Farhat Banu

Farhat Banu was a Member of the Dhaka Nawab family and member of the Bengal Legislative Assembly in British India. Her uncle was the Nawab of Dhaka, Sir Khwaja Salimullah.

Farhat Banu was a Member of the Bengal Legislative Assembly, the largest legislature in the British Raj.^[5] She was also a member of the select committee and one 21 women members in that committee.^[6] She introduced The Orphanages and Widows Home Act inn 1944 in the Bengal Legislative Assembly.^[7] She gave a copy of the bill to Kumudini Basu, Secretary of the Nari Raksha Samiti.^[8]

Farhat Banu was married to Khwaja Shahabuddin of the Dhaka Nawab family in 1912. Khwaja Shahabuddin was the Governor of Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan and served as a Minister in the Cabinet of Pakistan. Khwaja Shahabuddin died on 9 February 1977 in Karachi, Pakistan.^[9] Her father was Nawabzada Khwaja Atiqullah was also a member of the Dhaka Nawab family and her uncle, Sir Khwaja Salimullah, was the Nawab of Dhaka. Her son was Lieutenant General Khwaja Wasiuddin.^[5][10] Her another son was Khwaja Zakiuddin, a banker in East Pakistan. Zakiuddin was married to Begum Binoo Zakiuddin, they had two daughters Almas Zakiuddin and Yasmeen Murshed and one son Zahed Zakiuddin.^[11] Her husband's niece, Hashmat Ara Begum, was married to Khondoker Fazle Sobhan, one of their son is, noted economist Rehman Sobhan.^[12]