Abida Hussain

Ambassador Syeda Abida Hussain
Pakistan Ambassador to the United States
Prime Minister	Nawaz Sharif
Succeeded by	Maliha Lodhi
Personal details
Born	Jhang
Citizenship	Pakistan
Nationality	Pakistani
Political party	Pakistan Peoples Party
Other political affiliations	Pakistan Muslim League
Residence	Lahore
Alma mater	Convent of Jesus and Mary, Surval Montreux
Occupation	Landlady
Religion	Islam

Syeda Abida Hussain (Urdu: سيدہ عابدہ حسین‎) is a Pakistani conservative politician, diplomat and socialite who served as the Pakistan Ambassador to the United States and a member of the federal cabinet between 1996 and 1999.

Hussain was born into a privileged feudal family, her father Syed Abid Hussain went on to serve as a member of the Constituent Assembly of undivided India pre Partition. Adhering to the Shia Qalandariyya sect, Hussain received her Junior Cambridge from the Convent of Jesus and Mary followed by International Baccalaureate from the Surval Montreux, Switzerland. She later spend an year in Florencein Tuscany in Italy studying history of art. On return from Italy, Hussain married her cousin Syed Fakhar Imam. Imam was a bureaucrat turned politician who went on to serve as the Speaker of the National Assembly. The couple would go on to serve both in the cabinet and the parliament together. n 2000s, she received her B.A in economics from Bahauddin Zakariya University after a constitutional amendment in 1999 required a bachelor's degree for a membership of national assembly.

Hussain entered politics in the 1971 as a member of the Pakistan Peoples Party and was elected to the Provincial Assembly of Punjab in 1972 and sat as a backbencher until 1977 military coup. In 1979, Hussain successfully contested elections to the District Council of Jhang, and became the first women to head a district government in Pakistan as the Mayor of Jhang District. She remained a head of the district until 1985 when she resigned to contest the 1985 non-partisan elections. In 1985, Hussain became the first women to be elected to the National Assembly on a general seat. She was re-elected to the National Assembly from Jhang in 1988 as a member of the center-right Pakistan Muslim League and remained until 1991. During her time as a member as a member of the treasury benches in the National Assembly in 1990, Hussain was accused receiving funds from the intelligence agencies. Later, in an interview with The Telegraph, she admitted on receiving money, adding that "we were led to believe that it was an election fund for members of the government."

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