Begum Kulsum Saifullah Khan (7 December 1924 – 26 January 2015) was a Pakistani businesswoman,

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

industrialist A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

and a

social worker Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...

from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. She was chairperson of the

Saif Group Saif Group is a Pakistani conglomerate company largely focused on textile industry and is owned by Saifullah Khan family. It is based in Islamabad and is involved in power, health care, textiles, real estate and telecommunications. Major pro ...

of companies from 1964 to 1990. Begum Kulsum served as a parliamentarian and a federal minister in Pakistan in the 1970s and 1980s.

Early life and career

Kulsum was born in 1924 in

Karak Karak may refer to: Places * Al-Karak or Kerak, city and Crusader castle in Jordan ** Karak Governorate, Jordan * al-Karak, Syria, city in Syria's Daraa Governorate * Karak Nuh, village in the Beqaa Valley, Lebanon * Karak, Iran (disambiguation) ...

in Kohat into a

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...

family. She was a sister of two Pakistani politicians of the area

Muhammad Aslam Khan Khattak Muhammad Aslam Khan Khattak ( ps, محمد اسلم خان خټک) ( ur, محمد اسلم خان خٹک) (April 5, 1908 – October 10, 2008) was a Pakistani politician and diplomat

and

Yusuf Khattak Muhamad Yusuf Khan Khattak ( b. 18 November 1917 – 29 July 1991) was a Pakistani politician, Socialism in Pakistan, left-wing intellectual, lawyer, and noted Pakistan Movement :Pakistan Movement activists, activist from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. ...

. Kulsum was married to a then well-known businessman of Ghaznikhel

Lakki Marwat Lakki Marwat or Lakki (Urdu and ps, ) is the headquarters of Lakki Marwat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Lakki Marwat has become one of the fastest growing cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Lakki Marwat is also the 20th mos ...

, ''Khan Saifullah Khan'', who was a

Khan Khan may refer to: *Khan (inn), from Persian, a caravanserai or resting-place for a travelling caravan *Khan (surname), including a list of people with the name *Khan (title), a royal title for a ruler in Mongol and Turkic languages and used by ...

of the Marwat Tribe. She had five sons with him:

Anwar Saifullah Khan Anwar Saifullah Khan ( ur, ; born 7 June 1945) is a Pakistani politician and industrialist. As a member of the Pakistan Muslim League (Junejo), he served in Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's cabinet as Federal Minister of Environment and Urban ...

Salim Saifullah Khan Salim Saifullah Khan (Urdu: سلیم سیف اللہ خان) is a Pakistani politician and President of a faction of the Pakistan Muslim League and a Senator of Pakistan and Chairman of Pakistan's Senate Foreign Relations, Kashmir Affairs and ...

Humayun Saifullah Khan Humayun Saifullah Khan is a Pakistani politician and a former Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from 2008 to 2013. He belongs to the Saifullah Khan family from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Political career He has served as district ...

, Javed Saifullah Khan and the cardiologist Iqbal Saifullah Khan. She went ahead and developed her late husband's business to the extent that in 2017 it is one of the leading business conglomerates of Pakistan in the fields of textiles, power generation, oil and gas exploration and telecommunications industries. She was jailed during

General Zia Ul-Haq General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq HI, GCSJ, ร.ม.ภ, (Urdu: ; 12 August 1924 – 17 August 1988) was a Pakistani four-star general and politician who became the sixth President of Pakistan following a coup and declaration of martial law in ...

's presidency in Pakistan.Formidable Pashtu Lady (Begum Kulsum Saifullah Khan)
Newsweek Pakistan website, Published 9 February 2015, Retrieved 13 November 2020

Awards, death and legacy

Hilal-i-Imtiaz The ''Hilaal-e-Imtiaz'' (; ), also spelled and transliterated as Hilāl-e-Imtiyāz, is the second-highest (in the hierarchy of "Hilal") civilian award and honour given to both civilians and military officers of the Pakistan Armed Forces by the ...

(Crescent of Distinction) by the

President of Pakistan The president of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=s̤adr-i Pākiṣṭān), officially the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is the ceremonial head of state of Pakistan and the commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Armed Forces.Pervez Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of the ...

in 2008.Begum Kulsum Saifullah Khan's Hilal-i-Imtiaz Award listed on Dawn (newspaper)
Published 24 March 2008, Retrieved 1 October 2017 * Begum Kulsum had the distinction of being the first woman federal minister in Pakistan's history. She had also served as a member of the

National Assembly of Pakistan The National Assembly ( ur, , translit=Aiwān-e-Zairīñ, , or ur, قومی اسمبلی, Romanization, romanized: ''Qaumi Assembly'') is the lower house, lower legislative house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Pakistan, which al ...

. * When her husband ''Saifullah Khan'' suddenly died on 4 April 1964 at the age of 49, she stepped forward to take over his business despite her lack of formal business training and her responsibilities of raising a family. She later wrote a book on her business management and business dealings called 'Meri Tanha Parwaz' (My Solo Flight) published in 2011. * In Pakistan, she was socially very active as well. Begum Kulsum was a founding member of All Pakistan Women's Association (APWA) since 1947. She worked closely with and was an advisor to

Begum Rana Liaquat Ali Khan गुल-इ-राणा ( Kumaoni) , image = Begum Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan (1961).jpg , imagesize = , alt = , smallimage = , caption = Begum Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan in 1961 , alongside = , predecessor = Mir Rasool Bux Talpur , p ...

, the founder of APWA, till 1951.

Death

*She died on 26 January 2015 at age 90.

References

1924 births 2015 deaths Kulsum Pakistani women in business Federal ministers of Pakistan Recipients of Hilal-i-Imtiaz Pakistani chief executives Pakistani philanthropists Kulsum Members of the National Assembly of Pakistan Women federal ministers of Pakistan Pakistani prisoners and detainees 20th-century philanthropists {{Pakistan-politician-stub