Fauzia Wahab
Encyclopedia
Fauzia Wahab ) is a Pakistan
i politician
in the Pakistan Peoples Party
(PPP). She is a member of National Assembly from Sindh
returned on a reserved seat for women after the February 18, 2008 general elections.
Fauzia Wahab has been appointed as the new central Information Secretary of the Pakistan Peoples Party in place of Ms. Sherry Rehman on March 18, 2009 by Co-Chairman, Mr. Asif Ali Zardari
Benazir Bhutto
nominated her to become the Information Secretary of women's wing of the PPP in Sindh, a position Fauzia held till early 2002. After the dissolution of the PPP government in November 1996, general elections were held in February 1997 in which she was nominated to contest the elections on NA-193, as a PPP candidate. The PPP lost the elections and was confined to the opposition benches in the subsequent National Assembly.
With cases established against the PPP leadership, a multi pronged strategy was initiated by the party to defend its leadership. It included contesting cases in the courts and apprising international institutions about the conduct of these cases. Later on in 1998, Benazir Bhutto nominated Fauzia Wahab to become the Central Coordinator of the Human Rights Cell and was tasked to correspond with human rights defending organizations abroad. During the incarceration period of Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari, she wrote on various pressure tactics of the National Accountability Bureau
and various government agencies against the couple as well as party leaders and workers. She was also an active proponent for the repealing of the Hudood Ordinance
as well as Blasphemy
law.
When the Pakistani general election, 2002
were called in October, she was nominated as a candidate for the reserved seats for women in the National Assembly. She took oath as a legislator and was also made part of Standing Committee on Privatization and Standing Committee on Economic Affairs. She was also a senior member of the Finance Committee of the National Assembly that looked after the budget of the assembly.
In 2003, she attended the National Defence College
course for bringing the politicians and Armed forces close to each other. She was one of the initiators of relationship with the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and was invited to attend the "Win With Women – Global Initiative" of the Institute in December 2003. In June 2004, she was invited by the NDI to attend the 2004 Democratic National Convention
in Boston
where Senator
John Kerry
was nominated as the Democratic Party's candidate for president in 2004
.
Fauzia also represented her party on a study tour of the German Parliamentary System in 2004.
With the 2005 Local Government elections taking place in August, she was made responsible to work out an adjustment with the Jamat-e-Islami in the District East of Karachi. Later on, she was nominated to contest the elections of Nazim
of the City District Government Karachi, however, her candidature was withdrawn in favor Naimatullah Khan
.
During the National Assembly of 2002 and 2007, she was a very active member of the opposition involved in a number of questions, calling attention notices, adjournment motions, resolutions and motions. She was also a mover of a number of bills including a bill on the environment
and a ban on polythene bags.
She was nominated again for a second term by the PPP and returned to the National Assembly. She took oath as a Treasury bench member on March 6, 2008.
After Information Minister Sherry Rehman resigned from her government position, the party position she held was taken away and Fauzia Wahab was appointed the Information Secretary of the PPP. By virtue of being the Information Secretary, Fauzia Wahab became an ex-officio member of the Central Executive Committee of the Party.
Fauzia Wahab apparently resigned amongst the Raymond Davis controversy in February 2011, she made some comments about the Davis case and the outgoing FM Shah Mehmood Qureshi in a 'disciplinary' tone that the Peoples Party immediately disowned. She still continues to be an MNA and holds an important banking and finance related portfolio in the Senate.
returned to Pakistan after an eight year exile on October 18, 2007. A crowd of nearly 3 lakhs people had assembled outside the Karachi's Jinnah International Airport
. The convoy carrying the PPP Chairperson was attacked at midnight by a Suicide bomber in which more than 180 citizens and party workers were killed and more than 500 were injured. Fauzia was also on the truck carrying the Chairperson and was injured in the explosion.
who allegedly resigned for his support to the judicial process for the Raymond Davis case in refusing to accept US pressure to grant him diplomatic status, landed her in further trouble with the PPP leadership and the media.
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
in the Pakistan Peoples Party
Pakistan Peoples Party
The Pakistan Peoples Party , is a democratic socialist political party in Pakistan affiliated with Socialist International. Pakistan People's Party is the largest political party of Pakistan...
(PPP). She is a member of National Assembly from Sindh
Sindh
Sindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...
returned on a reserved seat for women after the February 18, 2008 general elections.
Fauzia Wahab has been appointed as the new central Information Secretary of the Pakistan Peoples Party in place of Ms. Sherry Rehman on March 18, 2009 by Co-Chairman, Mr. Asif Ali Zardari
Asif Ali Zardari
Asif Ali Zardari is the 11th and current President of Pakistan and the Co-Chairman of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party . He is also the widower of Benazir Bhutto, who served two nonconsecutive terms as Prime Minister....
Personal life
Fauzia was born in 1956 and is the eldest of four children. She married in 1978 to Wahab Siddiqui, a journalist and TV anchorman in political talk shows in later years on Pakistan Television. For the next fourteen years, she was a housewife and had four children. Fauzia Wahab acted in Haseena Moin's drama serial 'Kohar' as the cousin of the hero played by then famous model Junaid Butt. The Drama was aired in 1991-92 and directed by M Zaheer Khan. In February 1993, Wahab Siddiqui died of a massive heart attack and her life took a new turn. She then re-married prominent cardiologist Dr Athar Hussein.Political career
Fauzia Wahab has worked for the Pakistan Industrial and Commercial Leasing as a Marketing Manager between 1993 and 1996. During this period, she was nominated as Member Advisory Council of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) in October 1994. Initially she was given charge of the a Municipal Ward 59, area consisting of Cooperative societies of Karachi. She was also nominated as Chairman of the Information Committee of KMC. In the meanwhile, then Prime MinisterPrime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto was a democratic socialist who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996....
nominated her to become the Information Secretary of women's wing of the PPP in Sindh, a position Fauzia held till early 2002. After the dissolution of the PPP government in November 1996, general elections were held in February 1997 in which she was nominated to contest the elections on NA-193, as a PPP candidate. The PPP lost the elections and was confined to the opposition benches in the subsequent National Assembly.
With cases established against the PPP leadership, a multi pronged strategy was initiated by the party to defend its leadership. It included contesting cases in the courts and apprising international institutions about the conduct of these cases. Later on in 1998, Benazir Bhutto nominated Fauzia Wahab to become the Central Coordinator of the Human Rights Cell and was tasked to correspond with human rights defending organizations abroad. During the incarceration period of Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari, she wrote on various pressure tactics of the National Accountability Bureau
National Accountability Bureau
The National Accountability Bureau is a federal executive agency of the Government of Pakistan, responsible and mandated for dealing with anti-corruption scandals, and also tasked with the gathering and managing the economic intelligence, and making efforts against the economic terrorism...
and various government agencies against the couple as well as party leaders and workers. She was also an active proponent for the repealing of the Hudood Ordinance
Hudood Ordinance
The Hudood Ordinance was a law in Pakistan that was enacted in 1979 as part of then-military ruler Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq's Islamization and replaced or revised in 2006 by the Women's Protection Bill....
as well as Blasphemy
Blasphemy
Blasphemy is irreverence towards religious or holy persons or things. Some countries have laws to punish blasphemy, while others have laws to give recourse to those who are offended by blasphemy...
law.
When the Pakistani general election, 2002
Pakistani general election, 2002
General elections were held in Pakistan on 10 October 2002 during the military regime of Pervez Musharraf.-Parties and candidates:More than 70 parties, contested the election, the main parties were the Peoples Party Parliamentarians, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Group, Muttahida Quami Movement ,...
were called in October, she was nominated as a candidate for the reserved seats for women in the National Assembly. She took oath as a legislator and was also made part of Standing Committee on Privatization and Standing Committee on Economic Affairs. She was also a senior member of the Finance Committee of the National Assembly that looked after the budget of the assembly.
In 2003, she attended the National Defence College
National Defence University, Islamabad
The National Defense University is an institution of higher education funded by the Ministry of Defence of Government of Pakistan, intended to facilitate high-level training, education, and the development of national security strategy...
course for bringing the politicians and Armed forces close to each other. She was one of the initiators of relationship with the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and was invited to attend the "Win With Women – Global Initiative" of the Institute in December 2003. In June 2004, she was invited by the NDI to attend the 2004 Democratic National Convention
2004 Democratic National Convention
The 2004 Democratic National Convention convened from July 26 to July 29, 2004 at the FleetCenter in Boston, Massachusetts, and nominated John Kerry and John Edwards as the official candidates of the Democratic Party for President and Vice President of the United States, respectively, in the 2004...
in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
where Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
was nominated as the Democratic Party's candidate for president in 2004
United States presidential election, 2004
The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...
.
Fauzia also represented her party on a study tour of the German Parliamentary System in 2004.
With the 2005 Local Government elections taking place in August, she was made responsible to work out an adjustment with the Jamat-e-Islami in the District East of Karachi. Later on, she was nominated to contest the elections of Nazim
Nazim
A nazim is the coordinator of cities and towns in Pakistan. Nazim is the title in Urdu of the chief elected official of a local government in Pakistan, such as a district, tehsil, union council, or village council....
of the City District Government Karachi, however, her candidature was withdrawn in favor Naimatullah Khan
Naimatullah Khan
Niamthullah Khan was the Nazim of largest city of Pakistan, Karachi from August 2001-June 2005. He graduated from Punjab University with a Masters in Journalism and a Law Degree from Karachi University. He is lawyer by profession. He is the chairman of the biggest NGO of Pakistan, Alkhidmat...
.
During the National Assembly of 2002 and 2007, she was a very active member of the opposition involved in a number of questions, calling attention notices, adjournment motions, resolutions and motions. She was also a mover of a number of bills including a bill on the environment
Environment (biophysical)
The biophysical environment is the combined modeling of the physical environment and the biological life forms within the environment, and includes all variables, parameters as well as conditions and modes inside the Earth's biosphere. The biophysical environment can be divided into two categories:...
and a ban on polythene bags.
She was nominated again for a second term by the PPP and returned to the National Assembly. She took oath as a Treasury bench member on March 6, 2008.
After Information Minister Sherry Rehman resigned from her government position, the party position she held was taken away and Fauzia Wahab was appointed the Information Secretary of the PPP. By virtue of being the Information Secretary, Fauzia Wahab became an ex-officio member of the Central Executive Committee of the Party.
Fauzia Wahab apparently resigned amongst the Raymond Davis controversy in February 2011, she made some comments about the Davis case and the outgoing FM Shah Mehmood Qureshi in a 'disciplinary' tone that the Peoples Party immediately disowned. She still continues to be an MNA and holds an important banking and finance related portfolio in the Senate.
Benazir Bhutto's return and assassination attempts
PPP Chairperson Mohtarma Benazir BhuttoBenazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto was a democratic socialist who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996....
returned to Pakistan after an eight year exile on October 18, 2007. A crowd of nearly 3 lakhs people had assembled outside the Karachi's Jinnah International Airport
Jinnah International Airport
Jinnah International Airport is Pakistan's largest international and domestic airport. It is located in Karachi, Pakistan, and its passenger terminal is also commonly known as the جناح ٹرمینل Jinnah Terminal...
. The convoy carrying the PPP Chairperson was attacked at midnight by a Suicide bomber in which more than 180 citizens and party workers were killed and more than 500 were injured. Fauzia was also on the truck carrying the Chairperson and was injured in the explosion.
Case of Davis's diplomatic status
Fauzia, being outspoken and straightforward, landed herself in a minor media controversy on her comments on Raymond Davis, the US citizen centrestage on volatile Pakistani politics for broad daylight killing of two ISI operatives besides a civilian, infamous for planting chips for drone attacks, besides helping fuel terrorism. Fauzia' comments over the outgoing Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi Shah Mehmood QureshiShah Mehmood Qureshi
Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Hussain Qureshi is well-known Politician in Pakistan. He was the Foreign Minister of Pakistan in the coalition government of PPP, Muttahida Quami Movement[MQM], ANP and JUI-F formed after the 2008 general elections. He was a senior leader of Pakistan Peoples Party, where...
who allegedly resigned for his support to the judicial process for the Raymond Davis case in refusing to accept US pressure to grant him diplomatic status, landed her in further trouble with the PPP leadership and the media.