LAHORE: Feeling left out, some of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) women activists Tuesday staged a protest in front of a party office in Lahore and levelled allegations of nepotism on the party’s leadership after the PML-N submitted list of female candidates for reserved seats in Punjab to the Election Commission of Pakistan on Monday.
According to the PML-N sources, the list was finalised after seeking consultation of the Sharif family’s members and some senior party leaders.
The PML-N’s priority list of women candidates on reserved seats in Punjab Assembly include 54 candidates, including Zakia Shahnawaz Khan, Mehwish Sultana, Azma Bukhari, Ishrat Ashraf, Sadia Nadeem Malik, Hina Pervaiz Butt, Sania Ashiq, Tahia Noon, Uswa Aftab, Saba Sadiq, Kanwal Liaqat, Gulnaz Shahzadi, Rabia Nusrat, Haseena Begum, Rahat Afza, Munira Yamin, Rukhsana Kausar, Sadia Taimur, Khalida Mansoor, Rabia Butt, Rabia Farooqi, Faiza Mushtaq, Bushra Butt, Uzma Qadri, Sumaira Komal, Rahila Khadim Hussain, Sumbal Malik Hussain, Unaiza Fatima, Nafisa Amin, Zaibun Nisa Awan, Salma Butt, Najma Afzal Rana, Nighat Iqbal Qureshi, Shamila Aslam, Lubna Faisal, Shabina Zikria Butt, Safia Saeed, Rukhsana Kausar, Attiya Iftikhar, Naveed Nazir, Iram Hassan Bajwa, Zil-e-Huma, Kaneez Fatima, Sidra Nafees, Shahida Khalid Dasti, Farhana Afzal, Fauzia Ayub Qureshi, Farzana Abbas Kamboh, Shahida Khanum Shafique, Aisha Lodhi, Rukhsana Shafique, Najma Begum, Abida Bashir and Dr Aliya Aftab.
Sources told Daily Times that most of the female candidates on reserved seats were finalised on the recommendation of Maryam Nawaz Sharif given her active role in the women wing of the party.
It is worth mentioning that as many as 18 female candidates, including Zakia Shahnawaz Khan, Mehwish Sultana, Azma Bukhari, Rahila Khadim Hussain, Uzma Qadri, Tahia Noon, Saba Sadiq, Lubna Faisal, Haseena Begum and Dr Aliya Aftab, who have made it to the list, enjoy good relations with Shehbaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz and Khawaja Saad Rafique.
“And some of them prioritised in the list on the recommendation of Maryam Nawaz sharif are wives of some big feudal lords or industrialists, sources added.
Among the protesters, some of the activists had been very active in the door-to-door campaign of Begum Kulsoom Nawaz during the NA-120 by-election.
They were of the view that PML-N loyalists had been ignored in the list of candidates for reserved seats.
Published in Daily Times, June 13th 2018.