Jennifer Musa ( Bridget Jennifer Wren; 11 November 1917 – 12 January 2008) was an Irish-born Pakistani nurse, politician, social worker and the second wife of Qazi Musa. She was often nicknamed the "Queen of

Baluchistan 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. ...

" and "Mummy Jennifer".

Early life and career

Jennifer Musa was born Bridget Jennifer Wren at Tarmons,

County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...

, Ireland in 1917. She left Ireland to train as a nurse. In 1939, she met prominent politician Qazi Muhammad Musa, brother of Qazi Muhammad Essa, a prominent activist in the Pakistan Movement while studying at Oxford. Qazi Musa was the eldest son of the Prime Minister to the then Khan of Kalat (present-day Kalat District). Jennifer Musa took the name Jehan Zeba and married Qazi Musa the following year despite the opposition from his Hazara clan. The couple moved to Pakistan in 1948. Jennifer Musa used to say, "We met at his college, at a party – you know what students are like. I was a Catholic, he was a Muslim. I think I became Islamic at the time." She said with a smile, and then further went on to say, "I married into a progressive family and never wore a veil, they never asked. I just came here with my husband because he belonged here." While living in Baluchistan, she often used to wear traditional shalwar kameez and wrap a shawl around her. After Qazi Musa's sudden death in a car accident in 1956, Jennifer Musa decided to settle permanently in her husband's hometown of Pishin. She joined the National Awami Party of Khan Abdul Wali Khan and was elected to Pakistan's first Parliament in 1970 after the

1970 Pakistani general election General elections were held in Pakistan on 7 December 1970 to elect members of the National Assembly. They were the first general elections since the independence of Pakistan and ultimately the only ones held prior to the independence of Bang ...

. During that time, she often clashed with Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Jennifer Musa thought Bhutto was 'a clever fellow and a strange chap'. She found it difficult to get along with him.

Legacy and social work

She had one child. Her son Ashraf Jehangir Qazi is a senior Pakistani diplomat. Jennifer Musa, also called "Mummy Jennifer" took up social work after seeing the plight of young girls in this desperately poor region. She went on to found the 'Pishin Women's Association' in her local area. She used to say, "I worked with all the people, even with my bad Urdu. I feel very much like I am at home here, they have always treated me like one of themselves. I couldn't have gone back to Ireland. I know more about this place now than I do about my home." In one of her last interviews, she had said, "Mummy has had her innings." Jennifer Musa lived for 60 years until her death on 12 January 2008 in Balochistan.

References

External links

An Interview with Jennifer Musa on Dawn (newspaper)
1917 births 2008 deaths People from County Kerry Converts to Sunni Islam from Catholicism Irish emigrants to Pakistan Pakistani people of Irish descent People from Pishin District Politicians from Balochistan, Pakistan Awami National Party politicians Disease-related deaths in Balochistan, Pakistan Pakistani MNAs 1972–1977 Pakistani women's rights activists Irish nurses Irish women's rights activists Pakistani nurses Qazi family 20th-century Pakistani women politicians {{Pakistan-MNA-stub