Farhat Banu was a Member of the

Dhaka Nawab family The Nawab of Dhaka ( Bengali: "ঢাকার নবাব"), originally spelt in English Nawab of Dacca, was the title of the head of one of the largest Muslim zamindar in British Bengal and Assam, based in present-day Dhaka, Bangladesh. The ...

and member of the Bengal Legislative Assembly in British India. Her uncle was the Nawab of Dhaka, Sir

Khwaja Salimullah Nawab Sir Khwaja Salimullah Bahadur (7 June 1871 – 16 January 1915) was the fourth Nawab of Dhaka and one of the leading Muslim politicians during the British rule in India. On 30 December 1906, the All-India Muslim League was officially ...

Career

Farhat Banu was a Member of the

Bengal Legislative Assembly The Bengal Legislative Assembly () was the largest legislatures of British India, legislature in British India, serving as the lower chamber of the legislature of Bengal Presidency, Bengal (now Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal). It ...

, the largest legislature in the British Raj. She was also a member of the select committee and one 21 women members in that committee. She introduced ''The Orphanages and Widows Home Act'' inn 1944 in the Bengal Legislative Assembly. She gave a copy of the bill to

Kumudini Basu Kumudini Basu (, 1873–1942) was a Bengali writer, social reformer, freedom fighter and women's rights activist in British India. Family Basu was born in 1873 in Calcutta, West Bengal, India, and was the eldest daughter of the Indian nati ...

, Secretary of the Nari Raksha Samiti.

Personal life

Farhat Banu was married to

Khwaja Shahabuddin Khawaja Shahabuddin (31 May 1898 – 9 February 1977), sometimes spelled Khwaja Shahabuddin, was a politician of Kashmiri-Bengali descent from East Pakistan who was a minister in the Government of Pakistan and member of the Dhaka Nawab family. ...

of the Dhaka Nawab family in 1912. Khwaja Shahabuddin was the Governor of

Northwest Frontier Province The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP; ) was a province of British India from 1901 to 1947, of the Dominion of Pakistan from 1947 to 1955, and of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan from 1970 to 2010. It was established on 9 November 1901 from ...

of Pakistan and served as a Minister in the Cabinet of Pakistan.

died on 9 February 1977 in Karachi, Pakistan. Her father was Nawabzada

Khwaja Atiqullah Khwaja Atiqullah (; 1876–1945) was a Bengali British Indian politician and member of the Dhaka Nawab Family. Early life He was born on 26 July 1876. He was taught by private British teachers. He learned English, Persian and Urdu. He was no ...

was also a member of the Dhaka Nawab family and her uncle, Sir

, was the

Nawab of Dhaka The Nawab of Dhaka (Bengali: "ঢাকার নবাব"), originally spelt in English Nawab of Dacca, was the title of the head of one of the largest Muslim zamindar in British Bengal and Assam, based in present-day Dhaka, Bangladesh. The t ...

. Her son was Lieutenant General

Khwaja Wasiuddin Khawaja Wasiuddin (20 March 1920 – 22 September 1992) was a Bangladeshi army general and diplomat from Dhaka Nawab family. He started his career as a young officer in the British Indian Army and later became a senior general in Pakistan Army. ...

. Her another son was Khwaja Zakiuddin, a banker in

East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

. Zakiuddin was married to Begum Binoo Zakiuddin, they had two daughters Almas Zakiuddin and

Yasmeen Murshed Yasmeen Murshed (born 19 May 1945) is a Bangladeshi businesswoman, founder of Scholastica School and a former advisor of the caretaker government led by President Iajuddin Ahmed. Background and education Yasmeen Murshed was born on 19 May 1945 ...

and one son Zahed Zakiuddin. Her husband's niece, Hashmat Ara Begum, was married to Khondoker Fazle Sobhan, one of their son is, noted economist

Rehman Sobhan Rehman Sobhan (; born 12 March 1935) is a Bangladeshi economist. Regarded as one of the country's top public thinkers, he is the founder and the current chairman of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), an organisation active in open public di ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farhat Banu 20th-century Pakistani women politicians Bengali politicians Members of the Dhaka Nawab family 20th-century Bengalis Bengal MLAs 1937–1945 1977 deaths