Dr. Attiya Inayatullah holds a Ph.D. in Demographics and has had a lifelong association with the Family Planning Association of Pakistan. She has an international standing in the field of population planning, and has remained a member of the Executive Board of UNESCO, as well as a leading member of the International Planned Parenthood Federation.
Dr Inayatullah served as an adviser on Population Welfare to President General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq in the early 1980s. In the partyless elections of 1985, she was elected a member of the National Assembly, and she later became associated with the Official Muslim League. She served in the cabinet of Prime Minister Muhammad Khan Junejo as a Minister of State for Population Welfare. In 1988, she was again elected a member of the National Assembly.
Following the military takeover by General Pervez Musharraf in 1999, she was one of four civilian members of the National Security Council of Pakistan in 1999 and 2000, when the Council was Pakistan's supreme governing body. Since then, she has served as Minister of Women's Development, Social Welfare and Special Education. She is currently a member of the National Assembly.
On July 5, 2002, she gave a compensation cheque for 500,000 rupees (8,200 U.S. dollars) from the Government of Pakistan to gang-rape victim, Mukhtaran Mai.
Dr Inayatullah is married to Inayatullah, a retired member of the Civil Service of Pakistan (CSP) and formerly ambassador to Nepal and Chairman of LAMEC.