Pakhtun women rise with great difficulty but fall speedily into oblivion, ending up in the same ‘protected’ and enviously ‘guarded’ institution called home. There, once again, they find themselves at the total mercy of the male members of the family, strictly abiding by the rules set for them for ‘honourable’ living.

Family plays a crucial role in the career of women politicians in Pakistan. The pull and push of the two families in a woman’s life — her own and her in-laws’ — takes a big toll on her physical energy as well as her peace of mind. A great deal of grit, political consciousness and wisdom is required to balance the demands coming from different directions.

Begum Naseem Wali Khan’s life provides the best example of this. Born in Mardan, one of the most conservative regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Begum Wali was allowed to complete her matriculation before she was married into the famous Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan’s family, as second wife to his son and political heir, Abdul Wali Khan, in 1954.

She was lucky to find her family supportive to women and their rights; they encouraged her to join the College of Home Economics in Peshawar to continue her studies. Despite a long break since her matriculation and now mother to two children — five-year-old Gulalai and three-year-old Sangeen — she was able to complete the intermediate years of study.

During those two years, she was my classfellow and I admired her courage to be with students 12 years younger than her. In fact, she was happy to be like a ‘mother’ to us. We all adopted her as our maternal aunt, Mami, in recognition of her relationship with one of the students who was actually her niece-in-law.

Begum Naseem Wali Khan, who passed away on May 16, challenged patriarchal beliefs and structures by helming a Pakhtun-led party even if, in the end, she couldn’t completely overcome them

Mami had moved to a small flat on Sunehri Masjid Road in Peshawar Cantonment, which became the meeting and entertainment centre for her family and friends. She was very affectionate and helpful towards us. She laughed easily and never complained of the hardships that she must have faced, juggling her roles as a second wife, mother of her two young children, wife of an active political leader, and a mature student.

When she left college after clearing the intermediate exam, she was not heard of until she appeared on the political scene, in 1975, when her husband Abdul Wali Khan, president of the National Awami Party (NAP), was arrested and his party was banned by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Bhutto himself was later jailed and executed, after a coup by the army chief Gen Ziaul Haq.

It was during these martial law years of Gen Zia that Nasim proved her mettle and her vision, by taking control of NAP and leading a successful movement to have her husband and dozens of other NAP colleagues released from Hyderabad Jail.

In the 1977 elections, she made history once again when she became the first woman to be elected from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on a general seat.

As a parliamentary leader of ANP (which was founded in 1986) in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, she also emerged as a top political powerbroker; she was elected for three consecutive terms. She served as the provincial president of ANP for 10 years and won the provincial assembly seat PF-15 Charsadda-III by defeating her male opponents in 1993 and 1997.

A strict disciplinarian, she worked hard herself and also made others double their efforts for the party. Her oratory skills were superb. She could hold her audience spellbound for hours with her extempore speeches on Pakhtun history, politics, culture and literature — and her vocabulary and knowledge of Pakhtun poetry was vast. It was in her time that the ANP also strengthened its presence in Punjab and Sindh.

Due to some political differences with the ANP leadership, Begum Wali launched her own political party in 2014 named Awami National Party-Wali (ANP-W). She is the only Pakhtun woman from the Charsadda region to launch a separate party. Unfortunately, she did not have many successes with it.

By now her rivals, at home and within the party, had united to clip her wings and call her back to her home. It was difficult for her to withstand the pressure for too long. She agreed to the merger of her party with the mother party. The tireless efforts of her nephew, Haider Hoti, for reconciliation within his family bore fruit. Since then, she spent a retired life in her village though I personally believe her party should have kept her engaged in its affairs as she had a wealth of knowledge and long experience of party management.

The death of her husband and son was a big blow and she took a long time to overcome her grief and return to normal life. She made an effort in 2012 to return to active politics, but the environment was not too welcome or helpful to her.

Whenever she was asked about her views on women adopting a political career, Begum Wali expressed strong support for women’s participation in the electoral process. She believed that, “Women must take part in politics as they are a major part of society. Ignoring women means ignoring the majority of society.”

Begum Wali was indeed a beacon of light and hope for not only Pakhtun women but for all Pakistani women, especially those who aspire to become politicians. She deserves much more praise than she has received.

After all, it was she who, after Fatima Jinnah, successfully challenged patriarchal political beliefs and structures, making it easy for women like Benazir Bhutto to join the struggle and widen the political space for women leaders.

The writer is Chief Executive of De Laas Gul Welfare Programme (DLG) and a former minister for education in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Published in Dawn, EOS, May 23rd, 2021