Shaista Suhrawardy Ikramullah

Begum Shaista Suhrawardy Ikramullah was a Pakistani politician, diplomat and author. She served as the country's first female civil servant after joining the foreign service in 1948. Her career spanned decades of international diplomacy and significant literary contributions.

Early life and education

Shaista Akhtar Banu Suhrawardy was born on 22 July 1915 into the Suhrawardy family. Her father was Hassan Suhrawardy, while her mother was Sahibzadi Shah Banu Begum. The mother of Shaista was the granddaughter of Nawab Abdul Latif.

She attended Loreto College in Kolkata to pursue her studies. Later, she became the first Muslim woman to earn a PhD from the University of London. Her doctoral thesis, titled "Development of the Urdu Novel and Short Story", provided a critical survey of Urdu literature.

Career

Muhammad Ali Jinnah inspired her to participate in politics. She held leadership roles within the Muslim Women Student's Federation and the All-India Muslim League's Women's Sub-Committee. In 1945, the Government of India invited her to attend the Pacific Relations Conference. Jinnah advised her to decline that specific offer because he wanted her to represent the Muslim League instead.

She was elected to the Constituent Assembly of India in 1946. However, she never took that seat since Muslim League politicians did not participate. In 1947, she served as one of two female representatives at the first Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. She joined the Pakistani foreign service in 1948.

Her diplomatic work included serving as a delegate to the United Nations. During this time, she worked on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 and the Convention Against Genocide in 1951. She advocated for more gender-inclusive language within the declaration. Between 1964 and 1967, she held the position of Pakistan's ambassador to Morocco.

As an author, she wrote for Urdu women's magazines such as Tehzeeb-e-Niswan and Ismat. Her literary output included the short story collection Koshish-e-Natamaam in 1950. In 1951, she published Letters to Neena, which contained ten open letters addressed to personified Indians. She also wrote Beyond the Veil in 1953 regarding essays on Islam for the government.

Her most famous book is her autobiography, From Purdah to Parliament, published in 1963. She later released a biography of her uncle, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, in 1991. In 1997, she contributed to the book Common Heritage alongside seven other writers. Before her death, she finished an English translation of Mirat ul Uroos and an Urdu volume on Kahavat aur Mahavray. A collection titled Dilli ki khavatin ki kahavatain aur muhavare was published posthumously in 2005.

Personal life

She married Mohammed Ikramullah in 1933. Following her marriage, she became one of the first Indian Muslim women of her generation to leave purdah. The couple had four children: Inam Ikramullah, Naz Ashraf, Salma Sobhan and Princess Sarvath of Jordan.

She died on 11 December 2000 in Karachi at age 85.

Awards and recognition

The President of Pakistan posthumously honored her in 2002. He presented her with the Nishan-i-Imtiaz, which is the highest civil award.