Shahi Syed is a Pakistani politician who is Chairman of Pakhtun Action Committee or Loya Jirga of Karachi. he also served as Senator and President of Awami National Party.
Biography
Shahi Syed belongs to Babozai village in the District of Mardan, KPK province. Shahi Syed doesn’t belong to a well-off family. His father was a landowner but the land was arid and the income was insufficient for his family according to Syed. Syed studied till grade eight at a state sun middle school. After passing eighth grade he decided to move to Karachi in search of a job.
Life before joining politics
His father didn’t want him to go but then he gave in when Syed persisted. At that time Karachi was a good place for the Pashtun workforce. Thousands of Pashtuns worked there as labourers, guards, drivers and construction workers. In Karachi he stayed at his uncle’s place and got a job at Dockyard but left it after three months. In the next five or maybe six years he worked at different places and saved money to buy an auto rickshaw on instalments. A few years later he bought a taxi on instalments. This is how he entered the transport business. He had good luck so his transport business flourished. In the following years he did many businesses like gasoline, poultry, dairy and textile business and finally settled for gasoline business. Syed owned CNG gas stations in Karachi before joining politics.
Political Journey
Syed didn’t join politics for money. He only loved his community and wanted to help the impoverished and neglected Pashtuns of Karachi. He contested for the local government elections in the 1980s but lost, however he was still passionate about serving his community.
Shahi Syed says he was not impressed by the philosophy of Ghaffar Khan and never thought that he would become the president of a political party at provincial level. Syed’s joining politics was totally accidental. In 2001, when President Asfandyar Wali Khan visited Karachi to set his party’s headquarter, his Pashtun business partners invited him to a function which was to be addressed by Wali Khan. It turned out to be a fundraiser and Syed donated a good amount. This act of Syed left everyone impressed by him. Later Syed joined ANP and after a year was made the president of the party’s Sindh chapter and till now nobody could replace him.
According to Syed he doesn’t take any money from his leadership of the party. He loves to see himself on TV screen and loves to be interviewed by TV channels as considers it as a source of popularity. Syed is outspoken but sensitive. Many times, he had to face taunts from opponents because of his lack of experience. According to Syed recently a politician poked fun at him saying that he is illiterate. Syed was hurt but he didn’t say anything because he doesn’t want violence in the city.
Syed claims that ANP had to suffer because of Taliban attacks. Syed blames his party’s poor performance in 2013 elections on Taliban’s interference.
Since 2014 an operation against Taliban is ongoing in Karachi and many Taliban have been killed. According to Syed no innocent Pashtuns have died instead 101% of those who were killed.
Syed is confident that his party will make a fair comeback. He says that the Pashtun community has no conflicts with any other community. They simply want to earn a living for their families and they don’t have any political aspirations in the city.