On Saturday 29 July at 2pm a Commemorative wall plaque sponsored by the Embassy of Pakistan, Dublin and Tarbert Historical and Heritage Society will be unveiled in the Square, Tarbert.
It will be unveiled by the Pakistani Ambassador Her Excellency Aisha Farooqui to honour the memory of the late Bridie Wren, Tarbert aka Jennifer Qazi Musa. The local community are invited to attend. We hope to see Norma Foley TD Minister for Education, the Mayor of Kerry and local public representatives, relatives and members of Tarbert Historical Society in attendance also.
Biographical details of the late Bridie Wren…
Bridget (Bridie) Wren was one of 10 children, 2 boys and 8 girls, born to John Wren and Johanna McGrath on a small farm in Ballinoe, Tarmons, Tarbert on 11 November 1917. Three of her siblings died in infancy. She went to England to study nursing and changed her name to Jennifer.
In 1939 she met Qazi Muhammad Musa, the son of the Khan (leader) of the Qualat district in Balochistan in what would eventually become Pakistan. Qazi was studying philosophy at Oxford University and in 1940 they were married. She changed her name from Jennifer to Jehan Zeba and she and Qazi settled in Balochistan in 1947, the year after Pakistan achieved independence. Balochistan, the country’s largest province had the highest poverty rate and the lowest literacy rate of the four provinces.
Tragically Qazi Musa died in a road traffic accident in 1956. Their only son Ashraf Jehanzir Qazi was then aged 14 and Jennifer decided to stay in her husband’s home town Pisheen and rear her son among his people. She was respectful of the culture of the people and their religion and they respected her for that. It was not easy to adapt to changing customs and the extreem heat with temperatures in excess of 50 degrees Celsius.
She joined the National Awami (Freedom) Party and won a seat in Pakistan’s first parliament (National Assembly) in 1970. She was very independent minded and refused to cover her head and wear the burqa and in this she clashed with the Government. She continually agitated for her people. She espoused education, particularly for women and she set up the All Pakistan Women’s Association and the first family planning clinic in the region. She set up and managed an ice factory in a land that lacked refrigeration. She provided assistance to Afghan refugees fleeing the Soviet invasion. She dispensed favours, settled disputes and was never afraid of taking risks if she considered a certain course of action in the best interests of her people. She acted as a go-between for rebel groups who were fighting the Government and here she often came into conflict with Prime Minister Bhutto. She remained the tribal leader in her region.
She was respected as ‘Mummy Jennifer’ and was referred to as ‘the Queen of Balochistan.’ She last visited Ireland In March 1981 and met her sisters Margaret O’Donnell, Josephine Reidy and Mina Hartnett and her brother Sean Wren.
Her son Ashraf became a senior diplomat and served as Pakistani Ambassador to the United States, Russia, China, India and Special Representative of the U N Secretary General in Iraq and Sudan. He has two daughters, Nilofar and Maha Qazi who are with us today. Bridie Wren died on the 12th of January 2008 at the age of 90. Her funeral in Pisheen was attended by thousands of her followers.
