Maleeha Lodhi PhD (Urdu: مليحه لودهى) is a Pakistani political scientist, diplomat, columnist, and strategist who serves as the Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, the first woman to hold the position.[1] She also served as President of the UNICEF Executive Board in 2015.[2] She has previously served as the High Commissioner of Pakistan to the United Kingdom and prior to that, twice as the Pakistan Ambassador to the United States.[3][4]
Born in Lahore, Lodhi studied economics and political science at the London School of Economics, after receiving her doctorate in 1980, she stayed at the school as a member of faculty teaching political sociology.[5] She returned to Pakistan in 1986 to become the editor of The Muslim, making her the first women to edit a newspaper in Asia. In 1990, she moved to become the founding editor of The News International. [6] In 1994, she was appointed by Benazir Bhutto as Pakistan's envoy to the United States, a position she retained until 1997.[6][7] She was once again appointed on the same position in 1999 by Pervez Musharraf, a position she retained until 2002.[6][7]
In 2001, Lodhi became a member of the United Nations Secretary General's Advisory Board on Disarmament, she served on the board until 2005. In 2003, Musharraf appointed her as Pakistan's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, where she remained until she was re-called in 2008. Between 2008 and 2010, she served as a resident fellow at the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School, Harvard. In February 2015, Lodhi was appointed by Prime Minister Sharif to serve as Pakistan's Representative of Pakistan to the UN in New York City, making her the first women to hold the position.
