Shireen Mazari

Shireen Mehrunnisa Mazari (Urdu: شیریں مہر النساء مزاری‎) is a Pakistani politician who is the current Federal Minister for Human Rights, in office since 20 August 2018. She is the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Appointment of Chief Election Commissioner and Members of the Election Commission of Pakistan. She has been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan since August 2018, and serves as a chief whip for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. Previously, she was a member of the National Assembly from June 2013 to May 2018.[1]

Shireen Mehrunnisa Mazari
Minister for Human Rights
Assumed office
20 August 2018
PresidentMamnoon Hussain
Arif Alvi
Prime MinisterImran Khan
Preceded byRoshan Khursheed Bharucha (caretaker)
Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan
Assumed office
13 August 2018
ConstituencyReserved seat for women
In office
1 June 2013 – 31 May 2018
ConstituencyReserved seat for women
Personal details
BornQuetta, Balochistan, Pakistan
Nationality Pakistani
Political partyPakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf[1]
ResidenceIslamabad, Islamabad Capital Territory, Pakistan
Alma materLondon School of Economics
Columbia University[1]

Mazari studied at the London School of Economics and later received her PhD from Columbia University in political science.[1] Mazari joined Quaid-i-Azam University as an associate professor and went on to head the university's strategic studies department. In 2002, Mazari became the head of the government-funded Institute of Strategic Studies and remained until she was sacked in 2008. In 2009, Mazari became the editor of The Nation.[1]

Early life and education

Mazari, an ethnic baloch shia,[2] is a graduate of the London School of Economics. She received her PhD in Political Science from Columbia University.[3][4][5]

Professional career

In 2008, Government of Pakistan removed Mazari from the post of Director General of The Institute of Strategic Studies where she was due to retire in 2009.[6][7][5][3][8]

In 2009, Mazari was appointed as the editor of The Nation.[3][7][9] She also hosted a weekly television show on the Waqt News.[5] Mazari came under intensive criticism from the Committee to Protect Journalists after she publicly alleged an American journalist to be a CIA spy.[10]

She had been an associate professor at Quaid-i-Azam University and later became chairperson of the university's Department of Defense and Strategic Studies.[5]

Political career

Mazari joined the PTI in 2008[11][12] citing "policy differences and its takeover by corrupt elements"[8] after she was served a show cause notice by PTI for “making unfounded, incorrect, inaccurate and false statements in the media.”[8]

In 2009, she was Information Secretary and Spokesperson of PTI.[7][13]

In 2012, she resigned from PTI[11][12] where she was the Central Vice President[14] and in charge of Foreign Policy.[15]

She rejoined PTI in 2013.[12]

She was elected as the member of the National Assembly of Pakistan for the first time in 2013 Pakistani general election on the ticket of PTI on reserved seats for women from Punjab.[16][17][18][19][20]

She was the chief whip of PTI in the National Assembly of Pakistan.[21]

She was re-elected to the National Assembly as a candidate of PTI on a seat reserved for women from Punjab in the 2018 Pakistani general election.[22]

On 18 August, Imran Khan formally announced his federal cabinet structure and Mazari was named as Minister for Human Rights.[23] On 20 August 2018, she was sworn in as Federal Minister for Human Rights in the federal cabinet of Prime Minister Imran Khan.[24]
In 2019, after a terrorist attack in London, she chose to criticize Pakistans' leading newspaper Dawn for publicizing that the terrorist had been a man of Pakistani origin, rather than deploring the attack itself or offering condolences. She accused Dawn to pursue an anti-Pakistani agenda. While mobs surrounded the offices of Dawn calling for the editor to be hanged, she left the defense of the freedom of expression in Pakistan to others, such as Reporters without Borders.[25][26][27]

Works

Books
  • Pakistan's security and the nuclear option, Institute of Policy Studies, 1995, 167 p. Co-edited with Tarik Jan et al.
  • The Kargil conflict, 1999 : separating fact from fiction, Institute of Policy Studies, 2003, 162 p.

Research papers
  • Nuclear safety and terrorism : a case study of India, Institute of Strategic Studies, 2001, 46 p. Co-written with Maria Sultan.
  • Pakistan's nuclear doctrine and approach to arms control, Institute of South Asian Studies, 2005, 17 p.
  • Islam and the West' dialogue : what achievements? What new effective methods?, ISIS Malaysia, 2008, 16 p.

References
  1. "Shireen Mazari". ARY News. 11 August 2018. Archived from the original on 19 December 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  2. "Shireen Mazari Twitter". Retrieved 10 December 2019.
  3. Markey, Daniel S. (2013). No exit from Pakistan : America's tortured relationship with Islamabad. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-10-762359-0. Archived from the original on 23 October 2016. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  4. "Making some sense out of nonsense". Pakistan Today. Archived from the original on 4 March 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  5. "TheNation welcomes new Editor". The Nation. 8 September 2009. Archived from the original on 4 March 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  6. "ISSI DG Shireen Mazari removed". Daily Times. 15 May 2008. Archived from the original on 9 February 2012. Retrieved 4 March 2017.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  7. "Shireen Mazari replaces Arif Nizami as Editor The Nation". 8 September 2009. Archived from the original on 12 October 2011. Retrieved 4 March 2017.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  8. "Shireen Mazari quits PTI". DAWN.COM. 26 September 2012. Archived from the original on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  9. "CIA slur has chilling parallel with Pearl". The Australian. 25 November 2009. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  10. International press decries attack on Rosenberg Archived 3 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine
  11. "Shireen Mazari rejoins PTI - thenews.com.pk". The News. 20 March 2013. Archived from the original on 19 March 2013. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  12. "Reserved seats for women and the elite's hold on them - The Express Tribune". The Express Tribune. 7 June 2013. Archived from the original on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  13. "Clarification". The News. 7 September 2009. Archived from the original on 20 February 2010. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  14. "Shireen Mazari quits PTI - The Express Tribune". The Express Tribune. 26 September 2012. Archived from the original on 4 March 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  15. "Shireen Mazari resigns, alleges PTI hijacked by 'big money'". DAWN.COM. 26 September 2012. Archived from the original on 4 March 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  16. "Women, minority seats allotted". DAWN.COM. 29 May 2013. Archived from the original on 7 March 2017. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  17. "PML-N secures most reserved seats for women in NA - The Express Tribune". The Express Tribune. 28 May 2013. Archived from the original on 4 March 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  18. "Women's reserved seats: Top politicians' spouses, kin strike it lucky - The Express Tribune". The Express Tribune. 30 May 2013. Archived from the original on 12 February 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  19. "Bye bye PTI?". DAWN.COM. 4 June 2013. Archived from the original on 4 March 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  20. "Capital varsity bill passed amid walkout". DAWN.COM. 19 May 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  21. "PTI's Mazari questions ISPR silence on army sackings". DAWN.COM. 22 April 2016. Archived from the original on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  22. Reporter, The Newspaper's Staff (12 August 2018). "List of MNAs elected on reserved seats for women, minorities". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  23. "PM Imran Khan finalises names of 21-member cabinet". DAWN.COM. 18 August 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
  24. "16 ministers from PM Imran Khan's cabinet sworn in". DAWN.COM. 20 August 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  25. Pakistan newspaper besieged by Islamists calling for editor to be hanged over London Bridge coverage, The Independent, 4 December 2019.
  26. London Attack Coverage Prompted Riots Against a Pakistani Newspaper, Voice of America, 4 December 2019.
  27. Recent attacks against independent media in Pakistan, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, 16 december 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.