Tehmina Durrani

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Tehmina Durrani is a Pakistani author, artist, and activist who is known for being the First Lady of Pakistan in 2022 and for writing the controversial book My Feudal Lord in 1991.She belonged to a political family as her paternal grandfather was Major Muhammad Zaman Durrani. Her maternal grandfathers name was Nawab Sir Liaqat Hayat Khan, who was the Prime Minister of Patiala. Tehmina Durrani as a child.She was seventeen years old when she married Anees Khan. After getting divorced from him in 1976, she married Ghulam Mustafa Khar who used to abuse her due to which she divorced him after fourteen years of marriage.The first book, My Feudal Lord, written by her in 1991 was surprising for the Pakistani society as it was based on her abusive husband, Mustafa Khar who was a famous and respected personality in Pakistan as he was a former Chief Minister and Governor of Punjab.She has written other books including A Mirror to the Blind (1996), Blasphemy (1998), and Happy Things in Sorrow Times (2013). Cover of the book Blasphemy.She believed that her service with Abdul Satar Edhi (Pakistani humanitarian) was life-changing. She wrote the book A Mirror to the Blind in 1996 which was an autobiography of Edhi. She learned social work from him, and later started the Tehmina Durrani Foundation. She founded the Tehmina Durrani Foundation in 2015, which became effective in 2017. In an interview, she talked about the foundation and said, We are picking the mission of Edhi, where he left. His duty was to serve the humanity without distinction of caste and creed and so is ours. The core ideas in its Mission and Vision are establishing Pakistan as a Social Welfare State, teaching the Edhi ideology of humanitarianism, tolerance, and service to others less privileged, women empowerment through economic independence, protection and rehabilitation of the children of war. Tehmina Durrani with Abdul Satar Edhi.In 1993, she took part in a hunger strike against corruption by the government. After seven days of hunger strike, she was admitted to the hospital and broke her fast when the Prime Minister of Pakistan Moin Quraishi visited her in the hospital and asked her to stop the hunger strike.In 2001, Tehmina contributed to womens rights by sending Fakhra Younus, the wife of Bilal Khar (son of Ghulam Mustafa Khar), to Italy. It was alleged that Younus was attacked with acid by her husband. Tehmina came into the limelight when she made arrangements to take Younus to Italy. Initially, Younus was denied a passport to leave the country, but later, she was allowed to go abroad because of public pressure. She requested the Government of Italy and the Italian cosmetics firm Sant Angelica to treat Younus. On 17 March 2012, Younus died after committing suicide in Italy after undergoing thirty surgeries. She was brought to Karachi, and the funeral prayers for Younus were carried out at the Edhi centre. Tehmina Durrani with Fakhra Younus.In 2012, journalists Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Daniel Junge directed a documentary based on the life of Younus, Saving Face. The documentary won Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2012. Documentary Saving Face nominated at the 2012 Academy Award for Best Documentary.In 2015, during the Taliban terrorist attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar, many children died. In an interview, talking about comforting the parents of the children who died, Tehmina said, Ive decided to build a housing society for the parents of the deceased children for which I will request the federal and provincial governments to provide land while friends and philanthropists like Malik Riaz of Bahria Town would be requested to pool their resources for the project..