Sanam Fakir joins PPP

Social activist had contested the general election as an independent candidate.

SUKKUR: Sanam Fakir sincerely believes that politics is the most appropriate engagement to serve the masses.

This was the main reason behind her decision to join the Pakistan Peoples Party, she claimed. Fakir runs a social welfare organisation, under the name of Sanam Fakir Welfare Organisation, dedicated to the welfare of AIDS patients.



Sanam Fakir had contested the general elections of 2013 as an independent candidate and had bagged the highest number of votes among the independent candidates. “That was very encouraging for me,” Fakir told The Express Tribune. “Though people did not vote for me as they had promised, I am happy that I received the highest votes among the independent candidates.”

The reason why she chose the PPP, she explained, was the fact that her parents and gurus had always voted for them. They were awed by the charismatic personality of the party’s founder, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and later, his daughter, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. “Both struggled for the welfare of the common people and the revival of democracy,” she said.

According to Fakir, her experience as an independent candidate in the general elections in May 2013 was quite good, but she believes she can fare much better from a party platform.

PPP senator Islamuddin Shaikh and MPA Syed Nasir Hussain Shah have promised her a reserved seat in the Sukkur Municipal Corporation (SMC). According to the Supreme Court’s verdict, a transgender may contest elections on any seat, irrespective of gender.

“My first task, after taking charge, will be to take up the matter of supply of potable drinking water to Sukkur,” she asserted. She lamented that though Sukkur was the third-largest city in the province, it had been neglected by the authorities so far. “Even if I am not elected, I will continue working for masses,” she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 1^st, 2014.