LONDON: Israr Kakar, a student at Oxford University from Balochistan, became the first individual from Balochistan and the third Pakistani to win the Oxford Union Presidency.
He is the first person from Balochistan and just the third Pakistani to hold the office of Oxford Union President. In 1977, Benazir Bhutto became the first Pakistani president of Oxford Union.
Israr is from a small village in the Balochistan province’s Killa Abdullah area, which is close to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Of his 13 siblings, he is the youngest. After completing his elementary school in his village, he continued his education with matriculation and intermediate studies at Abbotabad, Lahore, and the United States.
Israr earned a distinction in his LLB with honors from the University of Aberdeen. After that, he attended Lincoln’s Inn to study for the bar on a fully-funded scholarship. He is presently enrolling in the University of Oxford’s DPhil program in law. Israr is the only sibling to attend college other than the first. His older brother attended Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar as well.
On Saturday, he was chosen as the Oxford Union President.
Speaking to Geo News, Israr said: “I am incredibly grateful to the members of the Oxford Union for placing their trust in me by electing me as President and to my team for believing in me. This election was really important, particularly in these difficult times.