Samia Usman Fatah (born on 28th July 1942) led the first women protest procession against Ayub Khan in November 1968. The procession was brought out in Gujrat after chairman of Pakistan People’s Party, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (ZAB) was arrested in Lahore on 13th November 1968. The participants of the procession marched to the District Courts and presented bangles to lawyers at the bar room inviting them to come out to join the movement against Ayub Khan. At that time, she was president of the women wing of Pakistan People’s Party Gujrat district. It was in fact the first district women wing of the party throughout Pakistan. At that time Gujrat had separate offices of its male and female district organisations in the city. The male district organisation was headed by her would-be husband Sheikh Usman Fatah.
Samia Usman Fatah (in glasses) and other women demanding release of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto during a protest in Gujrat in November, 1968.
Samia belongs to a prominent family of Gujrat city. The first-ever garage in Gujrat had been constructed in her grandfather’s house located in the city’s Timbal Bazaar in 1921 in the pre-motor car era. Her grandfather and uncles had motor cars as early as 1928-29. Her mother belonged to a Bhati Gate family in Lahore. She had matriculated from a Convent School and was considered to be the first ever woman in Gujrat who could speak English language.
When the British officers used to visit the residence of Nawab Fazal Ali Khan in Gujrat, the meals were always cooked and served from her father Sufi Nizamuddin’s house. The Nawab, it may be mentioned, was the first non-official head of a District Board in the Punjab.
Friendship between the family of her late husband Sheikh Usman Fatah and the Bhutto family started in pre-partition days in Bombay. One of Usman’s uncles, Sheikh Ahmad Fatah was France’s honorary consul there. In the early 1950s, Usman used to look after his business in Karachi and his office was located at Bandar Road — just opposite the office of ZAB, who used to practise law and teach International Law at city’s SM Law College.
Many years later after resigning from Ayub Khan’s cabinet, Bhutto was thinking of joining the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) faction called Council. J A Rahim (a civil servant and political philosopher), Meraj Muhammad Khan (a socialist politician) and Usman advised him to form his own party instead. In 1966, Usman returned to Gujrat from Karachi and started supporting ZAB in the political struggle against Ayub Khan. Usman was one of the founders (not a founding member) of the PPP. He was also the registrar of the convention in Lahore held on 30 November — 1 December 1967, in which the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) was launched.
While ZAB was behind bars, Begum Nusrat Bhutto took over the party. She visited Gujrat where Samia arranged a public meeting for her. Samia also accompanied Nusrat Bhutto during her visits to Sahiwal, Chichawatni, Gujranwala, Gakhar Mandi, Jhelum and Lyallpur.
Before the 1970 general elections, Chaudhri Zahoor Elahi was afraid of contesting an election against a PPP candidate in Gujrat. Similarly, the other side was also scared of Zahoor Elahi’s popularity except Usman who believed that even a ‘khamba’ supported by the PPP would win against him. Therefore, Usman frustrated Zahoor Elahi’s bid to join the PPP.
Now it was Zahoor Elahi’s turn to strike. Due to his political acumen and influence, he got Usman removed from the office of the district president of PPP. One evening in the last week of February 1970, ZAB and Ghulam Mustafa Khar came to Gujrat to meet Usman. They asked him to resign from the PPP office. He told them he would do so after the party’s public meeting on 1 March 1970. ZAB and Khar left silently. At the public meeting, he was astonished to find a new district president sitting with ZAB.
The PPP decided to support Nawabzada Asghar Ali Khan of PML (Qayyum) instead of fielding its own candidate against Zahoor Elahi. This way Zahoor Elahi successfully won the National Assembly seat on the PML (Council) ticket. The three other National Assembly seats in the district were won by the PPP.
This was the perfect time for Samia and Usman to get married, which they did on 31 May 1970.
Over time, ZAB realised his mistake of removing Usman from the office of the district head of PPP Gujrat in 1970. He wanted to atone for it and compensate the family. In summer of 1973, ZAB asked Usman and Samia, in confidence, to sponsor a campaign demanding recognition of Bangladesh to get Pakistani prisoners of war released from India. Samia took out a procession of wives of the prisoners of war from Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh to the National Assembly Secretariat. As only a closed circle of PPP leaders knew that Bhutto himself was behind this protest, Samia and Usman were blamed by some PPP leaders for being anti-PPP.
Samia Usman Fatah (front right) with Begum Nusrat Bhutto after her election as Member National Assembly in March 1977.
Samia was made first woman Senator of the country on a general seat in 1973 and Member National Assembly on a reserved seat in 1977.
In 1979, Samia was arrested for protesting against ZAB’s hanging at Hazrat Shahdola (RA)’s tomb in Gujrat. She went to Germany along with her husband and two children in 1981 to escape persecution of PPP leaders. She returned to homeland after the arrival of Benzair Bhutto from exile in 1986. The same year, she faced another arrest when both PPP and PML (Junejo) announced plans to hold public meetings at Lahore’s Minar-e-Pakistan. In 1992, she was detained during PPP’s march on the capital. Her late husband and late son were also arrested on this occasion.