First ladies and gentlemen of Pakistan

First Lady of Pakistan
Flag of Pakistan
since 16 April 2024 (Aseefa)
4 March 2024 (Nusrat and Tehmina)
Term length5 years
Inaugural holderNaheed Begum
Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan

First ladies and gentlemen of Pakistan (Urdu: خاتون اول يا مرد اول پاكستان) is an unofficial title traditionally given, often interchangeably, to the wife or husband of the president and prime minister of Pakistan. The current position First Ladies of Pakistan is Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, daughter of the former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and the current president Asif Ali Zardari. Along with their spouse and children, the First Lady or Gentleman is a member of the First Family of Pakistan.

Consorts, first ladies and first gentlemen

List of consorts (monarchs of Pakistan – position abolished in 1956)

No. Portrait Consorts Head of state Term begins Term ends
1 Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon King George VI 15 August 1947 6 February 1952
2 Philip Mountbatten Queen Elizabeth II 6 February 1952 23 March 1956

List of first ladies (governor-generals of Pakistan – position abolished in 1956)

No. Portrait First Lady Governor General Term begins Term ends Description
1 Position vacant Muhammad Ali Jinnah 15 August 1947 – 11 September 1948 Muhammad Ali Jinnah's second wife, Rattanbai Jinnah, died in 1929. He never remarried.[1]
– Position vacant 11 September 1948 14 September 1948 No Governor General during this time.
2 Shah Bano Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin 14 September 1948 17 October 1951
3 Badshah Begum Sir Ghulam Muhammad 17 October 1951 7 August 1955 [2]
4 Nahid Mirza Iskandar Mirza 7 August 1955 23 March 1956 Born Nahid Afghamy in Iran.[3] Nahid married Mirza in July 1953.[3] She died on January 25, 2019.[4]

List of first ladies and gentlemen of Pakistan (head of state – president of Pakistan)

No. Portrait First Lady Head of state Tenure begins Tenure ends Notes
1 Nahid Mirza Iskandar Mirza 23 March 1956 27 October 1958 Nahid, who was Iranian-born and of Iranian Kurdish descent was a cousin of fellow First Lady Nusrat Bhutto.[3] Nahid died on January 25, 2019.[4]
2 Begum Ayub Khan Ayub Khan 27 October 1958 25 March 1969 [5]
3 Name unavailable Mohammad Afzal Cheema

(Acting)

11 June 1962 29 November 1963
4 Syeda Selima Begum Fazlul Qadir Chaudhry

(Acting)

29 November 1963 12 June 1965 [6]
5 Begum Ayub Khan Ayub Khan

(2nd Tenure)

12 June 1965 25 March 1969
– Position vacant Yahya Khan 25 March 1969 20 December 1971 Yahya Khan never married. His mistress, General Rani, became a powerful figure within his regime.
6 Shireen Amir Begum Zulfikar Ali Bhutto 20 December 1971 13 August 1973
Nusrat Bhutto Nusrat Bhutto was born in Iran into the Ispahani family, a prominent Iranian Kurdish family.[3] She was the cousin of former First Lady Nahid Mirza.[3] The wife of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and mother of Benazir Bhutto, she founded the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy in 1981 in opposition to oppose Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq's regime.
7 Name unavailable Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry 14 August 1973 20 April 1978
8 Sheikh Anwarul Haq

(Acting)

20 April 1978 7 May 1978
9 Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry 7 May 1978 16 September 1978
10 Begum Zia ul Haq] Shafiq Jahan Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq 16 September 1978 17 August 1988 Born in Uganda to a family of Indian origin before immigrating to Pakistan.
11 Begum Shamim Khan Ghulam Ishaq Khan 17 August 1988 18 July 1993 Begum Shamim Khan died on July 26, 2019, in Peshawar at the age of 83.[7][8]
12 Azra Sarfraz Sajjad Wasim Sajjad

(Acting)

18 July 1993 14 November 1993 [9]
13 Name unavailable Farooq Leghari 14 November 1993 2 December 1997
14 Azra Sarfraz Sajjad Wasim Sajjad

(Acting)

2 December 1997 1 January 1998 [9]
15 Shamim Akhtar Muhammad Rafiq Tarar 1 January 1998 20 June 2001 Tarrar's wife died on 11 August 2020.[10]
16 Sehba Musharraf Pervez Musharraf 20 June 2001 18 August 2008 [11]
17 Khadijah Soomro Muhammad Mian Soomro

(Acting)

18 August 2008 9 September 2008 [12]
– Position vacant Asif Ali Zardari 9 September 2008 9 September 2013 Zardari's wife, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, had been assassinated in 2007.
18 Begum Mehmooda Hussain Mamnoon Hussain 9 September 2013 9 September 2018 [13]
19 Samina Alvi Arif Alvi 9 September 2018 10 March 2024 [14]
20 Aseefa Bhutto Zardari Asif Ali Zardari 16 April 2024 Incumbent [15]

Spouse of the prime minister of Pakistan

No. Portrait First Lady/Gentleman Prime Minister Term begins Terms ends Notes
1 Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan Liaquat Ali Khan 14 August 1947 16 October 1951 Later served as the Governor of Sindh from 1973 to 1976.
– Position vacant 16 October 1951 17 October 1951 No Prime Minister during this time.
2 Shah Bano Khawaja Nazimuddin 17 October 1951 17 April 1953
3 Hamida Ali Mohammad Ali Bogra 17 April 1953 12 August 1955 Bogra was married twice. His first marriage from Hamida Mohammad Ali who is the former member of national assembly of Pakistan while his second marriage is from Aliya Begum, a Labanese national.[16]
Aliya Begum
4 Name unavailable Chaudhry Muhammad Ali 12 August 1955 12 September 1956
5 Position vacant Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy 12 September 1956 17 October 1957 Suharwardy was also married twice. His first spouse Begum Niaz Fatima died in 1922 from whom he married in 1920[17] while his second spouse Vera Alexandrovna was a Russian actress of Polish descent from whom he married in 1940 but later divorced in 1951.
6 Begum Hailma I. I. Chundrigar 17 October 1957 16 December 1957 Chundrigar was married to Begum Halima. He had five children with her.[18]
7 Viqar un Nisa Noon Feroz Khan Noon 16 December 1957 7 October 1958 Born Victoria in Austria, she married Feroz Khan Noon in 1945.
– Position vacant 7 October 1958 7 December 1971 No prime minister or first lady during this time after 1958 Pakistani coup d'état.
8 Name unavailable Nurul Amin 7 December 1971 20 December 1971
– Position vacant 20 December 1971 14 August 1973 No Prime Minister during this time.
9 Shireen Amir Begum Zulfikar Ali Bhutto 14 August 1973 5 July 1977
Nusrat Bhutto Bhutto, the mother of Benazir Bhutto and matriarch of the Bhutto family, founded the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy in 1981 in opposition to Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq's regime. She led the Pakistan People's Party during the 1980s and was elected to parliament twice.[19] Nusrat Bhutto died on October 23, 2011.[19][20][21][22]
– Position vacant 5 July 1977 24 March 1985 No prime minister or first lady during this time. The office of prime minister was abolished by the Zia regime.
10 Begum Junejo Muhammad Khan Junejo 24 March 1985 29 May 1988 Begum Junejo died in Karachi on July 13, 2003, at the age of 60.[23] Her funeral was attended by thousands of people.[23] During his political career, The Independent described Prime Minister Junejo as a "strict disciplinarian and a conservative Muslim who kept his wife at his village home and never allowed her to join him in public."[24]
– Position vacant 29 May 1988 2 December 1988 No Prime Minister during this time.
11 Asif Ali Zardari Benazir Bhutto 2 December 1988 6 August 1990
12 Name unavailable Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi

(caretaker)

6 August 1990 6 November 1990 Jatoi was first Caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan. He was married from whom he has two sons Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi and Arif Mustafa Jatoi.
13 Kulsoom Nawaz Nawaz Sharif 6 November 1990 18 April 1993 [25]
14 Name unavailable Balakh Sher Mazari

(caretaker)

18 April 1993 26 May 1993
– Kulsoom Nawaz Nawaz Sharif 26 May 1993 18 July 1993 Mazari's tenure as caretaker prime minister ended abruptly on 26 May 1993 when the Supreme Court revoked the presidential order and reinstated Nawaz Sharif as the prime minister.[26]
15 Lilo Elizabeth Richter Moeenuddin Ahmad Qureshi

(caretaker)

18 July 1993 18 October 1993 [27]
16 Asif Ali Zardari Benazir Bhutto

(2nd Tenure)

18 October 1993 5 November 1996
17 Name unavailable Malik Meraj Khalid

(caretaker)

5 November 1996 17 February 1997 Khalid was married.[28]
18 Kulsoom Nawaz Nawaz Sharif

(2nd Tenure)

17 February 1997 12 October 1999 [25]
– Position vacant 12 October 1999 23 November 2002 No Prime Minister during this time.
19 Name unavailable Zafarullah Khan Jamal 23 November 2002 26 June 2004
– Position vacant 26 June 2004 30 June 2004 No Prime Minister during this time.
20 Name unavailable Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain 30 June 2004 23 August 2004 Hussain is married and has three children including Chaudhry Salik Hussain.[29]
– Position vacant 23 August 2004 28 August 2004 No Prime Minister during this time.
21 Rukhsana Aziz Shaukat Aziz 28 August 2004 15 November 2007 [30]
– Position vacant 15 November 2007 16 November 2007 No Prime Minister during this time.
22 Khadijah Soomro Muhammad Mian Soomro

(caretaker)

16 November 2007 24 March 2008 [12]
– Position vacant 24 March 2008 25 March 2008 No Prime Minister during this time.
23 Fauzia Gillani Yousuf Raza Gillani 25 March 2008 19 June 2012 [31]
24 Nusrat Pervaiz Ashraf Raja Pervaiz Ashraf 22 June 2012 25 March 2013 [32]
25 Name unavailable Mir Hazar Khan Khoso

(caretaker)

25 March 2013 5 June 2013
26 Kulsoom Nawaz Nawaz Sharif

(3rd Tenure)

5 June 2013 28 July 2017
– Position vacant 28 July 2017 1 August 2017 No Prime Minister during this time.
27 Samina Shahid Abbasi Shahid Khaqan Abbasi 1 August 2017 31 May 2018
– Position vacant 31 May 2018 1 June 2018 No Prime Minister during this time.
28 Name unavailable Nasirul Mulk

(caretaker)

1 June 2018 18 August 2018 Mulk is married.[33]
29 Bushra Bibi Imran Khan 18 August 2018 10 April 2022 Bushra Bibi is reportedly the country's first first lady to wear a facial veil.[34] Bibi and Imran Khan married in February 2018, just a few months before he became prime minister, following their divorces from their previous spouses.[35][36][37]
– Position vacant 10 April 2022 11 April 2022 No Prime Minister during this time.
30 Nusrat Shehbaz Shehbaz Sharif 11 April 2022 13 August 2023
Tehmina Durrani
31 Name unavailable Anwar ul Haq Kakar

(caretaker)

14 August 2023 4 March 2024
32 Nusrat Shehbaz Shehbaz Sharif

(2nd Tenure)

4 March 2024 Present
Tehmina Durrani

See also

References

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