TOBA TEK SINGH: Zainab Bibi, who was declared the tallest woman by the Guinness Book of World Record in 2003, died of heart attack here on Thursday after a protracted illness. She was 46.

A resident of Rajana, a small town located some 14 kilometre from here, Zainab had been suffering from diabetes and osteoporosis.

According to her relatives, Zainab’s height started increasing rapidly when she was 15 and by the time she was 20, it reached 7 feet and 2 inches. She had six sisters.

They said she could not get married because of her unusual height.

She first got noticed when she was invited to the PTV’s popular show Neelam Ghar hosted by Tariq Aziz in 1998.

In 2003, she was declared the world’s tallest woman by the Guinness Book of World Record.

After that, she was invited to different countries and visited 15 of them, including UK, France, Germany and Saudi Arabia.

Zainab met former prime minister Nawaz Sharif when he was in exile and living in Saudi Arabia’s city of Jeddah. During the meeting, Nawaz promised her if he came into power again, he would approve a stipend for her, besides other facilities.

However, Nawaz fulfilled the promise in 2017 when she reminded her of his commitment through the media and sent a Rs2 million cheque for her which was delivered to her on April 12.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2018