ISLAMABAD — A senior Pakistani woman lawmaker from the opposition party of former President Asif Ali Zardari has become the country’s first opposition leader in the upper house of parliament, officials said Friday, a sign of the increasing role women have in this Islamic nation’s legislature. Sherry Rehman, a former diplomat who served as Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States from 2011 to 2013, has been a member of the Senate since 2015. Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani, recently elected Senate chairman, announced Rehman’s appointment, which was confirmed on Friday. Bhutton was Pakistan’s first woman prime minister. Among newly elected Senate members Pakistan swore in earlier this month was for the first time, a woman from the country’s marginalized Hindu minority.

Source: National Post March 23, 2018 06:34 UTC