A fascinating story of a remarkable lady.I recently found out about her from another blog.
Irish nurse who became head of a tribe in Baluchistan and dedicated her life to its interests.
Here is a two year old obituary published in Telegraph.
Jennifer Musa, who has died aged 90, was an Irishwoman of modest stock who took over from her husband as head of a tribe in the remote borderlands of Baluchistan; unveiled and uncompromising, she dedicated her life to the conservative Muslim tribesmen among whom she lived for 60 years until her death.
"Mummy Jennifer", as she was known, married the scion of a noble Pathan family that played a key role in bringing the oil-rich province of Baluchistan into Pakistan after its creation in 1947. She founded an ice factory, became the first woman member of the national assembly from her province, and later acted as an intermediary for rebels who staged an armed uprising against the federal government.
Far from being a colonial figure who "stayed on", and despite having been dubbed "the Queen of Baluchistan", Jennifer Musa was a tough-minded, unassuming nurse who arrived at the parched fringes of the Indian subcontinent a year after Partition. When she arrived there, as she later recalled, locals believed that the British monarchy had gifted the "London lady" to their chief in return for killing a tiger.
She was born Bridget Wren at Tarmons, Co Kerry, on November 11 1917, the daughter of smallholding farmers. She had four sisters and two brothers and received a Roman Catholic education. Known as Bridie, she later changed her name to Jennifer and left for England to train as a nurse. In 1939 she met Qazi Mohammed Musa in Oxford, at Exeter College's May Ball.
Continue reading..
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1575879/Jennifer-Musa.html
