Maliha Lodhi

Her Excellency
Maliha Lodhi
17th Pakistan Ambassador to the United States
In office
17 December 1999 – 4 August 2002
President Pervez Musharraf
Rafiq Tarar
Preceded by Riaz Khokar
Succeeded by Ashraf Qazi
In office
21 January 1994 – 30 January 1997
President Farouk Leigharie
Prime Minister Navaz Sharif
Benazir Bhutto
Preceded by Syeda Abida Hussain
Succeeded by Riaz Khokhar
Pakistan High Commissioner to the United Kingdom
In office
April 1, 2003 – June 14, 2008
President Pervez Musharraf
Prime Minister Zafarulah Jamalie
Schuja't Hussayn
Schaukat Aziz
Preceded by Abdul Kader Jaffer
Succeeded by Wajid Shamsul Hasan

Maleeha Lodhi, HI, is a journalist, academic, and diplomat from Pakistan. She was the high commissioner of Pakistan to the United Kingdom, and a former ambassador to the United States.[1] In the Fall of 2008 she was a Resident Fellow at the Institute of Politics, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. She has also been a member of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament.

Born in Lahore, Pakistan, Dr. Maleeha got her School education in Lahore and Rawalpindi. After her B.Sc. in Government from the LSE, Ms. Lodhi obtained a Ph.D. in 1980 from the London School of Economics (LSE). Began with teaching for a short while at the Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, she then taught at LSE for five years (1980–1985), before returning to Pakistan to work for and then edit the English language newspaper The Muslim (1987–1990) and later to become the founding editor of The News International (1990–1993) and (1997–1999). She became the first woman in Asia to edit a national daily newspaper.

She became the Pakistani Ambassador to the United States, under two different Presidents from 1994–1997 and then during 1999-2002 (in the process becoming Pakistan's longest ever serving Ambassador to the US) before relinquishing her post on the completion of her second tour of duty. Since 2001 she has also served on the UN Secretary General's Advisory Board on Disarmament Affairs and continues to do so while holding the post of Pakistan's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (2003–2008).

Recipient of the 2002 Hilal-e-Imtiaz Presidential award for public service, she is the author of two essay collections, Pakistan’s Encounter with Democracy and The External Challenge (Vanguard and Lahore Jang Publications, 1994). In 1994, Time magazine cited Dr Lodhi as one of 100 global pacesetters and leaders who would define the 21st century, and the only person from Pakistan in the list.

See also

References

External links

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Syeda Abida Hussain
Pakistan Ambassador to the United States
January 1994 - January 1997
Succeeded by
Riaz Khokhar
Preceded by
Tariq Fatemi
2nd term
December 1999 - August 2002
Succeeded by
Ashraf Qazi
Preceded by
Abdul Kader Jaffer
Pakistan High Commissioner to the United Kingdom
April 2003 - June 2008
Succeeded by
Wajid Shamsul Hasan