Fahmida Mirza

Fahmida Mirza
فہمیدہ مرزا
Speaker of the National Assembly
In office
19 March 2008 – 3 June 2013
Deputy Faisal Karim Kundi
Preceded by Chaudhry Amir Hussain
Succeeded by Sardar Ayaz Sadiq
Personal details
Born 20 December 1956
Hyderabad, Pakistan
Political party Pakistan Peoples Party
Alma mater Liaquat University

Fahmida Mirza (Sindhi: فاهميدا مرزا; Urdu: فہمیدہ مرزا‎; December 20, 1956; also spelled Fehmida Mirza), was the 18th Speaker of the National Assembly, a lower house of Parliament of State of Pakistan.[1] She is the first woman to hold the office

A senior and influential member of Central Executive Committee of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Fahmida Mirza hails from the influential Sindhi family has represented the Badin Constituency since 1997. A graduate of Liaquat Medical University in 1982, she is a practiced physician and did her house job in gynaecology and paediatrics. Before entering in national politics, Mirza had been a successful businesswoman and leading chief executive of her advertising company based in Karachi, Sindh Province which focused on agriculture development in the country. Joining the Peoples Party in 1997, her political philosophy reflected democratic socialism. Since then, she's been a potent force behind the left-wing politics in Pakistan.

Early life

Fahmida Mirza hails from a Sindhi-speaking Muslim political family in Sindhi, the Qazis of Hyderabad. Her grandfather, Qazi Abdul Qayyum, was the first Muslim president of Hyderabad (Latifabad) Sindh 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 a long-serving Provincial Minister in Sindh, including serving as Provincial Home Minister.

Mirza is 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.

Career

She was trained as a doctor at Liaquat Medical College, Jamshoro, Sindh, in 1982. Before entering politics, Dr. 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.

Personal life

Dr. Mirza is married to Dr. Zulfiqar Mirza, a close friend of Asif Ali Zardari, the co-chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party. Both her husband and her brother, journalist, Qazi Asad Abid, are former Members of the National Assembly.[2] Zulfikar Mirza is currently a member of the Sindh Provincial Assembly and was former Provincial Home Minister. Sindh Assembly member, Hasnain Mirza, is a son of Fahmida and Zulfikar Mirza.

See also

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

External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Chaudhry Amir Hussain		 Speaker of the National Assembly
2008–2013 		Succeeded by
Sardar Ayaz Sadiq