Fauzia Wahab (Urdu: فوزیہ وہاب; 14 November 1956 – 17 June 2012), was a Pakistani politician who served as the senior ex officio member and the secretary-general of the central executive committee of the Pakistan Peoples Party.
She was notably appointed as the Secretary Information of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) after the resignation of Sherry Rehman, and as well secured the chairmanship of the standing committee on finance and revenue in 2008.
She was personally endorsed by President Asif Ali Zardari and became senior, high-ranking member of the central executive committee.
Earning media notoriety on passing controversial comments on Raymond Davis incident in 2011, she was admitted at the local hospital for an elective gall bladder surgery on 24 May 2012 and died on Sunday, 17 June 2012.
[citation needed] Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto nominated her to become the Information Secretary of the women's wing of the PPP in Sindh, a position she held until early 2002.
[citation needed] During the incarceration period of Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari, she wrote on various pressure tactics of the National Accountability Bureau and various government agencies against the couple as well as party leaders and workers.
[citation needed] With the 2005 Local Government elections taking place in August, she gained responsibility for working out an adjustment with the Jamat-e-Islami in the District East of Karachi.
[citation needed] Her comments on the outgoing Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who allegedly resigned for his support of the judicial process for the Raymond Davis case in refusing to accept US pressure to grant him diplomatic status, landed her in further trouble with the PPP leadership and the media.
[13] Most Pakistani politicians expressed grief, including President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani.
[citation needed] A session of the National Assembly on 6 July 2012 was dedicated to her memory in which members belonging to all parties in the parliament paid glowing tributes to her.
Prominent among those who spoke included Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Aftab Sherpao, Bushra Gohar, Khwaja Saad Rafique, Hamid Saeed Kazmi and Abdul Qadir Patel.
Abdul Qadir Patel requested the Speaker to form a parliamentary committee to ascertain facts if any negligence of doctors caused her death.
[17] Senior Journalist, Mujahid Barelvi has compiled a book eulogising Fauzia Wahab titled as "Muskurahat Zinda Rehti Hay" or "A Smile Never Dies".
The book was launched at the Karachi Press Club on 10 November 2012 which was widely attended by a large number of political leaders belonging to PPP, MQM, Jamat-e-Islami, PML-N and PTI as well party workers, friends and well wishers.