“I have had more than enough! Wherever I go, whatever I do, it’s the same question that follows me around. I have been through hell in the past few months. The whole episode has affected my personal and professional life. It is not only embarrassing but also sad that educated and respected people, who have known me for the past many years, are now judging me and treating the incident as a sick joke,” laments Nilofar Bakhtiar, former Minister of Tourism and head of Muslim League women’s wing.

Bakhtiar is not just another woman minister, or former minister for that matter, who would get an indifferent dismissal. The mere mention of her name causes sparks to fly. Her parachute jumping episode in France and the photographs that followed have been constant fodder for the capital rumour mill.

“I have a very close knit family and I derive my strength from them; they are the ones who have suffered the most. It has been very traumatic for my husband and children. My youngest is only 10 and he had to bear the most. An ordinary family would have broken up under these circumstances, but they have all stood by me. If they had not supported me, I could not have gone through it.”

Nilofar Bakhtiar got entangled in the whole controversy when she attended a fundraiser in France which was organised to raise money for constructing 15 schools in the earthquake affected areas of Azad Kashmir. She was asked to kick off the event just as Kofi Annan had done for the South Asian tsumani. In the project she was named their Godmother. “Look what has happened to the Godmother! Believe you me, it was not easy. It was a free fall from 8500 feet above the ground from an aircraft — the parachute opened much later.”

Speaking on the aftermath of this seemingly innocuous event, Bakhtiar elaborates, “After the incident took a scandalous turn, my colleagues said I had no business doing this because I was a minister on an official visit. Even my seniors kept on saying I should have been more careful with the photos. The entire French media was there and the event and its publicity were very well received in France.”

As far as the media is concerned, she feels that “The media should have a filter process, whether it relays the Lal Masjid operation, a bomb blast or any other event. We need the media for sure, but the state interest should never be jeopardised.”

Following fatwas and condemnation, came Bakhtiar’s resignation. “My brothers are very unhappy over my resignation. They say I should have fought, staying within the system. But what system are we talking about? The resolution passed by the working committee said I should stay on. My resignation was not accepted for some time.”

She referred to a letter from women parliamentarians that was irresponsibly published in a newspaper. “I will quote a line from the letter, ‘she has been removed from the party position because she embarrassed Chaudhry Shujaat.’ Hence I went to Chaudhry sahib for clarification. He said he would send a tardeed but actually the tardeed never came. No clarifications were made. I am not playing the blame game. The President could not support me. It was my own party that did nothing for me. All I asked was a statement in my support which never came from any quarter.”

“I started my career in politics as a councillor and made it to the highest position.” She spoke with the confidence and composure of an achiever and added, “I had to work a lot harder for everything. In politics you need that special cult for back up support and the family structure that I never had.

“My life has been a long struggle for women’s empowerment. I have fought for many a cause – fighting for women’s rights, hudood laws, honour killing bill, reserved seats etc. I strongly believe in empowerment of women. They can certainly make a difference but they need to support other women around them too. When this whole episode took place not a single woman from the parliament was there for me except two PPP MNAs – Sherry Rehman and Fauzia Wahab.”

Reminiscing about her entrance in politics, Bakhtiar says, “I was from a much protected and pampered, cantonment background. When I came into politics my father didn’t like it, my brothers, both of them brigadiers, were not too happy either. My mother, a PPP supporter was upset because I had joined Muslim League. But I was determined to go for it.

Bakhtiar was very active during Tehreek-e-Nijaat, being the only office bearer who was jailed during the movement. “Nawaz Sharif came to see me in Multan jail and promised women seats and to bring middle class women in assemblies, later he backed out and I bid him farewell.”

That was the time when Bakhtiar joined the Lions Club and took the highest position of Lions International in Pakistan. “No woman had reached the position of International Director of the club and I worked for it as I knew it would be a big thing for Pakistan. However, when I landed in America, they said they didn’t want the first female director to be a Pakistani nor a Muslim.

“I always knew we had a conservative society, but getting all of it from the world’s super power was shocking to say the least! In short they didn’t want a Pakistani woman to create history by becoming the first woman director in 87 years.” Determined and committed – Bakhtiar contested the Lions Club elections in San Diego and won.

Returning from the US after completing her tenure, she was made the president of Muslim League and laid the foundation of women’s wing of the party.

Switching from women development to tourism was something new and challenging for Bakhtiar. Not many people know about her educational background. After graduating from Quaid-e-Azam University, she went to study hotel and tourism management on a scholarship in the US and Austria. Coming back she worked with Intercontinental and Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation for some years. “It was ‘great to be back to the same corporation. I was very well received as it was the department’s first time to have a minister who had already served them,” she said.

“I am upset because of the Visit Pakistan Year. It was a big challenge. Keeping in mind the condition in the country, changing the travel advisory was a Herculean task and took months. We packaged Lahore like Delhi with a Mughal theme. The King of Malaysia was to open the Shandur Polo Festival,” laments the former minister.

Speaking on the current security situation and its consequences on the Visit Pakistan Year, Nilofar Bakhtiar says, “Despite the volatile situation in Pakistan, things for the tourism industry should be moving. My mission was to remove that red tag from Pakistan. Things are bad in Sri Lanka, Nepal or for that matter India too, but that doesn’t bring their tourism industry to a standstill.”

“People say Nilofar Bakhtiar is confused. I am not confused, I know what I want to achieve. I am a free person now and have no political gains to be made. I can do what I want. I have another five years to go as a senator. There are many legislations I need to work on and not being in the government helps, whether it is supporting Imran Khan on Sita White case or raising a voice with any other opposition member.

“The whole episode has made me realise how vulnerable a Pakistani woman is. As a Women’s Minister I used to think I have done a great deal and achieved a lot, but I was wrong,” says Nilofar Bakhtiar in a definitive tone. “Now the mission in my life is to work for the uplift of women. Just making policies will not work, we need to get out of major cities and reach out to everyone.” —Huma Khawar