Maleeha Lodhi

Early life and family

Lodhi was born in Lahore, Punjab, to an upper-middle-class family. Her father was the chief executive of the British-based oil company and was the first head of a British company in Pakistan. Her mother received a MA in journalism and was offered a scholarship to study in the United States after graduating, but gave up a career in journalism to become a homemaker and look after her children. Lodhi has two siblings. Lodhi was married to a banker in London, but they divorced after five years of marriage. Together, they have a son named Faisal, who is now married.

Lodhi first received her school education in Lahore and Rawalpindi, but moved to United Kingdom. She attended the London School of Economics in 1972 to study economics. She received her BSc in Economics, with specializing in government finances in 1976, worked towards attaining PhD in political science, which she was awarded in 1980. Her doctoral thesis was on "Bhutto, The Pakistan People's Party and political development in Pakistan:1971-1977."

Academia and Journalism

She taught for a short while at the Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad in 1980, but returned to London to teach at the London School of Economics's Department of Government where she taught courses in political sociology until 1985. Lodhi returned to Pakistan in 1986 after martial law had been lifted. Her phones were tapped and she was followed anyway. She joined and edited the English language newspaper The Muslim in 1987, making her the first woman in Asia to edit a national daily newspaper. In 1990 she moved to become the founding editor of The News International where she remained until 1993 when she was appointed by Benazir Bhutto as the country's envoy to the United States. She re-joined The News International 1997 as its chief editor and remained until 1999.

Ambassador to the United States

Dr. Lodhi became the Pakistani Ambassador to the United States under two different administrations: from 1993–1996 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 (2001–2005) and continued to do so while holding the post of Pakistan's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (2003–2008).

According to the Los Angeles Times, During a trip of three U.S. senators to Islamabad, Benazir Bhutto introduced Lodhi by saying "Meet Maleeha. She's my strongest critic." The same source claims that she is said to have brokered Bhutto's access to the late chief of army staff, Asif Nawaz, which helped pave the way for Bhutto's return to power in 1993.

During her time as Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S she was present at the meeting on 12 September 2001, at the United States Department of State between Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Lieutenant General Mahmud Ahmed, the head of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency. The meeting served as pivotal in Pakistan's role in War on Terror. In 2002, during in interview with CNN, she said that 'We have to draw a distinction here between rooting out terrorism and the issue of self-determination of the Kashmiri people. These are two separate issues'.

A recipient of the 2002 Hilal-i-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). Her latest book, Pakistan: Beyond the Crisis State, was published in April 2011 (by C Hurst, Colombia University Press and Oxford University Press). In 1994, Time magazine cited Dr. Lodhi as one of 100 global pacesetters and leaders, who would define the 21st century and was the only person from Pakistan on that list.

We're struggling out here, but there is not enough knowledge. We're depicted sometimes as a rogue state, and that is not fair.

High Commissioner to the United Kingdom

On July 26, 2003, Lodhi was appointed as the Pakistan's envoy to the Court of St James's, London by General Musharraf who sized power in the 1999 coup d'état. She was recalled by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani in 2008.

Ambassador to the United Nations

According to the Daily Times Pakistan, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after extensive consultations with his close aide Sartaj Aziz, decided to appoint Lodhi in the UN. She succeeded Masood Khan in February 2015. Lodhi made her debut address at the United Nations on 6 February 2015 where she called for 'addressing the underlying factors responsible for terrorism so as to formulate an effective and comprehensive response'.

It took my country 67 years to send a woman to the United Nations, it takes a while, but eventually we get there.

Addressing the Catalytic Partnerships for Gender Equality in Education event in United Nations on 14 March 2015, Lodhi said Pakistan has launched innovative schemes and pilot projects for girls’ education. Lodhi also said that the education voucher scheme launched in Punjab, as well as conditional grants that were given in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) have helped in promoting education in Pakistan. She also hosted a lavish reception in honor of ambassadors and other prominent personalities at her residence.

Lodhi while addressing the United Nations Security Council debate on the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan she said that "The new Afghan government has called for dialogue to resolve differences through political means. There are encouraging indications that the Taliban may be willing to negotiate with the National Unity Government," Lodhi urged that "The Taliban will no doubt test the mettle of the Afghan National Security Force. It will need to demonstrate to them that a military solution is not possible,".

After assuming charge as the President of executive board of UNICEF, Lodhi in an Op-Ed for CNN argued that 'We must never accept a world in which humanitarian aid workers can be attacked and killed with impunity.' Under her leadership UNICEF has reaffirmed commitment to giving every child a fair chance in life. On January 9, 2016, she ended her year long tenure as UNICEF President. Anthony Lake thanked Lodhi for her contribution to achieving UNICEF’s goals in 2015. She oversaw adoption of 16 decisions for several UNICEF programmes and endeavours including an increase in the Emergency Programme Fund ceiling.

On 10 March 2016, Lodhi opposed adding new permanent members to the United Nations Security Council with or without a veto, adding that Pakistan supports expansion of the Security Council only in the non-permanent category.

On August 29, 2015, Lodhi rang the opening bell at the NASDAQ in New York to signal the ceremonial start of trading, saying Pakistan’s economy is on the upswing as it pursues liberal economic and investor-friendly policies. This was the first time the stock exchange has opened its doors to an ambassador from Pakistan to ring the opening bell to mark its Independence Day.

On April 24, 2016, Lodhi invited Leonardo DiCaprio to Pakistan after a meeting with him at the UN. On 30 May 2016, talking to the students at the Harvard Kennedy School, Lodhi claimed that Pakistan’s massive military operation aimed at rooting out terrorism is in its final phase but the menace is not going to just go away unless there is peace on the other side of the border in strife-torn Afghanistan. On January 2, 2017, Lodhi provided a dossier on captured Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadav and evidence of attempted violation of maritime boundary by an Indian submarine to António Guterres. On 7th Febuaray 2017, Lodhi oppsoded the G4 nations submission in the UN security council, saying that it is "inconceivable" that any institution does not value "principles of representation and accountability" through periodic elections.

Global Image

According to The Daily Telegraph, "Lodhi confounds every preconception about Pakistani women. She is sharp, funny, strong willed, articulate and a feminist who hates cooking". According to the New York Times, "Lodhi presents herself as the paradigm of a modern self-made South Asian woman comes in part from her middle-class family heritage. Unlike Benazir Bhutto, whose roots are in the feudal landed gentry, Ms. Lodhi was the daughter of an oil executive and a journalist. She was sent to a convent run by nuns in Rawalpindi for schooling because that was the best education available, and a tolerant atmosphere prevailed. She learned to read the Koran as a child, but hers was a “spiritual household,” she said, rather than a strictly religious one."

Relationship with Robin Raphel

On 30 November, an exclusive report by the The Wall Street Journal on Robin Raphel, a former Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, who was a subject of a federal counterintelligence investigation, showcased close relationship between Lodhi and Raphel. According to report, Raphel and Lodhi turned to each other, on and off, for information and in 2014, the FBI became suspicious of their relationship leading to unsuccessful counterintelligence investigation. The report suggested that Lodhi and Raphel often meet at the The Ritz-Carlton, Washington, D.C.in the 1990s and worked together for the passage of an act by Senator Hank Brown easing sanctions on Pakistan. The report quoted U.S officials as seeing Lodhi as an “influencer” and saw her a trusted conduit for relaying messages to Pakistan’s senior military leadership in Rawalpindi.

Relationship with Pakistan Army

In February 2016, Pakistan Today reported that Hillary Clinton’s emails revealed that Lodhi apparently acted as an informal messenger between the Obama administration and former army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani. In one of the emails by Vali Nasr to Clinton, Nasr wrote that “I got a call from Maleeha Lodhi, who is in London. She gave a message from Kayani", The readout of Kayani’s message through Maleeha — running into two paragraphs was classified.

Controversy

Lodhi was accused of religious bigotry after she deleted a tweet congratulating Mahershala Ali for his Best Supporting Actor Oscar win in 2017. Lodhi had initially congratulated Ali on being the first Muslim actor to win an Oscar but subsequently deleted it after other Twitter users pointed out that he is an Ahmadi - a member of an Islamic sect often persecuted in the Muslim world.

Although members of the Ahmadiyya community identify as Muslims, Article 260-3 of Pakistan’s Constitution declares them as “non-Muslims” and it is illegal for them to use Islamic terminology such as referring to their places of worship as mosques.

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