Zartaj Gul (

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages ...

, ur, ) is a Pakistani politician who served as Minister of State for Climate Change, in

Imran Khan ministry The Imran Khan ministry was the government of Pakistan which was formed by Imran Khan following his successful election as Prime Minister of Pakistan by the National Assembly. The Cabinet had 25 Federal Ministers, 4 Ministers of state and 4 Adv ...

between 5 October 2018 and 10 April 2022 after

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi ( ur}; born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former Cricket captain who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to until April 2022, when he was ousted through a no-confidenc ...

was ousted by

No-confidence motion against Imran Khan In April 2022, a no-confidence motion against Imran Khan led to his removal as the prime minister of Pakistan. Based largely on the Westminster system of legislature, the prime minister commands confidence of the majority of the lower house ...

. She remained a member of the

National Assembly of Pakistan The National Assembly ( ur, , translit=Aiwān-e-Zairīñ, , or ur, قومی اسمبلی, Romanization, romanized: ''Qaumi Assembly'') is the lower house, lower legislative house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Pakistan, which al ...

between August 2018 and January 2023.

Early life and education

Gul hails from

North Waziristan North Waziristan District ( ps, شمالي وزیرستان ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It is the northern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanist ...

, born on 17 October 1984

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...

to Ahmad Wazir, chief engineer of

WAPDA The Pakistan Water & Power Development Authority (WAPDA; ur, ) is a government-owned public utility maintaining power and water in Pakistan, although it does not manage thermal power. WAPDA includes Tarbela and Mangla dams among its resources. ...

and belongs to Wazir tribe. She obtained her early education in her native town

Bannu Bannu ( ps, بنو, translit=banū ; ur, , translit=bannū̃, ) is a city located on the Kurram River in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is the capital of Bannu Division. Bannu's residents are primarily members of the Banuchi tribe ...

and

Miramshah Mīrānshāh (Pashto and ur, ) or Mīrāmshāh () is a small town that is the administrative headquarters of North Waziristan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Miranshah lies on the banks of the Tochi River in a wide valley surr ...

before moving to Lahore with her family. She attended

Queen Mary College Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and previously Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public university, public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of ...

for her undergraduate studies and then

National College of Arts The National College of Arts (colloquially known as NCA) is a public university located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Overview National College of Arts - A Federal Chartered Institute is the oldest art school in Pakistan and the second oldest i ...

for her postgraduate studies. She did Textile Designing from National College of Arts. After completing her education, she joined

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI; ur, , ) is a political party in Pakistan. It was founded in 1996 by Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, who served as the country's prime minister from 2018 to 2022. The PTI is one of the thre ...

(PTI) and became a volunteer with Insaf Student Forum (ISF) in 2005. She moved to

Dera Ghazi Khan Dera Ghazi Khan (), abbreviated as D.G. Khan, is a city in the southwestern part of Punjab, Pakistan. It is the 19th largest city of Pakistan by population. Lying west of the Indus River, it is the headquarters of Dera Ghazi Khan District and ...

after getting married in 2010.

Political career

Gul ran for the seat of the

as a candidate of PTI from Constituency NA-172 (Dera Ghazi Khan-II) in

2013 Pakistani general election General elections were held in Pakistan on Saturday 11 May 2013 to elect the members of the 14th National Assembly and the four Provincial Assemblies. The three major parties were the Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N) led by Nawaz Sharif, t ...

but was unsuccessful. She received 38,643 against 49,142 votes of

Hafiz Abdul Kareem Hafiz Abdul Kareem (; born 1 January 1960) is a Pakistani politician who served as Minister for Communications, in Abbasi cabinet from August 2017 to May 2018. He has been a member of the Senate of Pakistan since March 2018. Previously he had b ...

and lost the seat. She was elected to the National Assembly as a candidate of PTI from NA-191 (Dera Ghazi Khan-III) in

2018 Pakistani general election General elections were held in Pakistan on Wednesday, 25 July 2018 to elect the members of 15th National Assembly and the four Provincial Assemblies. The three major parties Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led by Imran Khan, the Pakistan Muslim ...

. She received 79,817 votes and defeated

Awais Leghari Sardar Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari (Urdu language, Urdu: اویس احمد خان لغاری‎; born 22 March 1971) is a Pakistani politician who is currently an Finance department, Punjab (Pakistan), Minister of Finance Department & Revenue Punjab ...

. On 5 October 2018, she was inducted into the federal cabinet of Prime Minister

and was appointed as Minister of State for Climate Change.

Controversy

In June 2019, Gul was criticized by the media for allegedly using her position to influence NACTA in the appointment of her sister in the authority. Prime Minister Imran Khan took notice of the situation. However, NACTA clarified that appointment of Zartaj Gul was totally based on merit and there was no nepotism involved in the case.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gul, Zartaj Living people Pashtun women Pakistani MNAs 2018–2023 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MNAs Imran Khan administration 1984 births Queen Mary College, Lahore alumni National College of Arts alumni Government ministers of Pakistan Women members of the National Assembly of Pakistan 21st-century Pakistani women politicians