Tahira Mazhar Ali

She was born on 5 January 1924 in Lahore, British India Ali finished her basic education at Queen Mary School in Lahore. She married at the age of 17 to her cousin, Mazhar Ali Khan ==Career==

She was one of the founding members of the Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP) Ali was jailed for vigorously opposing General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq's dictatorship. She was the first person in Pakistan to pair the fight for workers' rights with the fight for women's rights, resisting Zia's assault on the rights of women. Although she was born in an affluent family, she remained an activist for labour and women's rights for over 60 years. In 1950, she was one of the founders of the ''Democratic Women's Association'' (DWA), considered the country's first independent women's rights organisation. In her later years, before she suffered a series of debilitating strokes that left her partially paralysed, she served as a mentor to many prominent Pakistani women. ==Death and legacy==

Ali died on 23 March 2005 in Lahore. Veteran Pakistani journalist and human rights activist I. A. Rehman paid tribute to her in the Dawn newspaper, saying that she was "a true activist" and mentioned her work for women's rights and peace-making efforts between India and Pakistan. ==References==