KARACHI, Jan 2: Veteran social worker and former president of All Pakistan Women’s Association (Apwa) Begum Tazeen Faridi died on Sunday night in a local hospital after a brief illness. She was 90.

Funeral prayer will be held on Monday after Asr at Masjid Mustafa in DHA Phase-1 and she will be buried in the army graveyard near the CSD on Korangi Road.

Soyem will be held between Asr and Maghrib on Tuesday at 8A, 4th East Street, DHA-1.

Begum Faridi was a highly respectable and prominent activist who played an important role in the struggle for gender equality and women’s participation in socio-economic activities.

She was born into an aristocratic family of Oudh in UP, India, in 1920. She received education at the Lucknow University and excelled in several languages. She did her Masters in philosophy and won a gold medal for being an outstanding student.

She took an active part in student activities and the Pakistan movement. Her mother Begum Habibullah was also active in the Pakistan movement. In her student days, Begum Faridi came in contact with the Quaid-i-Azam and was part of a delegation of the Muslim Students Federation at the Jalandhar session of Muslim League.

She held coveted positions in national and international organisations and was a member of Pakistan’s Social Welfare Planning Commission from 1956 to 1967.

Begum Faridi also worked as minister for social welfare of Sindh during Gen Zia’s regime.

In 1960, she represented Pakistan at the convention of the UN Commission for the Status for Women. She was married to A.R. Faridi, a former chairman of Pakistan Steel and one of the founding members of the Arts Council Karachi.