ISLAMABAD: In a historic first, a grassroots worker from the less-developed Chitral district, Falak Naz was awarded ticket on Saturday by the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to contest elections from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on a seat reserved for women.

Naz, who started her career as a teacher from a private school in Chitral, belongs to a remote Rayeen village of Torkhow tehsil, was handpicked by no other than Prime Minister Imran Khan himself to acknowledge her services for the party, despite a long list of other potential candidates from the province.

She joined the PTI in 2013 after quitting the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

She was head of the district women wing of the PPP when decided to join the PTI after meeting the chairman Imran Khan in Islamabad.

Sources told Business Recorder that there were many aspirants for the tickets but the name of Naz, who was the head of the PTI women wing Malakand Division, was finalised by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

“I simply can’t describe my feelings how great I feel as the party especially the prime minister has acknowledged the services of an ordinary worker like me,” she told BR.

Naz said she would leave no stone unturned to serve the people of her area and would continue to work for the rights of the oppressed people, especially for the empowerment of women, their health and education.

After Prince Burhanuddin alias commander-in-chief of Dolomuts, Naz would be the second senator from Chitral after the forthcoming Senate elections scheduled for March 3rd.

Naz’s surprise nomination for Senate ticket stirred a wave of optimism and joy among the PTI workers as well as the local people in Chitral, as they celebrated the rare selection of an ordinary woman from a backward district which has always been neglected by respective governments in the past for several decades as far as representation in the Senate is concerned.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021