Background
Zari Sarfaraz was born in 1923, to a wealthy Pashtun family of Mardan, in the North West Frontier Province ( now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in present day Pakistan) of British India. Her father was Sarfaraz Khan, a wealthy landlord of the area.
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Zari Sarfaraz
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She was the eldest of 3 surviving children, and the elder sister of the late Mir Afzal Khan, a former Chief Minister of North-West Frontier Province and former Senator. Her other brother is a Pakistani businessman. As a child, she was sent as a full boarder pupil to the Presentation Convent School, Srinagar and after completing her higher secondary schooling, she returned home to Mardan.
She aspired to become a medical doctor but her father"s early and untimely death forced her to adopt the main role in managing the family property and businesses.
She never had any children of her own nor did she remarry, preferring instead to dedicate herself to public service and a number of new business ventures. From around 1943-1944, Begum Zari Sarfaraz successfully expanded her family business, including the Premier Sugar Mills and Distillery Company Limited, in Mardan, and also set up other entrepreneurial ventures in various places.
Around this time, she also became deeply interested in the rapidly expanding Pakistan Movement. During the presidency of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, she headed the 15-member Pakistan National Commission on the Status of Women in 1985 and recommended drastic changes in the existing laws to end discrimination against women.
During this time, she also served as the Federal Minister for Women Development.
Begum Zari Sarfaraz died, aged 83 at her residence in Islamabad, in April 2008.
Membership
She also headed the All Pakistan Women Association (APWA), and was a life member of the Pakistan Red Crescent Society and a close associate of senior social workers such as Lady Viqar un Nisa Noon, Begum Mahmooda Salim Khan, Doctor Attiya Inayatullah and others
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Born
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Died
April 27, 2008 (aged 84) -
Nationality
Pakistan