Abida Hussain

{{Main|Pakistani political families|Pakistani billionaires}}

Abida Hussain was born in Jhang, Punjab in Pakistan, into a wealthy family that owned farmhouses, cattle ranges and ranches in 1948.{{cite news|last1=Swamy|first1=Kumara|title='I don't think Mr Modi is politically interested in starting a serious conversation with Pakistan'|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/1160313/jsp/7days/story_74188.jsp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160319105952/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160313/jsp/7days/story_74188.jsp|url-status=dead|archive-date=19 March 2016|accessdate=29 May 2018|work=The Telegraph|agency=The Telegraph|publisher=The Telegraph, 2016|date=13 March 2016|location=New Delhi|language=en-uk|quote={{small|According to The Telegraph in India, Abida Hussain age was 68 in 2016.}}}} Her father, landlord Syed Abid Hussain Shah, was an honorary Colonel in the Indian Army and a politician who was elected on the platform of the Muslim League for a seat in the Constituent Assembly of India in 1945–47.{{cite web|last1=Hussain-Imam|first1=S. Abida|title=Abida's Story|url=http://syedaabidahussain.com/abidas-story/|website=syedaabidahussain.com|publisher=Syed Abida Hussain bio (web)|accessdate=28 May 2018|archive-date=28 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180528134318/http://syedaabidahussain.com/abidas-story/|url-status=dead}} He first served as a cabinet minister in the Ministry of Talents of the Prime Minister, Mohammad Ali Bogra in 1954–55, and later as a cabinet minister in the administration of Feroze Khan in 1958.

Hussain received a British-style education at Convent of Jesus and Mary in Lahore where she qualified for her Cambridge exams and later completed her O and A-Level qualifications from Surval Montreux in Switzerland.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/04/world/islamabad-journal-a-feminist-unswerving-in-a-very-macho-land.html |title=Islamabad Journal; A Feminist Unswerving In a 'Very Macho' Land |first=Barbara |last=Crossette |date=March 4, 1989 |website=New York Times}} She spent additional semesters studying history in Florence in Italy but did not obtain her degree and returned to Pakistan after being arranged to marry Fakhar Imam, her cousin, who was a bureaucrat at that time.{{cite news|last1=Siddiqi|first1=Muhammad Ali|title=COVER: A gilded life: Power Failure by Syeda Abida Hussain|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1193982|accessdate=28 May 2018|work=DAWN.COM|agency=Dawn Newspapers|publisher=Dawn Newspapers|date=13 July 2015}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.pakistanherald.com/profile/syed-fakhar-imam-1169|title=Syed Fakhar Imam|newspaper=Pakistan Herald|access-date=2016-12-17|archive-date=19 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919194846/http://www.pakistanherald.com/profile/Syed-Fakhar-Imam-1169|url-status=dead}}

After the military takeover in 1999 and the presidential ordinance enforced in 2002, Abida was disqualified from participating in national politics due to the lack of submitting proof of a baccalaureate degree to the Election Commission, which is a requirement. In 2002, she went to attend the undergraduate program in Economics at the Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU) but switched her major, and graduated with B.A. in Political Science in 2008.{{cite web|url=http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/blog/2015/04/11/bittersweet-memories-of-abida-hussain/|title=Bittersweet memories of Abida Hussain|website=www.pakistantoday.com.pk|access-date=2016-12-17}}

Abida Hussain is married to Fakhar Imam who is also a politician on PML(N)'s platform. She is a Shia muslim.{{Cite web |date=2015-01-12 |title=Interesting anecdotes: Abida Hussain narrates her political journey |url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/820896/interesting-anecdotes-abida-hussain-narrates-her-political-journey |access-date=2022-05-16 |website=The Express Tribune |language=en}}

Her daughter, Sughra, pursued her footsteps and is also a politician on the PML(N)'s platform and currently tenuring in the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab.{{cite web|title=Punjab Assembly|url=http://www.pap.gov.pk/index.php/members/profile/en/9/172|website=www.pap.gov.pk|accessdate=27 May 2018}}

After her father's death in 1971, Abida Hussain entered national politics on the platform of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and won Jhang constituency during the general elections held in 1970.{{cite news|last1=Moini|first1=Qasim A.|title=We have failed to handle power, says Abida Hussain|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1162488|accessdate=29 May 2018|work=Dawn.com |publisher=Dawn Newspapers |date=9 February 2015}}{{cite news |title=Old rivals, new faces in Jhang political circus|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/268471|accessdate=29 May 2018|work=Dawn.com |publisher=Dawn Newspapers|date=27 September 2007}} After being elected to the Provincial Assembly of Punjab, she was appointed chairperson of the People's Workers Programme, and sat as a backbencher.{{cite web|url=http://www.pap.gov.pk/index.php/members/profile/en/9/172|title=Punjab Assembly|website=www.pap.gov.pk|access-date=2016-12-17}} In 1974–75, she was opposed to the nationalization of industries and land reforms initiated by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, causing strains with her in the party.

In 1977, she lost her party's constituency nomination to Haider Bharwana. In 1979, she was elected Mayor of Jhang, becoming the first woman to head a city government, and was re-elected in 1983.{{Cite news|url=http://nation.com.pk/national/13-Jan-2015/abida-narrates-political-autobiography|title=Abida narrates political autobiography|newspaper=The Nation|language=en-US|access-date=2016-12-17}}

When the 1985 general election was announced, she joined the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) and stood in Constituency NA-87 against clergy member, Rehmatullah Bharwana; she was noted as the first woman first women to be elected to the National Assembly on a general seat.{{cite web|url=http://www.brecorder.com/general-news/172/1141179/|title=Confessions of a feudal lord's daughter|website=Business Recorder|access-date=2016-12-17|archive-date=21 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221071004/http://www.brecorder.com/general-news/172/1141179/|url-status=dead}} In 1988, she sided with the conservative faction led by Fida Mohammad Khan, and joined the PML(N) led by its President Fida Mohammad.{{cite book|last1=Hussain|first1=Syeda Abida|title=Power Failure: The Political Odyssey of a Pakistani Woman|date=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Karahi, Pakistan|isbn=9780199401574|page=707|edition=1st|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nMizoAEACAAJ&q=Power+failure+Abida|accessdate=29 May 2018|language=en-pak}}

In the 1990 general election, she fought the election against the influential cleric, Haq-Nawaz Jhangvi, who later founded the violent LeJ after losing the elections for Constituency NA-87 to Abida Hussain.{{cite news|last1=Reporter|first1=A|title=Pakistan's political history in the words of Abida Hussain|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1156714|accessdate=29 May 2018|work=DAWN.COM|agency=Dawn Newspapers|publisher=Dawn Newspapers, 2015|date=13 January 2015}} After her name was placed on a hit list by the LeJ, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif became concerned for her safety, and immediately appointed her as the Pakistan Ambassador to the United States effective immediately in 1990.

On 26 November 1991, Abida Hussain took the charge of the plenipotentiary of the Pakistan Embassy in the Washington, D.C. in the United States— she was the first woman diplomat to be appointed as the Pakistan Ambassador to the United States. Her appointment came at the troublant time for the foreign relations with the United States, due to Americans placing the military embargo on the Pakistan's military. She acted as Pakistan's principle negotiator with the United States Department of State, and described the meetings with the American officials stressful due to Americans keep demanding the rollback of the clandestine atomic bomb program.

At the time of her launch of her autobiography, she later identified the issue of nuclear weapons was the principal source of distress between bilateral ties of Pakistan and the United States.{{cite web|url=https://fas.org/news/pakistan/1992/920731.html|title=Pakistan|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=|access-date=}} Hussain has written in her memoir that the "conversations and negotiations with the American functionaries and the American politicians were quite rough. Because they would make only one demand: "Roll back your [atomic] program". And, since I was quite clear that we cannot do that, our conversations were not friendly."{{Cite news|url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/1104005/political-musings-abida-recalls-her-experience-as-ambassador-to-us/|title=Political musings: Abida recalls her experience as ambassador to US – The Express Tribune|date=2016-05-16|newspaper=The Express Tribune|language=en-US|access-date=2016-12-17}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OUSTDAAAQBAJ&q=abida+hussain+2003&pg=PA65|title=US-Pakistan Relations: Pakistan's Strategic Choices in the 1990s|last=Farooq|first=Nasra Talat|date=2016-07-01|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317358497|language=en}} In talks with Sharif in Islamabad, Abida Hussain recommended cancelling of the acquisitions of the F-16s fighter jets and have funds refunded from the United States government, which Sharif was also of the same view point.

Abida later levelled accusations on the American contractor, General Dynamics, of bribing her after making the suggestions as the contractor wanted Pakistan to continue funding the F-16 program for the Pakistan Air Force until the contract ended. She also maintained that the chair of the board of directors of the General Dynamics, offered her to pay off her children's expensive education in Harvard and Yale, and also offered an estate in Washington, D.C.: she rejected the offers and confided her conversation Sharif in 1993.[http://tribune.com.pk/story/1104005/political-musings-abida-recalls-her-experience-as-ambassador-to-us "Political musings: Abida recalls her experience as ambassador to US"; The Express Tribune]. Abida quoted her conservation with the Chair of the General Dynamics, quote: You have two daughters studying in Harvard which is a very expensive school. Could we help you out with their education?

In an interview with The Telegraph in 2016 in India, Abida Hussain claimed that, U.S. Vice President Al Gore mistook her twice as her deputy chief was the ambassador. After the general elections held in 1993, Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto recalled her from her diplomatic assignment, and posted Dr. Maliha Lodhi, a career officer, as the Pakistan Ambassador to the United States.{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-04-05-wr-42277-story.html|title=Profile : New Envoy Aims to End Pakistan's 'Rogue' Image : Maleeha Lodhi's credentials include an eye for power, a blue-blood pedigree, a career in journalism and a thousand-watt smile.|last=DAHLBURG|first=JOHN-THOR|date=1994-04-05|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035|access-date=2016-12-17}}

{{Main|1998 Pakistan Census|War hawk}}

After returning to Pakistan, Abida Hussain worked towards the agriculture, and sat in the opposition bench in the Parliament, and credited Sharif of agriculture revolution by introducing effective tube wells during the election campaign of Nawaz Sharif in 1997.

In 1994, she was implicated of receiving financial funding from the intelligence community, and testified in the case hearings in 2016 at the Supreme Court of Pakistan that "we (conservatives) were led to believe that it was an election fund for members of the government."{{Cite news|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160313/jsp/7days/story_74188.jsp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160319105952/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160313/jsp/7days/story_74188.jsp|url-status=dead|archive-date=19 March 2016|title='I don't think Mr Modi is politically interested in starting a serious conversation with Pakistan'|date=2016-03-13|access-date=2016-12-17}}

After successfully defending her constituency during the general elections held in 1997, Abida Hussain joined the second administration of Sharif as the Minister of Food and Agriculture and later becoming the Ministry of Population Control and Census.{{Cite news|url=http://www.dawn.com/news/1156714|title=Pakistan's political history in the words of Abida Hussain|date=2015-01-13|newspaper=DAWN.COM|access-date=2016-12-04}}[http://www.dawn.com/news/1156714/ Pakistan’s political history in the words of Abida Hussain] She was later rumored to be appointed in the United Nations as Permanent Representative of Pakistan but this appointment was never considered.{{cite news|url=http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\11\11\story_11-11-2010_pg1_4|title=Abida Hussain to be appointed new UN envoy|date=2010-11-10|publisher=Daily Times|accessdate=2010-01-10}}

In 1998, she notably oversaw the successful and peaceful nationwide census in all over the country.{{rp|225}}{{cite book|last1=Qadeer|first1=Mohammad|title=Pakistan – Social and Cultural Transformations in a Muslim Nation|date=2006|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134186174|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ll02P7G5XD8C&q=abida+hussain+census&pg=PA285|accessdate=29 May 2018|language=en}}{{rp|2}}{{cite book|title=Population Headliners|date=1999|publisher=Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BwgmAQAAMAAJ&q=abida+hussain+census|accessdate=29 May 2018|language=en}} When India conducted the nuclear tests in May 1998, Abida Hussain became one of the war hawk in the party, ultimately calling to break policy of deliberate ambiguity, and conduct the atomic tests in response to India. Over the Kargil front in 1999, she sided with Prime Minister Sharif, and ultimately suggesting to call for the meeting with the Chairman joint chiefs Gen. Pervez Musharraf over this issue.{{cite book|last1=Akbar|first1=M. K.|title=Kargil: Cross Border Terrorism|date=1999|publisher=Mittal Publications|isbn=9788170997344|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tmVuAAAAMAAJ&q=abida+|accessdate=29 May 2018|language=en}}

After the military takeover of the federal government in 1999, Abida was imprisoned in Adiala Prison along with the leadership of the PML(N), and an inquiry was opened on her financial wealth that ultimately called her "a major defaulter."{{rp|contents}}{{cite book|last1=Sehri|first1=Inam|title=Judges and Generals of Pakistan Volume – I|date=2012|publisher=Grosvenor House Publishing|isbn=9781781480434|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gzllAgAAQBAJ&q=abida+hussain+kargil&pg=PT278|accessdate=29 May 2018|language=en}}

Although, she was later released in 2002 with no inquiry actions taken against her.{{rp|contents}} Abida Hussain later testified that the inquiries were drop due to her agreeing on a deal with the Musharraf administration to defect to the splinter faction under Shujaat Hussain, that would allow her to take participation in the general elections that were held in 2002. Despite agreeing on a deal with Musharraf's administration, she was disqualified to take further participation in general elections held in 2002, mainly due to failure to submit the proof of baccalaureate degree.

Abida Hussain's political views reflects the fiscal conservatism on economic issues, and environmental conservatism on wildlife issues in her country, as she opposed to the issue of nationalization of corporate industry by the government as it did not suit well with the conservative industrialists.{{rp|17}} She also sided with Sharif's over many national security issues, and called for the civilian control of the military after 1999.{{rp|359}}

In 2002, Abida Hussain was disqualified from participating in the national politics by the Election Commission due to her lack of proof to submit the baccalaureate degree after the controversial new executive order signed by Musharraf. The new order eventually forced her to attend the university for the college degree to ensure the survival of her political career.{{cite news|last1=McCarthy|first1=Rory|title=The general's elections in Pakistan|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/jul/12/worlddispatch.pakistan|accessdate=29 May 2018|work=The Guardian|agency=The Guardian|date=12 July 2002|language=en-uk|quote={{small|One senior Pakistan Muslim League leader, Abida Hussain, has reportedly just sat BA exams at a university in Multan to ensure she qualifies to stand in October's election.}}}} In 2006, she conditionally agreed to join the Pakistan Peoples Party after disagreement arises with the PML(N) over the policy issues.{{cite news|url=http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\11\27\story_27-11-2006_pg7_14|title=Abida and Fakhar all set to join PPP conditionally|date=2006-11-27|publisher=Daily Times|accessdate=2010-01-10}}{{cite web|url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/archive/print/646915-row-deepens-after-abida,-fakhr-join-ppp|title=Row deepens after Abida, Fakhr join PPP|website=www.thenews.com.pk|access-date=2016-12-17}} In 2007, she harboured doubts on Musharraf' promises on giving security to Benazir Bhutto and reportedly Bhutto to avoid attending the political rally in National Park in Rawalpindi, which Bhutto attended and was assassinated.{{Cite news|url=http://www.dawn.com/news/1162488|title=We have failed to the handle power, says Abida Hussain|date=2015-02-09|newspaper=DAWN.COM|access-date=2016-12-17}} In 2008, Abida and her husband, Fakhar, reportedly lost the general election, and reportedly seek their retirement after Abida and Fakhar left the PPP in 2012.{{cite news|last1=Shahzad|first1=Mohammad|title=Interview with Syed Abida Hussain-Imam|url=http://globalagemagazine.kipscss.net/ArticleDetail/2017/May/interview-with-syeda-abida-hussain|accessdate=30 May 2018|work=globalagemagazine.kipscss.net|agency=Golden Age|publisher=Golden Age, 2017|date=1 May 2017|language=en}}{{cite news|title=Three heavyweights may join PML-N – The Express Tribune|url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/408535/three-heavyweights-may-join-pml-n/|accessdate=29 May 2018|work=The Express Tribune|date=15 July 2012}}

During the general election, in 2013, Abida Hussain supported the PML-N candidate in Jhang by-elections, and ran her daughter's successful campaign to be elected for the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab on the platform of the PML(N).{{cite news|title=Abida to keep 'small political role' sans active politics|url=https://nation.com.pk/E-Paper/Islamabad/2014-02-21/page-3/detail-5|work=The Nation}} She reportedly quit the politics and currently overseeing the horse racing and breeding in her constituency. In 2016, she spoke very high of Nawaz Sharif, whom she considered to be self-made man and leader in politics, and paid tribute to Sharif for the services his done for his country's environment and agriculture.

• Hussain, Syeda Abida (2015). Power Failure: The Political Odyssey of a Pakistani Woman (1st ed.). Karachi, Pakistan: Oxford University Press. p. 707. {{ISBN|9780199401574}}.
• {{Cite book|title=Special Star: Benazir Bhutto's Story|year=2007|last=Hussain|first=Syeda Abida|publisher=Oxford University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x3u7swEACAAJ|isbn=9780199407576}}

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{{reflist}}

• {{Cite news|title=Woman, moment, nation|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/woman-moment-nation/|date=May 2, 2015|first=Khaled|last=Ahmed|newspaper=The Indian Express}}

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{{succession box |title=Pakistan Ambassador to the United States|

years=November 1991 – March 1993|

before=Najmuddin Shaikh|

after=Maliha Lodhi}}

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{{Ambassadors of Pakistan to the United States}}

{{Conservatism in Pakistan}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hussain, Abida}}

Category:Living people

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Category:Pakistani expatriates in Italy

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