Sharmila Farooqi


Sharmila Farooqi is a Pakistani politician from Karachi, who served as an advisor to the Chief Minister of Sindh from September 2008 till January 31, 2011. She is the maternal granddaughter of N M Uqaili, former Pakistan Minister of Finance and daughter of Usman Farooqi, who was a bureaucrat and a former Chairman of Pakistan Steel Mill. Farooqi is the niece of Salman Farooqi, a well-known confidante of former President Asif Ali Zardari. Farooqi earned her Master of Business Administration from the Adamson Institute of Business Administration and Technology, Karachi and a Master of Laws degree. Sharmila Farooqi is engaged to Hasham Riaz Sheikh, a former Wall Street investment banker and presently an advisor to the former President Asif Ali Zardari. Sharmila married Hasham Riaz Sheikh on March 5, 2015. She regularly appears on TV political news/talk/public affairs News channels to defend her party and government from corruption allegations.
Prior joining politics as a Pakistan Peoples Party Leader, Sharmila has also worked for showbiz. She appeared in a Drama serial "Panchwa Mausam" along with Aijaz Aslam, Talat Hussain, Abdullah Kadwani and Gulab Chandio.

Corruption

In 2001, Faruqi along with her father Usman Farooqi, a former chairman of Pakistan Steel Mills, embezzled Rs 195 billion from Pakistan Steel Mills and Government of Pakistan through political corruption and fraud. Anisa Farooqi, mother of Sharmila, entered into a plea bargain with the National Accountability Bureau on 28 April 2001 after being arrested with First Information Report No. 19/96, and given into the custody of the Ehtesab Cell by the Special Judge, Central II, handling cases of top corrupt public servants like Usman Farooqi. Sharmila Farooqi and her family was extensively investigated by officers of the National Accountability Bureau, Federal Investigation Agency and officials Karachi Electric Supply Corporation due to the non-payment of electricity bills worth Rs 1 million.

Controversy over passing entry test for the admission in PhD Law

Sharmila Farooqi has been alleged of passing the mandatory entry test for the admission in PhD at University of Karachi without appearing in the exam held on 13 May 2018 at University of Karachi. According to media reports, Sharmila was one of 12 candidates who passed the exam, the results for which were announced by Karachi University on its official website on 17 May 2018.