Which political parties led by women in Pakistan?

• Pak Defence Qoumi Movement headed by Sabeen Malik.
• All Pakistan Muttahida League headed by Tehmina Amjad.
• Pakistan Seraiki Party (T) is led by Dr Nukhbakh Taj Langa.

ISLAMABAD: Just six political parties out of 166 parties registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) at the moment are headed by a female, The News reported on Sunday.

Wife of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s brother, Murtaza Bhutto, and daughter-in-law of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Ghinwa Bhutto is chairperson of one of these political parties — PPP (Shaheed Bhutto). 

The other five parties with women occupying the top seat are: Pak Defence Qoumi Movement, headed by Sabeen Malik, All Pakistan Muttahida League, headed by Tehmina Amjad, Pakistan Seraiki Party (T), led by Dr Nukhbakh Taj Langa as its chairperson, Pakistan Muslim League Organisation, headed by Hassan Fatima Lubna, and Pakistan Awami Quwat party, led by Saleha Khaqan as its chairperson.

On the other hand, there are three political parties headed by retired military personnel too. Lt-Gen (retd) Faiz Ali Chishti leads Tehreek-e-Tameer-e-Pakistan as its president, while Major-General (retd) Muhammad Saad Khattak heads Pakistan Aam Admi Movement as its president. 

Colonel (retd) Raja Javed Mujtaba is the chairman of First Democratic Front. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is among the enlisted political parties, but the column of party leader/president/chairman is blank like three other parties. Pak Sarzameen Party, Jamaat-e-Suffah and Jadeed Awami Party are without leaders for diverse reasons.

Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto became the first female Member of the National Assembly (MNA) to be elected from Lahore in 1988, while Begum Farhat Rafique was the first woman to be elected from the provincial capital in a general election in 1985.

From 1970 until 2023, a number of female politicians were elected as MNA from Lahore. These included Begum Kalsoom Nawaz, Samina Ghurki, Shazia Mubashir, and Shaista Pervaiz Malik.

However, the first woman ever who got elected in a general election from Lahore was Farhat Rafique, the mother of PML-N leader Khawaja Saad Rafique. She got elected as MPA in the 1985 non-party basis elections from the walled city area from where her both sons — Saad and Salman have also served as MNA and MPA respectively. 

Her husband Khawaja M Rafique, who was known as a very active campaigner against PPP founder Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto also contested the National Assembly election in 1970 but lost.