Women at work: A daughter’s fight for equality

Dr Faiza Rashid took up a political career to make a difference in society.

HARIPUR:

It all began with a young girl’s admiration for her father. Dr Faiza Rashid, a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader and parliamentarian in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly between 2008 and 2013, always took pride in being the daughter of an avid socialist.

“My father, Hakeem Abdul Rashid, was a diehard supporter of Leninism,” she says. “He was a strong advocate for equality and justice.”

During her childhood years, Rashid developed a keen interest in her father’s political ideology.

“Since I was the eldest and the only daughter, I was very close to my father,” she says. “As a result, I was deeply inspired by him.”

For her, Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin weren’t just political thinkers. As the years went by, their philosophy and worldview found residence in the young girl and prompted her to question social disparities.



More often than not, an ideology shapes the course of your destiny in unique and unpredictable ways. But few would have known that Rashid would use her socialist leanings to make a difference in society.

A young vanguard

At such a young age, rebellion was part of her vocabulary. And then Rashid found her own family’s financial position encouraged her to fight for equality and justice.

She was born in 1965 into a lower-middle class family in Haripur, which had received the short end of the stick in terms of finances. Her father, Abdul Rashid, was a factory worker and hakeem (a practitioner of herbal medicine) who was influenced by socialism.

In 1979, when yet another military dictatorship, led by General Zia, came into power, her father did not shy away from talking about socialism as an alternative – even if it would leave him scarred. He was a part of the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD), which was active against the military dictator. Her father’s determination and belief in his ideals encouraged her to try her hand at politics.

Fighting the system

After she completed her matriculation from Government Centennial Pilot School for Girls in 1980, she enrolled at Government Girls College. In the three years she spent at the institution, Rashid got the opportunity to put into effect the political training which she had received from her father.

She joined Peoples Students Federation (PSF), the PPP’s student wing, as it was the only forum which could cater to her socialist ideals.

“I practically revamped the PSF at my college during Zia’s martial law,” Rashid says, not without pride. “I contested my first election during my student years against an Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba candidate and won. I also held protests at the college over a range of academic issues.”

However, her enthusiastic involvement in student politics gradually put her in the eye of the storm.



In 1982, a girl was allegedly gunned down by Afghan refugees in a village near Haripur. The incident sparked protests against the government’s policy of hosting Afghan refugees in the province on America’s dictates.

“I was in grade 12 back then,” she recalls. “I decided to hold a student protest at the college. Meanwhile, my father organised processions against General Zia’s regime and its policies of interfering in Afghanistan.”

Unfortunately, the family was forced to pay a heavy price for their opposition. Police launched a crackdown against those who organised and participated in protests against General Zia. A large number of activists who were affiliated with the MRD were put behind bars.

Although Rashid’s father managed to escape arrest, Rashid and her mother were rounded up and detained to put pressure on him to surrender.

“The police subjected us to physical and psychological torture until my father turned himself in four days later,” she says, recalling those dark memories. “The worst methods of custodial torture were used against us for being opponents of Zia’s policies.”

Rashid and her mother did not just carry torture marks and wounds. The four days of police aggression has left a deep imprint on their hearts and minds and continues to haunt them.

The next step

In 1983, Rashid expressed intentions of becoming a doctor and attended Army Medical College in Rawalpindi. However, she was expelled after six months due to her political affiliations. She moved back to Haripur and pursued a Bachelors of Science at a local university.

Refusing to succumb to defeat, Rashid decided not to let go of her dreams of becoming a physician. Her father motivated her to study medicine from Russia. Between 1988 and 1993, she studied at one of the world’s most prestigious medical institution, Saint Petersburg State Pediatric Medical University, formerly known as Leningrad Medical Pediatrician Institute. Subsequently, Rashid obtained an MPhil in gynaecology from the Saint Petersburg Medical Academy of Postgraduate Studies in 1998.

Even though she had taken on a challenging academic route, Rashid did not lose sight of her political aspirations.

During her stay in Russia, her interest in socialism reached new heights. She became a member of the World Socialist Students Organization and a socialist women organisation. Rashid also represented Pakistan at various international forums.

When she returned to Pakistan, she began practicing medicine and established a private hospital in Haripur in 1998.

“However, the socialist within me remained alive and kicking,” she says, with a broad smile. “I would allocate a small amount of my salary for the welfare of the underprivileged.”

Power and politics

In retrospect, Rashid always wanted to test her strength in the political arena.

“I always yearned to serve my district,” she explains. “My region had always been neglected.  We have always elected candidates who have failed to deliver.”

According to Rashid, one of the main reasons why she decided to enter politics was to do away with the sense of insecurity and powerlessness which plagued her family.

“Some years ago, my mother and I visited a relative of late military dictator Ayub Khan,” she explains. “I was shocked by the way we were treated at his house. He made us sit on the floor and talked down to us, as if we were peasants who had no importance in society.”

Driven by her ambitions, Rashid kicked off her political career in 2005 when she was elected as district councillor.

“I wanted to use my position to improve the living standards of underprivileged women,” she recalls. “As district councillor, I saw to it that plans to spend the annual income of District Headquarters Hospital in Haripur to improve health care were approved,” Rashid says. “I also helped set up skill development centres to help empower women in rural areas.”

Sometime after her appointment, her father died of natural causes. Even in his absence, her commitment and dedication did not go unnoticed. Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto lauded her efforts to improve the status of women and appointed her as district president of the PPP in Haripur.

“I was the first woman president in the province to head a party that was predominantly led by men,” she says.

Rashid accepted the new challenges and continued to work towards bringing a positive change. She organised the first-ever rally by women against US drone attacks in Bajaur Agency. Her main goal was to ensure women did not suffer at the hands of a patriarchal mindset.

Unfortunately, Rashid experienced a major setback in 2008 when she lost elections from PK-50, Haripur II.

“It appears that voters prefer men over women candidates,” she says. “There is a strong bias against women in politics which needs to be addressed.”

However, her defeat did not cast a shadow on her professional abilities.

“The PPP was impressed by my efforts to strengthen the party’s name in the district and nominated me as an MPA on a reserved seat in the K-P Assembly,” she explains. The government was then between the Awami National Party and the PPP.

As a woman parliamentarian, Rashid got the opportunity to make a difference and made efforts to provide justice to all and sundry.

“I tabled the Labour Rights Bill in 2011,” she says. “I also passed a resolution to ensure laws against custodial abuses are made in line with the United Nations Convention Against Torture.”

Although she has many achievements to her credit, Rashid insists male colleagues continue to create obstacles.

“They take credit for all the hard work I put in,” she explains, “Yet, I find my efforts have not been overlooked as people take me more seriously since I hail from a lower-middle class family.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2015.