ANP’s women priority list draws flak on social media

PESHAWAR: The Awami National Party (ANP)’s priority list for women reserved seat has attracted criticism on the social media as the frequent party changers had topped the list relegating the old guard to the bottom of the list.

The ANP priority list for the women reserved seats included Shazia Aurangzeb on the top while the ideological leaders including Bushra Gohar and Jamila Gilani were on the fifth and sixth positions, respectively.

Even Yasmeen Zia, Dr Shaheen Zameer and Rabia Sattar are ahead on the party priorities for the reserved seats for women.

Although most of Shazia Aurangzeb’s family members were affiliated with (ANP), she joined active politics from the platform of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and became a member of the provincial assembly against a reserved seat after 2008 election.

Her mother, Begum Amanullah Khan, served as provincial senior vice-president of the ANP women wing for over 20 years while her husband remained an ANP activist and served as the ANP Sindh president.

She was the central general secretary of the PML-N women wing.

Later, she joined the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in 2012. She had contested general election in 2013 on the PPP’s ticket.

She later joined ANP and took active part in its activities. She had campaigned for party candidate Khushdil Khan in the by-election on NA-4.

Dr Shaheen Zameer, who had been the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) women wing leader joined ANP in 2016, had also left behind Bushra Gohar and Jamila Gilani.

When contacted, Bushra Gohar said that it was party’s decision and she had accepted it.

She said that it would have been better if Ameer Haider Hoti, who is the chairman of the parliamentary board, had been asked about it.