Maryam Nawaz

Maryam Nawaz (Urdu: مریم صفدر‎) is a Pakistani entrepreneur, political activist and a member of her father's political party Pakistan Muslim League (N). Born in the political prominent Sharif family, where her parents and other family members are all politicians. She is the daughter of the current Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif and the First Lady of Pakistan, Kalsoom Butt. After completing her Masters from the University of Punjab, she married Muhammad Safdar Awan, with whom she has three children. Though she did involved herself into politics, she is the chairperson of the Sharif Trust since 1997. In 2012, it was announced that Maryam will participate in politics to assist her father in the 2013 general elections. Since then, she has been active in politics, and currently serves as an aide in the Pakistan Muslim League (N).

Family and education

Maryam Nawaz was born in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan.^[1] Her father, Nawaz Sharif, is the three time and current Prime Minister of Pakistan, while, her mother, Kalsoom Butt, is the First Lady of Pakistan. Maryam has two brothers, Hussain and Hassan, and a sister, Asma. Her grandfather, Muhammad Sharif, was an industrialist and the founder of Ittefaq Group, while her great grandfather, The Great Gama (born as Ghulam Muhammad), was a wrestler. Both of her maternal and paternal grandparents were from Amritsar, who migrated to Pakistan after the partition of India.^[2][3] Shahbaz Sharif, the current Chief Minister of Punjab, is her uncle, and, Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, a Member of National Assembly of Pakistan, is her first cousin.^[4] Author Tehmina Durrani, is her aunt.^[5]

After graduating from Convent of Jesus and Mary school, in 1991 she joined King Edward Medical University, however she had to leave to to a controversy regarding her admission and later continued her postgraduate studies at University of Punjab and earned a Master's degree in English literature. She is pursuing a PhD degree in Political science from the same university.^{[6][6][7][8][9]}

In 1992, she married her father's Security officer Captain Muhammad Safdar Awan (Force retired from Pakistan Army in 1999 by Pervez Musharraf. He is now a politician and member of her father's PMLN).^[4] The couple has three children, a son, Muhammad Junaid Safdar, and two daughters, Mehrunnisa Safdar and Mahnoor Safdar.^[10]

Social entrepreneurship

Maryam Nawaz Sharif has been the chairperson of Sharif Trust since 1997.^{[11][12][13][14]}

Political career

She announced her intention to participate in politics to assist her father in November 2011.^[15] She is now a worker of PML-N.^[16] In the April 2012 article in Newsweek Pakistan Maryam Nawaz was described as the new face of the PML-N political party.^[2] Her role in politics has often been portrayed and criticized as a representation of family politics in Pakistan.^[17][18][19]

In November 2013, Maryam was appointed as the chairperson of Prime Minister’s Youth Programme and took responsibility for coordination, management, finalization and supervision of the implementation of the program.^[11] The program includes Fee Reimbursement Scheme for underdeveloped areas throughout the country for the encouragement of students. She said about the program that the "focus of this scheme is to chisel and brush up the latent talent of the youth of the country and also to provide equal opportunities for acquiring higher education to the students of underdeveloped areas".^[20] However her appointment was called into question and cited as an example of rampant nepotism by the opposition parties, especially the PTI. Zubair Niazi, a local leader of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf took the matter to Lahore high court On 23 October 2014 where Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah ordered the administration to force her to resign. During the hearing, deputy attorney general Amir Rehman presented her academic credentials but withdrew them after failing to answer a query whether the Ph.D. degree was actual or honorary. He claimed that the details presented before the court had been collected from the internet. Justice Shah also expressed astonishment over the combination of her claimed degrees –an M.A. in English Literature) followed by a doctorate in Political Science.^{[7][21][22][23][23]}

Controversy

In April 2016, Maryam Nawaz, along with her siblings Hasan Nawaz Sharif and Hussain Nawaz Sharif were named in the Panama Papers as allegedly hiding their wealth in off-shore tax havens. ^{[24] [25] [26]}

See also

• Sharif Medical & Dental College
• Muhammad Safdar Awan

References

Further reading

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