Mayor of Jhang After her father's death in 1971, Abida Hussain entered
national politics on the platform of the
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and won
Jhang constituency during the
general elections held in 1970. After being elected to the
Provincial Assembly of Punjab, she was appointed chairperson of the People's Workers Programme, and sat as a backbencher. In 1974–75, she was opposed to the
nationalization of industries and land reforms initiated by
Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, causing strains with her in the party. When the
1985 general election was announced, she joined the
Pakistan Muslim League (PML) and stood in
Constituency NA-87 against clergy member, Rehmatullah Bharwana; she was noted as the first women to be elected to the
National Assembly on a general seat. In 1988, she sided with the conservative faction led by
Fida Mohammad Khan, and joined the
PML(N) led by its
President Fida Mohammad. In the
1990 general election, she fought the election against the influential cleric,
Haq-Nawaz Jhangvi, who later founded the violent
LeJ after losing the elections for
Constituency NA-87 to Abida Hussain. After her name was
placed on a hit list by the
LeJ,
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif became concerned for her safety, and immediately appointed her as the
Pakistan Ambassador to the United States effective immediately in 1990. Hussain has written in her memoir that the "conversations and negotiations with the American functionaries and the American politicians were quite rough. Because they would make only one demand: "Roll back your [atomic] program". And, since I was quite clear that we cannot do that, our conversations were not friendly." In talks with Sharif in Islamabad, Abida Hussain recommended cancelling of the acquisitions of the
F-16s fighter jets and have funds refunded from the
United States government, which Sharif was also of the same view point. In an interview with
The Telegraph in 2016 in India, Abida Hussain claimed that,
U.S. Vice President Al Gore mistook her twice as her deputy chief was the ambassador.
Minister of Food and Census in Sharif administration After returning to Pakistan, Abida Hussain worked towards the
agriculture, and sat in the
opposition bench in the
Parliament, and credited Sharif of agriculture revolution by introducing effective tube wells during the election campaign of Nawaz Sharif in 1997. After successfully defending her constituency during the
general elections held in 1997, Abida Hussain joined the second administration of Sharif as the
Minister of Food and Agriculture and later becoming the
Ministry of Population Control and Census. She was later rumored to be appointed in the
United Nations as
Permanent Representative of Pakistan but this appointment was never considered. In 1998, she notably oversaw the successful and peaceful
nationwide census in all over the country. When India conducted the
nuclear tests in May 1998, Abida Hussain became one of the
war hawk in the party, ultimately calling to break
policy of deliberate ambiguity, and conduct the
atomic tests in response to India. After the
military takeover of the federal government in 1999, Abida was imprisoned in
Adiala Prison along with the leadership of the PML(N), and an inquiry was opened on her financial wealth that ultimately called her "a major defaulter." Although, she was later released in 2002 with no inquiry actions taken against her. In 2006, she conditionally agreed to join the
Pakistan Peoples Party after disagreement arises with the PML(N) over the policy issues. In 2007, she harboured doubts on Musharraf' promises on giving security to
Benazir Bhutto and reportedly Bhutto to avoid attending the political rally in
National Park in
Rawalpindi, which Bhutto attended and was
assassinated. In 2008, Abida and her husband, Fakhar, reportedly lost the
general election, and reportedly seek their retirement after Abida and Fakhar left the PPP in 2012. During the
general election, in 2013, Abida Hussain supported the PML-N candidate in Jhang by-elections, and ran her
daughter's successful campaign to be elected for the
Provincial Assembly of the Punjab on the platform of the PML(N). She reportedly quit the politics and currently overseeing the horse racing and breeding in her constituency. In 2016, she spoke very high of Nawaz Sharif, whom she considered to be
self-made man and leader in politics, and paid tribute to Sharif for the services his done for his country's environment and agriculture. == Bibliography ==