Abida Hussain

Early life and education

Hussain was born into a privileged feudal family, her father Syed Abid Hussain went on to serve as a member of the Constituent Assembly of undivided India pre Partition. Adhering to the Shia Qalandariyya sect, Hussain received her Junior Cambridge from the Convent of Jesus and Mary followed by International Baccalaureate from the Surval Montreux, Switzerland. She later spend a year in Florencein Tuscany in Italy studying history of art. On return from Italy, Hussain married her cousin Syed Fakhar Imam. Imam was a bureaucrat turned politician who went on to serve as the Speaker of the National Assembly. The couple would go on to serve both in the cabinet and the parliament together. n 2000s, she received her B.A in economics from Bahauddin Zakariya University after a constitutional amendment in 1999 required a bachelor's degree for a membership of national assembly.

Career

Hussain entered politics in the 1971 as a member of the Pakistan Peoples Party and was elected to the Provincial Assembly of Punjab in 1972 and sat as a backbencher until 1977 military coup. In 1979, Hussain successfully contested elections to the District Council of Jhang, and became the first women to head a district government in Pakistan as the Mayor of Jhang District. She remained a head of the district until 1985 when she resigned to contest the 1985 non-partisan elections. In 1985, Hussain became the first women to be elected to the National Assembly on a general seat. She was re-elected to the National Assembly from Jhang in 1988 as a member of the center-right Pakistan Muslim League and remained until 1991. During her time as a member as a member of the treasury benches in the National Assembly in 1990, Hussain was accused receiving funds from the intelligence agencies. Later, in an interview with The Telegraph, she admitted on receiving money, adding that "we were led to believe that it was an election fund for members of the government."

Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States

In 1991, Hussain was appointed as Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States, making her the first women to hold the position. Hussain's tenure as Pakistan's envoy to the US is generally considered as a troublant time for the Pakistan–United States relations particularly due to the Pressler amendment, which was enacted against Pakistan for its nuclear weapons program. Later in her autobiography, Hussain identified the nuclear program as the principal source of distress between Pakistan and the US. Hussain wrote in her memoir that “the conversations in the offices with US functionaries and with US representatives were quite rough. Because they would make only one demand – ‘Roll back your nuclear programme’. And, since I was quite clear that we can’t do that, our conversations were not friendly." Hussain claimed that when she recommended that Pakistan cancel their contract for F-16 Falcon jets and get the money refunded, she was offered a bribe by General Dynamics to continue paying the money till the end of the contract. According to Hussain, the chairman of the board of General Dynamics said to her, “You have two daughters studying in Harvard which is a very expensive school. Could we help you out with their education?” According to Hussain she was later also offered a house in Washington, D.C., she rejected the offer. in an interview with The Telegraph, Hussain claimed that, former US vice-president Al Gore twice mistook her deputy as the ambassador. Hussain was re-called by Benazir Bhutto in 1993 who replaced Hussain with Dr. Maleeha Lodhi.

Federal Cabinet

Hussain returned to Pakistan in 1993, and in 1997 was elected to the National Assembly and became part of the Nawaz Sharif's cabinet broadly overseeing food, agriculture and population ministries. She remained both a frontbencher and a member of cabinet until the 1999 coup, when she disassociated herself from the center-right Muslim League and went into political retirement. Hussain joined Pakistan Peoples Party in 2006. Hussain advised Benazir Bhutto not to attend the 2007 ill-fated rally in Rawalpindi which left Benazir dead.

Relationship with Benazir Bhutto and Lady Diana

According to Hussain, Benazir expressed her marriage insecurity to Abida in a lengthy, informal meeting that lasted an uninterrupted eight hours at Benazir estate at Emirates Hills in Dubai in October 2005. Hussain wrote in her memoir that “she (Benazir) asked me whether my husband had ever been unfaithful in our marriage. I told her that like any wife who had clocked thirty-five years with her spouse, I had certainly had my moments of suspicion, but in all fairness to Fakhar, there was nothing that could ever be seriously pinned on him.” Hussain continues: “Whereupon, Benazir said with ineffable sadness, that perhaps she had not been so fortunate, but she loved Asif very deeply, so she forgave him, even when he hurt her.”

Of her encounter with Diana, Princess of Wales in 1991, Hussain writes in her memoir;

Careful to keep her voice low, the Princess said to me that she could confide in me, as I seemed to be a wise person, and certainly did not look like a cushion but appeared to be as comforting as one. I thanked her, assuring her that whatever she said would remain with me and it did in her lifetime. She said her in-laws were very difficult, and her husband did not love her. She adored her children, and wanted them always to be with her. Willy, she said, was a lot like his father, while Harry was more like her. She found it unbearable to be in a loveless marriage, asking me for advice as to what she should do. I thought for a moment about what I would do in her situation and responded.

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