general Jahangir Khan Tareen resigned following his lifetime disqualification from apex court.

On this, the PTI had announced that secretary general’s position will be kept vacant until a decision by the Supreme Court on a review petition filed by Tareen against his lifetime disqualification.

On May 26, 2018, the PTI had appointed Daad as its additional secretary general aimed to run the party’s day-to-day affairs. Before this, he remained convener of the party’s central disciplinary committee.

A question is being raised within PTI whether Prime Minister Imran Khan who is the chairperson of his party can make this important appointment of secretary general only through a notification which otherwise is an elected position within the party. According to a senior PTI leader, the original constitution of the party gives no absolute power to PTI chairman to make such appointments on his own. He however said the current constitution has been held in abeyance.

Daad is a businessman by profession and keeps low profile within party ranks. According to the details shared by PTI’s Central Media Department, Daad joined PTI just weeks after Imran Khan established the party in 1996 and is among the most senior members of the party.

In 1997, he contested general elections from Gujrat on a PTI ticket but remained unsuccessful. Daad graduated in 1971 from UET Lahore and served as an engineer for nine years with the state-run Pakistan Television (PTV).

He is son of Brig Sahib Dad Khan, a hero of 1965 War who later served as a provincial minister during Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s regime. Daad also runs a trust with the name of his father where orphan children are provided primary and secondary education.