Yasmin Rashid (Urdu: یاسمِین راشِد : born 21 September 1950) is a Pakistani politician and social activist. Rashid held the position of Provincial Minister of Punjab for Primary and Secondary Healthcare and Specialised Healthcare & Medical Education, serving from August 2018 to April 2022, and later from July 2022 to January 2023. Additionally, Yasmin Rashid served as a member of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab from August 2018 to January 2023.
She completed her early education in Neela village in Chakwal district[3] before moving to Lahore where she was educated at the Convent of Jesus and Mary.[2] She married in 1972.[3]
She served as the President of the Pakistan Medical Association Lahore from 1998 to 2000.[3][1] She served as president of Pakistan Medical Association Punjab from 2008 to 2010 and has been the chairperson of the Task Force Women Development,[3] and chairperson of the Women Health Committee in Punjab.[2]
In July 2017, after Nawaz Sharif was disqualified by the Supreme Court of Pakistan as a Member of the National Assembly following the Panama Papers case verdict, NA-120 (Lahore-III) seat fell vacant and by-polls were called in the constituency. PTI nominated Rashid to run for the seat of the National Assembly as its candidate in the by-polls held in September 2017.[1][8] However she lost the polls to Kulsoom Nawaz Sharif by a margin of 14,646 votes.[9]
During the 2018 elections, she again contested from the same constituency, which had now been delimited NA-125 (Lahore-III). She managed to secure 105,857 votes but was ultimately unsuccessful against PML-N's Waheed Alam Khan, who got 122,327 votes. She was later elected to the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab as a candidate of PTI on a reserved seat for women.[10] On 27 August 2018, she was inducted into the provincial Punjab cabinet of Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar and was appointed as Provincial Minister of Punjab for Primary and Secondary Healthcare, with the additional ministerial portfolio of specialised healthcare and medical education.[11]
2024 Claimed Victory against Nawaz Sharif
She ran for a seat in the National Assembly from NA-130 Lahore-XIV against three-time former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of the PML-N as a candidate of the PTI in the 2024 Pakistani general election.[12] She officially gained 104,485 votes and lost her seat to Nawaz, who gained 179,310 according to the ECP, though major allegations of rigging surfaced for the constituency, as Rashid claimed she won the seat against Nawaz by a large margin. Yasmin Rashid stated that Nawaz had officially won the seat due to rigging committed by him, and had added 74,000 votes to his name in a form of major election manipulation.[13] The civil society organization, PATTAN concluded that NA-130 would face the worst rigging prior to the elections and stated that the ECP had rigged the election in ‘historic rigging’ in favor of Nawaz using pre-prepared Form 47s.[14][15][16]
On 12 May 2023, Yasmin Rashid was arrested. The Lahore High Court has declared her case null and void still she has been detained for over 1 year while being a senior prisoner.[17]
Family
She is married to Rashid Nabi Malik.[18] Her husband belongs to a prominent political family. He is the son of the former Punjab Minister of Education Malik Ghulam Nabi.[19] Her brother-in-law, Shahid Nabi Malik, remained affiliated with the Pakistan Peoples Party and was their candidate in the general elections in 1990 and 1993.[20]
.jpg)
