Maryam Nawaz among BBC’s 100 women list of political scions

LONDON: Prime Minister  Nawaz Sharif’s daughter,  Maryam Nawaz, has made it to  the BBC’s 100Women list of political  scions alongwithUS President  Donald Trump’s daughter  Ivanka Trump.  According to a list of the influential  daughters,Maryamwas  originally involved in the family's  charity organisations and  played a prominent role in managing  her father's successful reelection  campaign in 2013. She  now works for his party (PMLN).  "She is always the focus of  attention," says BBC, adding,  “She has clearly emerged as  someone powerful, if not a designated  political heir to her father."  Among others is Sumeyye  Erdogan, 31, the youngest  daughter of Turkish President  Recep Tayyip Erdogan and  widely seen as his favourite.  A US and British-educated  political scientist, she served as  advisor to her father when he  led the ruling Justice and Development  Party (AKP) and has accompanied  him on numerous  diplomatic trips.  In 2015, there was speculation  that Sumeyye might run for  a seat in parliament, but in the  event she did not. She currently  has a lower profile role with a  Turkish women's rights advocacy  group.  Another daughter,with an office  of her own in the White  House, Ivanka Trump has cemented  her status as one of the  most powerful women in the  Trump administration.  In 2015, Yekaterina, the  youngest daughter of Russian  President Vladimir Putin,  emerged into the spotlight after  it was revealed she was living in  Moscow using the name Katerina  Tikhonova. Since then Russians  have learned from various  media reports that she is married  to businessman Kirill  Shamalov, the son of one of her  father's old friends, and that the  couple are worth an estimated  $2 billion through investments in  the gas and petrochemicals industries.  Now aged 30, she runs publicly-  funded projects on 'intellectual  development' atMoscow  State University. She reportedly  oversees contracts worth several  million dollars and has  members of Putin's inner circle  as advisers.—INP