Arifa Sayeda Zehra

Arfa Sayeda Zehra was a Pakistani human rights activist. She served as the Special Adviser to the Prime Minister for Education and National Harmony Affairs. She studied first at Lahore College for Women University, then Government College University, with further degrees from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Zehra was a professor emeritus of history at Forman Christian College and was a principal of the Lahore College for Women University. She was a chairperson on the National Commission on the Status of Women and a caretaker provincial minister of Punjab. She was recognised for her knowledge of the Urdu language and literature and specialised in intellectual history and South Asian social issues; outside of the university sphere, she spoke at language conferences and televised forums.