Zubaida Jalal (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Pakistani politician, a

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

and

social activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

,who served as the Defence Production Minister in August 2018 until April 2022 After successfully contesting in

general elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

held in 2002 on a

PML(Q) The Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid e Azam Group) ur, ; ''Pākistān Muslim Līg (Qāf)'', Acronyms: PML(Q), PML-Q, PMLQ, "Q League") is a Conservative nationalist political party in Pakistan. As of the 2018 parliamentary election, it has a re ...

platform, she came in national prominence and public fame as a leading woman minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister

Shaukat Aziz Shaukat Aziz ( ur, ; born 6 March 1949) is a Pakistani former banker and financier who served as 17th prime minister of Pakistan from 28 August 2004 to 15 November 2007, as well as the finance minister of Pakistan from 6 November 1999 to 15 ...

. From 2002 to 2007, she was the minister

of education The tractate ''Of Education'' was published in 1644, first appearing anonymously as a single eight-page quarto sheet (Ainsworth 6). Presented as a letter written in response to a request from the Puritan educational reformer Samuel Hartlib, it r ...

(MoEd) and unsuccessfully contested for

held in 2008 on a PML(Q) platform. After a five-year brief break from the national politics, she joined the

Pakistan Muslim League The Pakistan Muslim League ( ur, ; known as PML), is the name of several different Pakistani political parties that have dominated the right-wing platform in the country. The Muslim League (a different party) was the party of Pakistan’s ...

but stepped down in favour of Kiran Haider, who successfully retained her seat in 2013

, although she retains herself as a woman leader of the

Social and political activism

Teachings and services to education

After returning from Kuwait, she helped established a school for girls in her village with the support of her father because in that time in such traditional conservative Baloch society did not allowed women to go to schools. While teaching at school, she also taught

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

at the

Balochistan University The University of Balochistan (UB) (Urdu: جامعہ بلوچستان; Balochi: بلوچستان ء یونیورسٹی ), also known as Balochistan University, is a public university located in the downtown area of Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan. ...

. In 1993, her services were recognised by the

Government of Pakistan The Government of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=hakúmat-e pákistán) abbreviated as GoP, is a federal government established by the Constitution of Pakistan as a constituted governing authority of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provin ...

and honoured her with

Pride of Performance Award The Pride of Performance ( ur, ), officially known as Presidential Pride of Performance, is an award bestowed by the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to recognize people with "notable achievements in the field of art, science, literature, sports, an ...

for Education by the

President of Pakistan The president of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=s̤adr-i Pākiṣṭān), officially the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is the ceremonial head of state of Pakistan and the commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Armed Forces.Pakistan Muslim League The Pakistan Muslim League ( ur, ; known as PML), is the name of several different Pakistani political parties that have dominated the right-wing platform in the country. The Muslim League (a different party) was the party of Pakistan’s ...

(PML) led by Prime minister

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi language, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime ...

in 1988; but defected to dissident group in 2000. She successfully contested in

held in 2002, securing 44,177 voted from her NA–27 constituency. In 2002, she was appointed as the minister of Minister of Education (MoEd) and took oath from President

Pervez Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of the ...

as part of the Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali's cabinet. She would later given extension and would continue served in the cabinet of Prime Minister

Education ministry

In 2004, Zubaida Jalal announced that "all religious seminaries will now be involved in all mainstream education programmes." Approved by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

, the programme was in making the madrassa (seminaries) integrated with modern education reforms. Jalal personally had approved the ₨. 225–500 million from the government for 2003–04; all funding were jointly released by the

US AID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...

. Reforms were set to be carried out to change the school curriculum and many revival updates, deregulation of the

textbooks A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions. Schoolbooks are textbook ...

were part of the program which was oversaw by the Zubaida Jalal. Despite initiation and modernisation, the programme did not move an inch, according to the media reports. The education ministry did not made no movement on seminary reforms and registration, with no related meetings scheduled and new no policy guidelines issued to government departments. In a media report published by ''Daily Times'', the Education ministry failed in making the ''madrassa'' (seminaries) reforms successful in 2004. They asked the government to reopen ''madrassa'' registration for more people to benefit from the Madrassa Reforms Package. Approximately, ₨. 6 billion were set-aside for the reforms' first three years and the government gave an additional ₨. 225 million to four provinces, but the provinces failed to use the funds. According to the officials worked under Zubaida Jalal's administration confirmed that no new policy on madrassa reforms had been prepared and the old policy was still intact. In 2009, educationist, Saleem Ali wrote a thesis in his book, "''Islam and Education: Conflict and Conformity in Pakistan's Madrassas''", that " indeed all private and public schools, are still subject to government approval, whereas the madrassa programmes at present have no government oversight." The government's inability to impose the program and lack of interest in topics further diminished. The powerful clerics threatened the government upon which the federal education minister Zubaida Jalal immediately clarified that no chapter or verses relating to

jihad Jihad (; ar, جهاد, jihād ) is an Arabic word which literally means "striving" or "struggling", especially with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it can refer to almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with Go ...

or Holy War or shahadat (martyrdom) had been deleted from textbook and that the particular verse referring to jihad had only been shifted from the biology textbook for intermediate students. According to the Education ministry, the major reason for this failure was the view of the madrassas that the project was part of an American agenda. Others maintained that there were "high level interests" which had hampered the process. Furthermore, majority of the funds were lost during a tug of war between the

Interior ministry An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

, Religious ministry and

Education ministry An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

which Zubaida Jalal led. This squabble was eventually resolved by a personal intervention of

in 2007.

2008 general election campaign

In 2008, Jalal decided not to obtain the

ticket, and instead contested in 2008 general elections as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

candidate, from the NA–272 constituency. She lost the 2008 general election while securing only 33,564 votes and losing to Yaqoob Bizanjo of

Balochistan National Party (Awami) Balochistan National Party (Awami) is a minor political party in Balochistan, Pakistan with regionalist orientation. Israr Ullah Zehri Israr Ullah Khan Zehri ( ur, مير اسراراللہ زہری; born December 15, 1965) is a Pakistani politi ...

2013 general election

In 2013, Zubaida Jalal endorsed PML(N) candidate

's bid for premiership. In a meeting with

, Jalal announced to join the PML-N, reposing full confidence in the leadership of Nawaz Sharif.

2018 general election

Zubaida Jalal Joined BAP and successfully contested the elections. Following the PTI government coalition with BAP, she was nominated as the BAP representative in the Federal Cabinet. She was inducted as Minister for Defence Production on 20 August 2018.After the Success of

No-confidence motion against Imran Khan In April 2022, a no-confidence motion against Imran Khan led to his removal as the prime minister of Pakistan. Based largely on the Westminster system of legislature, the prime minister commands confidence of the majority of the lower house ...

Cabinet was dissolved and she was removed from the ministry

Personal life

Political controversies

Soon after the

in 2008, the

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backst ...

launched an investigation on Zubaida Jalal over the financial scam. The FIA investigations were launched under the directives of Prime Minister

Yousaf Raza Gillani Yusuf Raza Gilani (Urdu: ; born 9 June 1952), is a Pakistani politician who served as 18th Prime Minister of Pakistan from 25 March 2008, until his retroactive disqualification and ouster by the Supreme Court of Pakistan on 26 April 2012. He ...

who felt that "the role of the minister of that time Zubaida Jalal needs to be investigated without which the objectives of the whole exercise will remain unmet." Zubaida Jalal has strongly denied the allegations of corruption against her. In 2009, the FIA investigations were wrapped In 2010 publications edited by Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDT), Zubaida Jalal is a second richest politician from

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

, having declared the total assets worth ₨. 57.87 million.

Political philosophy

Zubaida Jalal was touted as General Pervez Musharraf's most enlightened face and was one of the notable minister under Musharraf's regime. In 2008, she publicly endorsed the support for

during the times of impeachment movement was in effect against the former president. In a television interview, Zubaida Jalal said that as a bold and brave leader, Pervez Musharraf will live in Pakistan and for Pakistan. While talking to APP this afternoon after the Pervez Musharraf announced his resignation, Begum Jalal said that to the extent she knows Musharraf, he is not likely to leave the field empty but will continue his struggle for an enlightened, peaceful and progressive Pakistan. She has strongly advocated for the support of liberal philosophy, "

Enlightened Moderation Enlightened moderation is a term coined by a former Pakistani president, Pervez Musharraf; it applies to practicing a moderate Islam, as opposed to the interpretations of fundamentalist Islam. To think properly as to rationalize thoughts, to b ...

" and noted that "Extremism is a barrier to development and an enlightened moderation is the key to globalization."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Zubaida Jalal 1959 births Living people Pakistani MNAs 2002–2007 University of Balochistan alumni Pakistan Muslim League (Q) MNAs Government of Shaukat Aziz Pakistani libertarians Pakistani women academics Pakistani women's rights activists Pakistani educators Pakistani schoolteachers Pakistani expatriates in Kuwait Women members of the National Assembly of Pakistan Women federal ministers of Pakistan Pakistani MNAs 2018–2023 Balochistan Awami Party MNAs Education Ministers of Pakistan Academic staff of the University of Balochistan 21st-century Pakistani women politicians Defence Production Ministers of Pakistan