|
Syeda Abida Hussain |
Distinguished Advisor
|
|
|
|
|
Ambassador Syeda Abida Hussain was born on 17 March 1946 in Lahore, the daughter of the the Honorable Col. Syed Abid Hussain Shah and Syeda Kishwar Sultana. In February 1972, Amb. Hussain was elected a Member Punjab Assembly. In 1979 she was elected Chairperson of the Jhang District Council, the first women to chair a local council in Pakistan. She was re-elected Chairperson of Jhang District Council in 1983. In 1985 she became the first women in Pakistan's Legislative History to be elected Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan. She was re-elected Mmeber National Assembly in 1988. She was appointed Minister for Information in the Cabinet of Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi in 1990. In October 1991, Amb. Hussain was appointed Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States of America and served in Washington DC until May 1993. In 1997, Amb. Hussain was elected for a third time to the National Assembly of Pakistan and joined the Cabinet of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif where she maintained multiple portfolios for six months, including the Ministries of Food & Agriculture, Women's Development, Environment & Local Government and Population Welfare which she held for two years along with Science & Technology. She resigned from the Cabinet of Nawaz Sharif in 1999. Amb. Hussain joined the Pakistan People's Party led by Benazir Bhutto in 2006 and was appointed Member of the Central Executive Committee, on which she still serves. Amb. Hussain is also a Director of the Lahore Grammar School System, which is the leading private system in Pakistan and has established thirty top schools throughout the country. She is also the Principal Donor of the Syed Abid Hussain Memorial Trust Hospital for Women located in the Jhang District of the Punjab where her constituency is located. This is the only privately endowed medical facility for women in Pakistan. |
|
|
|
