Nadira, Lady Naipaul (born Nadira Khannum Alvi; 1953), is a Pakistani journalist and the widow of novelist Sir
V. S. Naipaul.
Biography
She was born in
Mombasa
Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...
, Kenya. At the age of 16 she married an engineer, Agha Hashim, who was 26 years her senior. They had two daughters, Gul Zehra (aka Naeema Hashim) and Sumar Zahra, who lived with various relatives after the marriage ended. Nadira's second marriage was to Iqbal Shah, by whom she had a daughter Maleeha, whom V. S. Naipaul later adopted, and a son, Nadir Shah.
She worked as a journalist for ''
The Nation
''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's ''The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...
'', a
Pakistani newspaper, for ten years before meeting V.S. Naipaul. He became her third husband when they married in 1996, two months after the death of Naipaul's first wife, Patricia (formerly Patricia Hale).
[{{cite news, url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/84193810.html?dids=84193810:84193810&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Oct+12%2C+2001&author=MARJORIE+MILLER&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=The+World%3B+V.S.+Naipaul+Receives+Nobel+for+Literature&pqatl=google, Marjorie Miller, "V. S. Naipaul Receives Nobel for Literature", ''Los Angeles Times'', October 12, 2001]
Lady Naipaul's brother,
Ameer Faisal Alavi, a
two-star general in the
Pakistan Army
The Pakistan Army (, ) is the Army, land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the partition of India, Partition of British India, wh ...
, was assassinated in 2008.
[Mohammad Asghar and Munawer Azeem]
"Gunmen Kill Retired General in Rawalpindi Shooting"
''Dawn'', 19 November 2008
References
{{Reflist
External links
{{authority control
{{DEFAULTSORT:Naipaul, Nadira
Pakistani women journalists
English people of Pakistani descent
Kenyan people of Pakistani descent
Kenyan emigrants to Pakistan
Living people
1953 births
Naipaul family
People from Mombasa
Wives of knights
{{Pakistan-journalist-stub