Shafiq Zia

Begum Shafiq Zia (née Shafiq Jahan; 21 September 1931 – 5 January 1996) was a Ugandan-born Pakistani public figure who served as the First Lady of Pakistan from 1977 until her husband's death in a plane crash on 17 August 1988.

Begum

Shafiq Zia-ul-Haq
Begum and President Zia-ul-Haq at the White House in 1982
First Lady of Pakistan
In office
05 July 1977 – 17 August 1988
PresidentMohammad Zia-ul-Haq
Preceded byNusrat Bhutto
Succeeded byShamim Khan
Personal details
Born
Shafiq Jahan

(1931-09-21)September 21, 1931
Kampala, Uganda
DiedJanuary 5, 1996(1996-01-05) (aged 64)
Cromwell Hospital
London, United Kingdom
NationalityPakistani
Ugandan
Spouse(s)Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq (m. 1950 d. 1988)
Children5 (including Ijaz-ul-Haq)

Background and family

Begum Zia was born in 1931 in Kampala, Uganda, to a family originating from the Punjab region; she moved to Pakistan after the partition of India, and married General Zia-ul-Haq on 10 August 1950 in Lahore.[1][2] Shafiq was eight years younger than her husband, and was related to him maternally.[2] Her father, a medical doctor who lived and worked in Kampala, had taken leave at the time and was in Pakistan so that he could arrange the marriages of both his daughters in his native country.[2]

After the 1977 coup and her husband's assumption of the presidency in 1978, Zia became first lady. Over the next decade, she accompanied her husband on dozens of overseas trips, including a state visit to the United States in 1982.[3] In 1985, she represented Pakistan at Nancy Reagan's First Ladies Conference on Drug Abuse among seventeen other first ladies.[4]

Later life and death

Following Zia-ul-Haq's death in 1988, Begum Zia founded the Zia-ul-Haq Foundation.[5] In 1989, her pension and privileges as the wife of a former president were revoked by the Benazir Bhutto government.[5] She died on 5 January 1996 at the Cromwell Hospital in London.[6] Scholarships for students in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Aga Khan University were endowed in her name by Aga Khan IV in 1985.[7]

References
  1. "Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan". Web.archive.org. 2012-10-20. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
  2. Parveen Shaukat Ali (1997). Politics of conviction: the life and times of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. The London Centre for Pakistan Studies. p. 9. ISBN 978-1-901899-03-0. Zia-ul-Haq became engaged to his cousin (the daughter of his mother's sister), who was eight years younger than he was. Begum Shafiq Zia-ul-Haq was born in 1932 in Uganda, where her father lived. According to the traditional religious custom, it was an arranged marriage and was solemnized on August 10, 1950, in Model Town, Lahore. Shafiq's father had been staying there on a leave of absence from his job in Uganda, so that he could marry his two daughters in his own country.
  3. "Ronald Reagan: Toasts of President Reagan and President Mobammad Zia-ul-Haq of Pakistan at the State Dinner". Presidency.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
  4. Judy Klemesrud. "FIRST LADIES CONFER ON DRUG ABUSE". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
  5. Times, Barbara Crossette and Special To the New York. "Son of Former Military Ruler Goes Into Politics in Pakistan". Retrieved 2018-08-20.
  6. "Jang Group Online". WEb.archive.org. 2011-11-19. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
  7. "SPEECH OF PRESIDENT GEN. MUHAMMAD ZIA-UL-HAQ - 1985-11-11". Ismaili.net. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
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