Shahida Nighat Jamil (born 30 January 1944) is a Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

i lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

 and politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

.

Education and Family

She was called

Call to the bar

The Call to the Bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party, and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received a "call to the bar"...

 to the Bar in 1973. Prior to that she graduated from Sindh Muslim Law College

Sindh Muslim Law College

The Sindh Muslim Government Law College or S. M. Law College is located on Dr. Ziauddin Ahmed Road, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. The college was established by its first Principal Hassanally A. Rahman Zubedi, a leading Advocate of Sindh on the June 28, 1947 and was affiliated to the University of...

 and holds a Bachelors of Arts degree in political science

Political science

Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...

 and English literature from Karachi University through St. Joseph's College.

She is the only daughter of the late Shah Ahmed Sulaiman (a businessman and son of Sir Shah Sulaiman) and the late Begum Akhtar Sulaiman

Begum Akhtar Sulaiman

Begum Akhtar Sulaiman was a Pakistani social worker, political activist and the daughter of Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy.-Family:...

 (a prominent social worker and daughter of Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy

Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy

Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy was a Pakistani-Bengali politician and statesman who served as 5th Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1956 till 1957, and a close associate of Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan, first Prime minister of Pakistan...

).

She is married to Chaudhry Mohammad Jamil (a senior advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan

Supreme Court of Pakistan

The Supreme Court is the apex court in Pakistan's judicial hierarchy, the final arbiter of legal and constitutional disputes. The Supreme Court has a permanent seat in Islamabad. It has number of Branch Registries where cases are heard. It has a number of de jure powers which are outlined in the...

 and former Vice-President of the Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association). They have two sons, Zahid Jamil (a barrister in Karachi) and Shahid Jamil (a solicitor in London).

Political career

She became the first woman to be appointed as the Law Minister of Sindh

Sindh

Sindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...

 province in 1999 and became the Minister of Law, Justice and Human Rights and Parliamentary Affairs

Federal Government Ministries of Pakistan

The Ministries of the Federal Government of Pakistan assist the cabinet Prime Minister in managing the government of Pakistan. The current Federal Ministries and their departments are:...

 of Pakistan in 2000. She has also served as Minister for Women Development, Social Welfare and Special Education

Federal Government Ministries of Pakistan

The Ministries of the Federal Government of Pakistan assist the cabinet Prime Minister in managing the government of Pakistan. The current Federal Ministries and their departments are:...

 in the caretaker government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mian Soomro from 2007 to 2008.

Publications

She has conducted an in-depth research study on different subjects such as Socio-Political Environment as an Element of Power and its impact on National Security, Crime Reporting, Internal Security Systems in South Asia & Dimensions of National Security etc.

Articles published by her include Independence of the Judiciary, International Humanitarian Law, The Daily News in 1992, The Legacy of Negativism, The Leader in 1995, In which the name of Allah is commemorated - Al-Quran, The Nation in 1997, and The Armed Forces and the Pakistan Movement, The Dawn in 1997.

Sources

• http://www.infopak.gov.pk/WomenDevelopmentminister.aspx