Former Sindh MPA Rabia Azfar Nizami never aspired to be a politician.
Currently serving as Regional Head for the Middle East and South Asia at Jaffer Business Systems, the 53-year-old is a career professional with a passion for education activism, social welfare and journalism. The same skills she learned throughout her career proved essential for the role of politician, as she recognized that change could only come from within.
In a conversation with The Standard, she explained that she had entered the workforce after graduating from Karachi’s Dawood College of Engineering and Technology with a Bachelor of Engineering. Throughout her career in I.T. with such companies as Microsoft and Nokia, she learned leadership and communication skills that proved essential for her stint in politics—a journey that began at the urging of a friend and culminated in her election on a reserved seat for women in the Sindh Provincial Assembly.
Nizami makes clear she has no political role models, as she does not believe there is any specific person worthy of emulation. Rather, she found inspiration in her passion for fixing the inefficiencies and systematic failures rampant in Pakistani politics. This drive to fix “broken structures” remains her guiding force: a belief that improvement, however gradual, begins with participation, and change, while difficult, is worth pursuing from within the system.
According to Nizami, eloquence and charisma alone are not sufficient for political success. Rather, she says, a good leader must not only be an effective communicator, but also possess the knowledgeable and understanding necessary to advance their arguments through facts. Recalling her own experience in Parliament, she says she chose to focus her efforts on a few key issues, such as thalassemia, building her arguments with research, data, and policy detail. This strategy, she says, often left her opponents blindsided, as Pakistani politics traditionally tend to substitute screaming and insults for information and ideas.
She also believes political participation is not limited to Parliament alone. Urging Pakistan’s youth to stop waiting for any saviors, she said they must step up themselves, take initiative, and lead the charge to fix the problems they see in society. Silence and apathy, she warns, are luxuries the young cannot afford, as they will inevitably inherit the consequences of mistakes of their elders. Even outside of the political process, she notes, youth can participate in think tanks and discussions that allow them to play a role in Pakistan’s future from an early age.
On the restrictions often placed on women in Pakistani society, Nizami acknowledges the misogyny and gender-based discrimination that exists in any male-dominated field such as politics. However, she stresses, most men around her were respectful and did not attack her on the basis of her being a woman. Most of the sexist attacks directed against her, she regretted, came from other women. Rather than being discouraged by such attacks, she used them to strengthen her resolve and advises anyone wishing to enter politics to “develop a thick skin.” Criticism, she explains, is part of the job and learning to rise above it is crucial for success.
Her time in office may have ended, but Nizami’s work on reforming institutions is far from over.