Begum Akhtar Sulaiman

Background

Ethnicity: A reference source describes her as Pakistani-Bengali.

Sulaiman was born in 1922 as Akhtar Jahan Suhrawardy, a member of the Suhrawardy family of Bengal. Her father, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, was born in 1892 in Midnapore, in the Bengal Presidency of British India, a large British province in eastern India that included much of present-day Bangladesh.

Her paternal grandmother, Khujista Akhtar Banu, was a writer, educationist and social reformer who was determined to educate and uplift the Indian masses. Her family's tradition of public service and social work formed the background to Sulaiman's own early interest in civic and philanthropic work, which began when she was still young.

Career

Sulaiman's public service began in Calcutta, then the capital of Bengal before partition. She served as Honorary Secretary of the Girls Orphanage there, an institution that cared for orphaned girls. Her voluntary work reached a crisis on Direct Action Day in 1946, when the Muslim League's call for direct action in support of Pakistan led to widespread communal killings in Calcutta, and she worked for hours on end to relieve the suffering of the riot victims.

After moving to Pakistan in 1948, she worked with refugees who had migrated from India to improve their condition. Partition in 1947 had displaced millions of people across the new border, and relief for these refugees became a major task for the new state. She served as president of the Refugee Co-ordinating Council, and she later founded a home for widows and children.

When her father became Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1956, she acted as his hostess and accompanied him on state visits to China in October 1956 and to the United States in the summer of 1957. In Karachi her later public work centred on welfare organizations, most notably the Society for the Rehabilitation of Crippled Children, where she served as president.

Achievements

Later founded a home for widows and children, a welfare institution for women and children in need.
Relief work for victims of the communal violence in Calcutta on Direct Action Day in 1946, working for long hours to ease the suffering of riot victims.

Politics

Sulaiman's political stance is documented chiefly through her public support for the government of Yahya Khan during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. Yahya Khan headed a military government in Pakistan from 1969, and his administration confronted the Bengali demand for greater autonomy in East Pakistan. That confrontation culminated in the war of 1971 and the creation of Bangladesh in December of that year.

Her endorsement of that government therefore set her apart from the Bengali nationalist cause, which drew its strength from the region of her birth and her father's political base.

Membership

Most of Sulaiman's memberships were in welfare, rehabilitation, and youth organizations in Karachi. The Society for the Rehabilitation of Crippled Children originated in 1947, when a group of volunteers opened a small clinic in a doctor's waiting room to treat children affected by poliomyelitis. The organization later expanded into a broader centre offering rehabilitation, therapy, and education for disabled children.

The Pakistan Red Cross is the national society of the Red Cross movement in Pakistan, providing humanitarian relief and health services. The Girl Guides Association is a youth movement for girls that promotes discipline, education, and civic responsibility through structured activities.

Sulaiman also held positions in councils concerned with child welfare and social work. The All Pakistan Child Welfare Council focused on the welfare of children nationwide, while the National Council of Social Works brought together social welfare bodies at the national level. The Adult Blind Centre provided services for blind adults.

President

Society for the Rehabilitation of Crippled Children , Pakistan
President

Refugee Co-ordinating Council , Pakistan
President, Karachi section

Pakistan Guild Welfare Council , Pakistan
Vice President

Adult Blind Centre , Pakistan
Vice President

All Pakistan Child Welfare Council , Pakistan
Member of the executive body

National Council Social Works , Pakistan
Member of the executive body

Pakistan Red Cross , Pakistan
District Commissioner

Girl Guides Association of Karachi , Pakistan

Connections

Sulaiman married Shah Ahmed Sulaiman, the son of Justice Sir Shah Sulaiman. He was the Karachi manager of a large British export-import company that dealt in antibiotics and other medical supplies. The couple had one child, Shahida Jamil, who later became the first female Pakistani Federal Minister for Law.

Shahida Jamil had two sons, Zahid Jamil, a lawyer in Pakistan, and Shahid Jamil, a solicitor in London, who were therefore Sulaiman's grandsons. Her half-brother Rashid Suhrawardy was the son of Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy from his second marriage to Vera Alexandrovna Tiscenko Calder. He became a British actor known professionally as Robert Ashby and died in London in 2019.

Father:: Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy
husband:: Shah Ahmed Sulaiman
Daughter:: Shahida Jamil
Brother:: Rashid Suhrawardy
Grandson:: Zahid Jamil
Grandson:: Shahid Jamil

References

Wikipedia Encyclopedia article summarizing her life, family, social welfare positions, and public support for the Yahya Khan government during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.

Main Photo