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 largest Muslim zamindar in British Bengal and Assam, based in present-day Dhaka, Bangladesh. The title of ''n ...

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. In 1906, the Muslim League was officially founded at the educationa ...

Career

Farhat Banu was a Member of the

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

, 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, Secretary of the Nari Raksha Samiti.

Personal life

Farhat Banu was married to

Khwaja Shahabuddin Khawaja Shahabuddin (31 May 1898 – 9 February 1977) 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. He was the younger brother of Khawaja ...

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

Northwest Frontier Province The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP; ps, شمال لویدیځ سرحدي ولایت, ) was a Chief Commissioner's Province of British India, established on 9 November 1901 from the north-western districts of the Punjab Province. Followi ...

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 ( ur, ; 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 w ...

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 largest Muslim zamindar in British Bengal and Assam, based in present-day Dhaka, Bangladesh. The title of ''na ...

. Her son was Lieutenant General Khwaja Wasiuddin. Her another son was

Khwaja Zakiuddin Khwaja Zakiuddin (1918-2003) was a Bengali aristocrat and Pakistani statesman. He was a member of the Dhaka Nawab family. Early life Zakiuddin was born on 9 January 1918. His father was Khwaja Shahabuddin, a Pakistan government Minister, and his ...

, a banker in

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Myanmar, wi ...

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

Yasmeen Murshed Yasmeen Murshed is a Bangladeshi businesswoman and a former advisor of the caretaker government led by President Iajuddin Ahmed Iajuddin Ahmed (1 February 193110 December 2012) was the President of Bangladesh, serving from 6 September 2002 un ...

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 ( bn, রেহমান সোবহান; born 12 March 1935) is a Bangladeshi economist. Regarded as one of the country's top public thinkers, he is the founder of the Centre for Policy Dialogue. Sobhan is an icon of the Bangl ...

References

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