1. Maleeha Lodhi is a Pakistani diplomat, political scientist, and a former Pakistan's Representative to the United Nations.
42 Facts About Maleeha Lodhi
1. 2.
Maleeha Lodhi was the first woman to hold the position.
3.
Maleeha Lodhi returned to Pakistan in 1986 to become the editor of The Muslim, making her the first woman to edit a national newspaper in Asia.
4.
Maleeha Lodhi was appointed to the same position in 1999 by President Musharraf until 2002 when she completed her tenure and moved on to be High Commissioner to the UK.
5.
In 2001, Maleeha Lodhi became a member of the United Nations Secretary General's Advisory Board on Disarmament, she served on the board until 2005.
6.
In February 2015, Maleeha Lodhi was introduced by Prime Minister Sharif to serve as Permanent Representative and Ambassador of Pakistan to the UN in New York City, making her the first woman to hold the position.
7.
Maleeha Lodhi has been named as an international scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center and, in 1994, Lodhi was named by Time magazine as one of a hundred people in the world who will help to shape the 21st century.
8.
Maleeha Lodhi was a member of the National Defence University's Senate, and has been a member of the advisory council of IISS and continues to be a member of the Global Agenda Council of the World Economic Forum.
9.
Maleeha Lodhi is the recipient of the Hilal-i-Imtiaz for Public Service and holds an honorary fellowship from the London School of Economics since 2004 and received an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the London Metropolitan University in 2005.
10.
Maleeha Lodhi is the author of two books, Pakistan: The External Challenge and Pakistan's Encounter with Democracy.
11.
Maleeha Lodhi edited Pakistan: Beyond the Crisis State in 2010.
12.
Maleeha Lodhi was born in Lahore, Punjab, to an upper-middle-class family.
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Maleeha Lodhi's father was the chief executive of a British-based oil company and was the first Pakistani head of a British company in Pakistan.
14.
Maleeha Lodhi's mother received an MA in journalism and was offered a scholarship to study in the United States after graduating, but gave up a career in journalism to become a homemaker and look after her children.
15.
Maleeha Lodhi was married to a banker in London, but they divorced after five years of marriage; together, they have a son named Faisal.
16.
Maleeha Lodhi first received her school education in Lahore and Rawalpindi, and then in the United Kingdom.
17.
Maleeha Lodhi attended the London School of Economics in 1972 to study economics.
18.
Maleeha Lodhi received her BSc in Economics, specializing in political science in 1976, worked towards attaining PhD in political science, which she was awarded in 1980.
19.
Maleeha Lodhi taught for a short while at the Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad in 1980, but returned to London to teach at the London School of Economics's Department of Government where she taught courses in political sociology until 1985.
20.
Maleeha Lodhi returned to Pakistan in 1986 after martial law had been lifted.
21.
Maleeha Lodhi's phones were tapped and she was followed by intel sleuths all the time.
22.
Maleeha Lodhi joined and edited the English language newspaper The Muslim in 1987, making her the first woman in Asia to edit a national daily newspaper.
23.
Maleeha Lodhi re-joined The News International 1997 as its chief editor and remained until 1999.
24.
On 26 July 2003, Maleeha Lodhi was appointed as the Pakistan's envoy to the Court of St James's, London by General Musharraf who sized power in the 1999 coup d'etat.
25.
Maleeha Lodhi served for 5-year, returning to Pakistan in 2008.
26.
Maleeha Lodhi made her debut address at the United Nations on 6 February 2015 where she called for 'addressing the underlying factors responsible for terrorism so as to formulate an effective and comprehensive response'.
27.
Maleeha Lodhi said that the education voucher scheme launched in Punjab, as well as conditional grants that were given in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have helped in promoting education in Pakistan.
28.
Maleeha Lodhi hosted a reception in honor of ambassadors and other prominent personalities at her residence.
29.
Maleeha Lodhi oversaw adoption of 16 decisions for several UNICEF programmes and endeavours including an increase in the Emergency Programme Fund ceiling.
30.
On 10 March 2016, Maleeha Lodhi opposed adding new permanent members to the United Nations Security Council with or without a veto, adding that Pakistan supports expansion of the Security Council only in the non-permanent category in order to make the Council more democratic, accountable, effective and transparent.
31.
On 29 August 2015, Maleeha Lodhi rang the opening bell at the NASDAQ in New York to signal the ceremonial start of trading, saying Pakistan's economy is on the upswing as it pursues liberal economic and investor-friendly policies.
32.
On 24 April 2016, Maleeha Lodhi invited Leonardo DiCaprio to Pakistan after a meeting with him at the UN.
33.
On 30 May 2016, talking to the students at Harvard Kennedy School, Maleeha Lodhi claimed that Pakistan's massive military operation aimed at rooting out terrorism is in its final phase but the menace is not going to just go away unless there is peace on the other side of the border in strife-torn Afghanistan.
34.
On 6 January 2017, Maleeha Lodhi provided a dossier on captured Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadav and evidence of attempted violation of maritime boundary by an Indian submarine to Antonio Guterres.
35.
On 7th Febuaray 2017, Maleeha Lodhi opposed the G4 nations submission on UN security reform saying that it is "inconceivable" to establish any institution that does not value "principles of representation and accountability" through periodic elections.
36.
Maleeha Lodhi was the daughter of an oil executive and a journalist.
37.
Maleeha Lodhi was sent to a convent run by nuns in Rawalpindi for schooling because that was the best education available, and a tolerant atmosphere prevailed.
38.
Maleeha Lodhi learned to read the Koran as a child, but hers was a "spiritual household", she said, rather than a strictly religious one.
39.
In February 2016, Pakistan Today reported that Hillary Clinton email's revealed that Maleeha Lodhi apparently acted as an informal messenger between the Obama Administration and then army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani.
40.
Maleeha Lodhi was accused of religious bigotry after she deleted a tweet congratulating Mahershala Ali for his Best Supporting Actor Oscar win in 2017.
41.
Maleeha Lodhi initially congratulated Ali on being the first Muslim actor to win an Oscar.
42.
However, Maleeha Lodhi deleted the tweet after other Twitter users "pointed out" that Ali is an [Ahmadiyya]- a member of an Islamic sect who are declared non-Muslims in Pakistani constitution.