LAHORE, May 5: Rebelling against both cultural constraints and family tradition, which get strictest for women in a backward tribal setup, Dr Zaib-un-Nisa Khan is proud of her reaction to an oppressive system and represents a party that she says reflects her aspirations.

“I am one of those who are from this system and was forced by it to join politics in order to break such a cruel structure. That is why I decided to contest elections,” Dr Zaib, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) candidate from NA-125, told Dawn on Sunday.

Ms Zaib is the daughter a former MNA from NA-20 (Lakki Marwat) Ghulamuddin Khan Marwat. A doctor by profession, a freelance journalist and astrologist, Ms Zaib’s fight started from her home where she found even her younger brothers opposing her education and ‘bold and progressive’ attitude.

“Unfortunately I was born in a culture where the family heads impose their decisions regarding education, marriage and property distribution on their female family members. But thanks to my father who helped me a lot in getting education up to MBBS, I became aware of my own and others’ rights,” 35-year-old Dr Zaib said.

Shifting from Lakki Marwat to Lahore was the big move that changed everything for Dr Zaib who was the eldest among her siblings, including two sisters.

“You cannot imagine the cost of this rebellion. My brothers deprived me of my legal share in the property of my father. I shifted to Lahore from my native town along with my mother. And now I am independently looking after myself and my mother by doing medical practice,” she added.

About her choice of party, she said, “Before entering the politics, I studied manifestoes of all mainstream political parties well. I found the MQM manifesto closest to my heart. So I joined it and succeeded in getting the party ticket from NA-125.”

She said the MQM was the only party in the country that represented 98 per cent of its population comprising middle, lower-middle and lower classes. She said the party not only awarded her ticket but also filed her nomination papers on its own. “They (MQM people) did not demand any sort of party fund or ticket fee from me,” she said, adding that it was the party’s confidence in her that she was pitched in a constituency from where political heavyweights like PML-N’s Khwaja Saad Rafique were contesting.

She said the MQM was perhaps the only party in the country that challenged a status quo created by the two per cent ‘privileged’ class.

Talking about her election campaign, Zaib said since she had only one MQM candidate in her subordinate constituency (PP-155), she had to cover a large area for electioneering.

Criticising the PML-N for what she called its failure to deliver, she said, “People seem to be annoyed with the PML-N and they are now waiting for the MQM.”