Daily Times

LAHORE: The nominee put forth by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz to be added to the party’s list of names for National Assembly seats reserved for women was excluded reportedly over PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif’s insistence.

According to a source privy to the parliamentary board’s proceedings, Maryam had forwarded the name of Leila Khan, who took charge of the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme in 2015 after Maryam was made to relinquish the charge, but the PML-N president was not in favour of including her name in the list. The source said that the younger Sharif had been upset with Khan after she was handpicked by former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqqan Abbasi to join his cabinet.

Regarding the absence of the names of Anushay Rehman, former Minister for Information Technology; and Marvi Memon, who headed the Benazir Income Support Programme under the PML-N government; it was learnt that they did not put in applications to the parliamentary board. Memon has reportedly been uncomfortable with the confrontational approach of the elder Sharif and Maryam Nawaz vis-à-vis the security establishment.

Prominent names in the party’s list for the National Assembly from Punjab are Tahira Aurangzeb, mother of PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurengzeb, whose name is also included in the list; Shaista Pervez Malik, wife of the party’s Lahore chapter president Pervaiz Malik; Shaza Fatima Khwaja and Musarrat Asif Khawaja, niece and wife of senior leader Khwaja Asif; former Punjab finance minister Ayesha Ghaus Pasha; Zahra Wadood Fatemi, wife of Tariq Fatemi, who served as the Prime Minister’s special assistant on foreign affairs during Nawaz Sharif’s premiership.

Others in the list were Kiran Dar, Romina Khurshid Alam, Zeb Jaffar, Dr Samina Matloob, Shahnaz Saleem, Seema Jilani, Maiza Hameed, Shakila Luqman, Muniba Iqbal, Rida Khan, Amira Khan, Nighat Mir, Shahzadi Tiwana, Iffat Liaqat, Mehwish Sultana, Begum Ishrat Ashraf, Sadia Nadeem, Tamkeen Akhtar Niazi and Khalida Mansoor.

List of names for reserved seats for women in the Punjab Assembly were Zakiya Khan, Mehwish Sultana, Azma Bukhari, Ishrat Ashraf, Sadia Nadeem Malik, Nina Butt, Saania Ashiq , Tahira Noon, Uswa Aftab, Saba Sadiq, Kanwal Liaqat, Gulnaz Shahzadi, Rabia Nusrat, Haseena Begum, Rahat Afza, Muneera Yamin, Ruksana Kausar, Sadia Taimoor, Khalida Mansoor, Rabia Butt, Rabia Farooqi, Faiza Mushtaq, Bushra Butt, Uznia Qadri, Sumaira Komal, Raheela Khadim Hussain, Sumbal Malik Hussain, Unaiza Fatima, Zebunnisa Noon, Salma Butt, Najma Afzal Rana, Nighat lqbal Qureshi, Shameela Aslam, Lubna Faisal, Shabina Zakria Butt, Safia Saeed, Ruksana Kausar, Attiya Iftikhar, Naveed Nazir, Irum Hasan Bajwa, Zill-e-Humma, Kaneez Fatima, Sidra Nafees, Shahida Khalid Dasti, Farhana Afzal, Fauzia Ayub Qureshi, Farzana Abbas Kamboh, Shahida Khanuni Shafiq, Ayesha Lodhi, Rukhsana Shafiq, Najma Begum, Abida Rasheed and Dr Aliya.

Published in Daily Times, June 15^th 2018.