Fahmida Mirza

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Dr. Fahmida Mirza
Fahmida Mirza

Official Office Portrate of Fahmida Mirza


Incumbent
Assumed office 
March 19, 2008
Preceded by Chaudhry Amir Hussain


Born December 20, 1956 (1956-12-20) (age 51)
Badin, Pakistan
Political party Pakistan Peoples Party
Religion Islam

Dr. Fahmida Mirza, sometimes also spelled as Fehmida Mirza (Urdu: فہمیدہ مرزا ) (born December 20, 1956), is a medical doctor, agriculturist and businesswoman from Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan. She was elected as the first female Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan on March 19, 2008.[1]

She has been elected to the Pakistani Parliament in three consecutive terms in 1997, 2002 and 2008 as MNA from Badin, in Sindh.

Dr. Mirza graduated with a medical degree from Liaquat Medical College, Jamshoro, Sindh, Pakistan in 1982 and did her house job (residency) in gynecology and paediatrics.

Dr. Fehmida Mirza, a senior Pakistani politician, parliamentarian and member of the Pakistan Peoples Party, is the first female parliamentary speaker in the Muslim world,[citation needed] having been elected as the first woman to be Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan.

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[edit] Family

Fahmida Mirza hails from a Sindhi-speaking Muslim political family in Sindh, the Qazis of Hyderabad. Her Grandfather, Qazi Abdul Qayyum, was the first Muslim president of Hyderabad Municipality. Her father, Qazi Abdul Majeed Abid (Qazi Abid) held different ministries in the provincial (Sindh) and federal cabinets from 1982 to 1990 including Provincial Minister for Communication, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture, Federal Minister for Education, and Federal Minister for Water and Power. Her Uncle, Qazi Mohammad Akbar, was also a long serving Provincial Minister in Sindh, including serving as Provincial Home Minister. Dr. Mirza is married to Dr. Zulfikar Ali Mirza, a close friend of Asif Ali Zardari who is the co-Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party. Both her husband and her brother, the renowned journalist, Qazi Asad Abid, are former Members of the National Assembly.[2] Zulfikar Mirza is also currently a member of the Sindh Provincial Assembly and Provincial Home Minister. She is also the aunt of Pir Mazhar Ul Haq, a three time Provincial Sindh Minister and current member and leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party in the Sindh Provincial Assembly, who is related to the influential Sindhi political family through his mother. Pir Mazhar is currently the Senior Minister in the Sindh Cabinet with the portfolio of Education.

[edit] Career

She was trained as a doctor at Liaquat Medical College, Jamshoro, Sindh, Pakistan in 1982. Before entering politics, Dr. Fahmida Mirza ran an advertising agency Informachine, later renamed Information Communication Limited (ICL). In 1997 she contested elections successfully from her husband's former constituency of Badin, Sindh, and has continued to be a parliamentarian since then. She is one of the few women elected from a non-reserved constituency.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Woman elected Pakistani speaker BBC News, March 19, 2008
  2. ^ Amir Wasim. 'PPP names Fahmida for post of NA speaker' Dawn Newspaper, March 18, 2008

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Chaudhry Amir Hussain
Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan
19 March 2008 -
Incumbent