Prime Minister Imran Khan just returned from his maiden official trip to the United States which is being hailed as perhaps the most successful visit of any head-of-state Pakistan has seen in over 3 decades. Success of any state visit comes with its own set of background checks and important people working behind the scenes – which in this case is PM Imran Khan’s close friend & adviser Zulfi Bukhari. Here’s what we found after digging :
1. Zulfi visited the US twice this month, once before PM Imran Khan
Zulfi has always been known to be PM Imran Khan’s closest aide in the government and his associate in many important decisions. While the visit was gaining hype at home, Zulfi was already in the US making arrangements to gather Overseas Pakistani community in large numbers for a historic jalsa.
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2.Bringing the right stakeholders on the table:
A head of state’s time is precious & none to waste, considering PM was to be in US for just 3 days, we found Zulfi was meeting with potential investors & right partners to line up meetings for PM Imran Khan long before agenda of PM Imran Khan’s visit was made available to the public.
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3.Meeting the power players at the House of Representatives:
PM Imran’s meeting with Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, Pakistan Caucus, senators & house representatives was also planned and finalised before his visit. We hear during his stay in DC, Zulfi also held some meetings with high level officials from the administration to prepare for PM’s visit.
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4.Being chair of the organising committee for PM’s jalsa in DC:
Zulfi Bukhari was made to chair the organising committee for PM’s jalsa in Washington DC, Zulfi travelled to US on his own expense and made sure all arrangements were done just right from gathering sponsors to organising the biggest ever gathering of Pakistanis anywhere outside Pakistan.
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5.Showtime in DC:
We saw the biggest jalsa ever pulled off in Pakistan’s history at Washington DC with a massive crowd of over 30,000 Pakistanis who had travelled all the way from different part of US & even Canada. Pulling it off while making sure everything went smooth was a major feat.. bravo Zulfi !!
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6.The trump card:
Zulfi was part of Imran Khan’s high-powered delegation to the White House taking up Pakistan’s interests to another level. He played as the introducer to some of the major power centres in US politics including Jared Kushner who he seemingly shares great chemistry with.
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7.Helping with PM’s sartorial choices:
Zulfi has been known to be specially close to the Khan household, we have been told he played a part in helping first lady with PM’s sartorial choices.. and he made sure nobody else could snatch credit for it!
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8.Power politics done right:
Nobody can deny the kind of influence the daughter of US President Donald Trump -Ivanka Trump holds as an Advisor to POTUS on job creation, economic empowerment, workforce development & entrepreneurship. Her role in the US administration closely resembles with the one Zulfi holds at home and what can be better than to collaborate! Zulfi met with Ivanka & Jared separately to come up with areas of collaboration for a more balanced workforce in Pakistan. Ivanka showed great interest in helping restore women’s rights in the workplace for a more inclusive structure …. And as we are being told Jared and Ivanka may be visiting Pakistan in near future too !
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