PROFILE: Dr Fahmida Mirza wife of Dr. Zulfiqar Mirza

History is unable to give the Pakistani nation another female name who has ever been elected as speaker. This fact makes Dr. Fahmida’s achievement unparalleled and her privilege quite very unique.
 
Dr. Mirza is a doctor, an agriculturalist and a businesswoman. She hails from Sindh province, home of Pakistan’s first female Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto.

 
She belongs to the politically influential Qazi family of Badin district. Her family is known for active participation in the movement for independence of Pakistan. Dr. Mirza’s grandfather Qazi Abdul Qayyum was the first Muslim president of Hyderabad Municipality.
 
Born on December 20, 1956, she passed her matriculation examination from St Mary Convent School, Hyderabad, in 1972 and did FSc from Nazareth College, Hyderabad, in 1974 before getting MBBS degree from the Liaquat Medical College, Jamshoro. She practiced medicine from 1982 to 1989 and has been holding medical camps in her home district since 1989 till date regularly.
 
Dr. Fahmida Mirza, who was certain to win comfortably because of her party’s majority in the 342-member house, pledged to be completely non-partisan as custodian of the house. She was elected to the National Assembly on a PPP ticket from the coastal district of Badin in 1997, 2002 and 2008. Her spouse Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Mirza, who was also elected member of the Sindh Assembly in the General Elections of 2008 from PS-57, is a close aide of PPP Co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari. He is the provincial minster for Home, Prisons, Forest and Wildlife.
 

Dr. Fahmida Mirza in her capacity as a businesswoman is the chief executive officer of ‘Mirza Sugar Mills’ in Badin. She runs several welfare projects in her constituency, one of the poorest districts of Pakistan. She believes that her party has always stood for visibility of women as top decision-makers. Her election as the National Assembly speaker has, in fact, sent a very good message both home and abroad.
 
In election for office of the National Assembly speaker, Dr. Mirza received 249 out of 324 votes, of which 319 were valid and five votes were declared invalid while her opponent Asrar Tareen received 70 votes.

Her uncle Qazi Muhammad Akbar was a member of the provincial assembly and served as a minister for home, finance, public works and information at various times. Her father Qazi Abid started his political career as chairman of the Hyderabad Division Council, later served as federal minister for education, water & power, food & agriculture and information.

Her brother Qazi Asad has served as secretary-general of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), the top body of Pakistani newspaper owners, nine times and also held the office of the secretary-general of the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors. He had also been a PPP member of the National Assembly and in that capacity served as chairman of the Standing Committee on Information. Her cousin Qazi Aslam has been secretary-general of the APNS four times.
 
Her family’s rich exposure to the political activities and various other facets of the civil society has, in fact, helped Dr. Fahmida Mirza to come a long way in developing herself into a successful woman possessing the qualities of head and heart.