Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan 1961 in the Netherlands

Begum Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan ( Urdu رعنا لیاقت علی خان, also known as Sheila Irene Pant , born February 1905 in Almora , Indian Empire ; died June 13, 1990 in Karachi , Pakistan ), was a Pakistani women's rights activist, politician and scientist. She was the wife of the first Prime Minister of Pakistan Liaquat Ali Khan and Governor of Sindh Province . An honorary title given to her was "Mother of Pakistan".

Life

Sheila Irene Pant was trained in Lucknow . She received her secondary education at the American Isabella Thoburn College, then completed a bachelor's degree by 1927 and a master’s degree in economics and sociology at the University of Lucknow by 1929. She then completed a training course as a teacher at Diocesan College in Calcutta , first became a teacher at the Gokhale Memorial School and finally, in 1931, lecturer in economics at Indraprastha College, a girls' school in Delhi . It was there that she first met her future husband Liaquat Ali Khan, whom she married in April 1933 or December 1932.

Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan (center) visiting MIT in 1950. Her husband on the left.

Suffragette and First Lady

The couple became politically active in the Muslim League , supported by its founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah . Her husband became honorary secretary in 1936, general secretary of the Muslim League in 1943 and finally achieved a secession of Pakistan from India in 1947 and was sworn in on August 15, 1947 in Karachi. During this time, Ra'ana herself, as an activist, encouraged women in refugee camps to organize first aid on their own, to set up food and clothing supplies and to fight epidemics and diseases. She gave self-defense courses and founded the National Guard of Pakistani Women (PWNG) and the Pakistani Marine Reserve (PWNR), which the First Lady herself led with the rank of Brigadier General. These organizations disbanded after 1954.

In 1949 she founded other women's organizations, such as the Pakistani Home Work Association and the Pakistani Women's Association (APWA). In view of the pressing refugee problem, she brought the latter into being at a conference at which more than 100 participants came together and nominated her as president. APWA established schools, colleges, and workshops for women, many of which were named Rana.

As a widow

Her husband was assassinated on October 16, 1951. Ra'ana herself continued to be involved in Pakistan: She represented Pakistan before the United Nations in 1952 , and from September 1954 to 1961 as ambassador in The Hague , both as the first representative of an Islamic state. She then represented Pakistan in Italy (1962–1965) and Tunisia (1965–1966).

She then returned to Pakistan and devoted herself to teaching at one of the colleges named after her. In 1967 she received an honorary doctorate in economics and a doctorate in economic philosophy. When Bangladesh separated from Pakistan in the early 1970s, she teamed up with the socialist movement Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and joined his government as an economic and government advisor. In 1973, Bhutto appointed her governor of Sindh Province. She was introduced to this office on February 15, 1973 and held it until February 28, 1976. Although she won the elections together with Bhutto in 1977, the coup by Zia-ul-Haq prevented further political activity. She stood up for Bhutto until his execution .

Until her death in 1990, she was socially and educationally committed to women in Pakistan and publicly criticized Zia-ul-Haq, who she allowed out of respect for her life's work. She was given a state funeral .

Awards

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Antonius Lux (ed.): Great women of world history. A thousand biographies in words and pictures . Sebastian Lux Verlag , Munich 1963, p. 295
  2. ↑ a b c d Short biography on Story of Pakistan
  3. ↑ a b c d Short biography of the Jazbah magazine ( Memento from July 17, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Mubashir Hassan: Building Pakistan with Mother of Pakistan. In: The Mirate , pp. 209-309 (Oxford University Press, 2000)
personal data
SURNAME Khan, Ra'ana Liaquat Ali
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pant, Sheila Irene; رعنا لیاقت علی خان (urS)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Pakistani suffragette, politician and scientist
DATE OF BIRTH February 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Almora
DATE OF DEATH June 13, 1990
Place of death Karachi , Pakistan