Begum Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan
#WomensHistoryMonth
Begum Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan (1905–1990) was a Pakistani diplomat and the country’s first female governor.
She was born Sheila Irene Pant on 13 February 1905 in Almora, British India (today’s India), to a Brahmin family who had converted to Christianity two generations prior.
Academically brilliant, she graduated from the University of Lucknow in 1927 with bachelor’s degrees in economics and theology. She obtained a double master’s degree in economics and sociology in 1929. In 1931, she became professor of economics at Indraprastha College in Delhi, where she met her future husband, lawyer Liaquat Ali Khan, when he visited to deliver a lecture on law.
The couple married in 1932, despite her family’s objection. The bride converted to Islam and took the name Begum Ra’ana. She became involved with the Muslim League, devoting herself to creating political consciousness among the Muslim women in British India.
After the Partition in 1947, Liaquat Ali Khan became Pakistan’s first prime minister. As the first First Lady of Pakistan, Begum Ra’ana founded or helped establish organisations that uplifted women’s rights and women’s public role, such as the Pakistan Women’s National Guard (PWNG), the Women’s Naval Reserves and All Pakistan Women’s Association (APWA).
Begum Ra’ana was 46 when her husband was assassinated in 1951. With two minor children to support, she joined the foreign service. She was the first Muslim woman delegate when she served as Pakistan’s representative to the 7th session of the United Nations General Assembly in 1952.
In 1954, she was appointed Pakistan’s ambassador to the Netherlands, becoming the first woman ambassador of the South Asian country. She subsequently served as Pakistan’s ambassador to Italy and Tunisia.
After a successful diplomatic career spannning over a dozen years, Begum Ra’ana returned to the country and joned the socialist government of President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. She not only served in Bhutto’s Ministry of Finance and Economics, but also run in local elections — and won. She became the first Pakistani female governor when she was elected governor of Sindh province in 1973.
Begum Ra’ana opposed the execution of Bhutto in April 1979 and the martial law imposed by military dictator General Zia ul-Haq. Despite her illness and old age, she publicly criticised Zia for passing Islamic laws, which she said contradicted Islamic teachings and women’s rights.
Begum Ra’ana died on 13 June 1990 and was buried next to her husband in Karachi.
Sources:
Dawn: A woman with many ‘firsts’
