Fauzia Wahab

Fauzia Wahab (Urdu: فوذیہ وہاب )is a Pakistani politician in the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). She is currently a member of Pakistan's National Assembly from Sindh returned on a reserved seat for women after the February 18, 2008 general elections.

Early life and student politics

Fauzia Wahab was born on November 14, 1956 in Karachi. Her father was serving the Ministry of Trade and Commerce and was stationed at various places having Pakistani missions like Khartoum and Bonn. She had her initial education in West Germany while she completed her high school in Karachi in 1974 from the Khatoon-e-Pakistan Girls College. She was active in the student politics and became the Vice-President of the Student's Union at the college for the year 1973-74. She joined the Karachi University's International Relations department and graduated in 1978. During the university days, she was a member of the Progressive Students Front and was elected Faculty Representative in the Karachi University students union for the year 1977-78.

Marriage

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. In February 1993, Wahab Siddiqui died of a massive heart attack and her life took a new turn [ [http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_26-3-2003_pg7_46 Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan ] ] .

She is married to Dr. Athar Hussain, a senior Consulting Physician and Cardiologist in Karachi.

Political career

Fauzia Wahab worked for the Pakistan Industrial & 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 comprising of Cooperative societies of Karachi. She was also nominated as Chairman of the Information Committee of KMC. In the meanwhile, then Prime Minister 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 the vilification campaign and politically motivated cases established against the PPP leadership, a multi pronged startegy 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. [ [http://www.accessmylibrary.com/premium/0286/0286-19336787.html PPP writes to CW, raises issue of Zardari's imprisonment. | Asia Africa Intelligence Wire (November, 2003) ] ] [ [http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_9-11-2003_pg7_32 Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan ] ] [ [http://www.dawn.com/2002/08/13/nat14.htm Govt preventing Benazir’s return: PPP -DAWN - National; August 13, 2002 ] ] [ [http://www.dawn.com/2005/04/17/nat12.htm PPP apprises UN body of legislators’ arrests -DAWN - National; 17 April 2005 ] ] She was also an active proponent for the repealing of the Hudood Ordinance as well as Blasphemy law. [ [http://www.dawn.com/2002/07/20/nat13.htm PPP seeks UN help to get blasphemy law abolished -DAWN - National; July 20, 2002 ] ]

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 [ [http://www.ndi.org/support/ilf/ilf2004/press/pressrelease_072104.asp NDI - National Democratic Institute for International Affairs ] ] in Boston where Senator John Kerry was nominated for United States presidential election, 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.

Benazir Bhutto's return and assassination attempts

PPP Chairperson Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan after an eight year exile on October 18, 2007. A crowd of nearly 3 million 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 [ [http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C10%5C19%5Cstory_19-10-2007_pg7_16 Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan ] ] .

tance on the Judicial Crises and Presidental Elections

Post establishment of the government of PPP, the PML (N) has been pressing its demand for the restoration of the judiciary as per November 2, 2007. In essence this has meant that Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry be reinstated as the Chief Justice while the current incumbent, Abdul Hameed Dogar be relegated to the position of a Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

References

External links

* [http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Opinions/Columns/21-Apr-2008/Now-or-never Now or Never]
* [http://www.ppp.org.pk/party/issues/p_articles146.html My Leader-Benazir Bhutto]
* [http://www.opfblog.com/294/under-threat-our-way-of-life-fauzia-wahab/ Under Threat: our way of life]