Khatun, Sahara
Khatun, Sahara (1943-2020) politician, first female Home Minister of Bangladesh, lawyer and political organizer. She was born on 1 March 1943 at her father’s house in Kurmitola in Dhaka. Her father’s name is Abdul Aziz master and mother’s name is Turjannesa. She was also well-known as Advocate Sahara Khatun.
Sahara Khatun passed Matriculation in 1960 as a student of Siddeshwari Girls High School under the East Pakistan Board. Subsequently, she completed Intermediate from City Night College. The she was admitted to BA class in Jagannath College. Later, she obtained BA in English in second class from Karachi University. Also she enrolled in the Law Department of Dhaka University but did not complete her study there. Later, after 1975, Sahara Khatun obtained her LLB degree from City Law College under Dhaka University.
During the United Front elections in 1954, Sahara Khatun started politics while she was a school student by delivering a speech at her Kurmitola school ground in the presence of national leaders, namely Maulana Bhasani, Sher-e-Bangla AK Fazlul Huq and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. She got directly involved in politics since 1967. Sahara Khatun emerged as a successful political organizer at the very beginning of her political career. In 1969, she played an active role in the formation of the women’s wing of the Awami League. In 1981, Sahara Khatun started her career as a lawyer. She formed the Bangladesh Awami Lawyers’ Association to deal with political cases filed against Awami League leaders and workers. Sahara Khatun was the founding President of this organization. She provided legal support in all the political cases filed against Awami league President and current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. At the occasion unfurling the flag of independent Bangladesh before a huge assembly of students and general people on 2 March 1971 in the premises of Dhaka University. Furthermore, she was present at the historic seven march address given by the Father of the Nation bangabandhu sheikh mujibur rahman at Suhrawardy Uddyan.
In 1991, Sahara Khatun contested the 5th Parliamentary elections as an Awami League candidate. However, she was unsuccessful. Sahara Khatun again contested in the general election held on 29 March 2008 and this time she won from the Dhaka-18 constituency. She took the charge of the Ministry for Home Affairs on 7 January 2009, being the first female home minister of Bangladesh. Just within a month and a half after she took office, on February 25-26 in 2009, disgruntled soldiers of the erstwhile Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) staged a mutiny against their officers coming from the army at the Pilkhana Headquarters in Dhaka. At 25 February midnight, Sahara Khatun led a delegation to negotiate and unarm the BDR mutinies. She was widely applauded for her courageous role. Further, as a Home Minister Sahara Khatun introduced one-stop services in the Police stations to render better services to the people. Besides, she established Model Police Station - with a service delivery officer, victim support centre, complaint cell, highway police and woman armed police. Furthermore, under her initiative and direction, for the first time female police officers were appointed as Officers in Charge (OC). In the 2012 cabinet reshuffle, Sahara Khatun was relieved as the Home Minister and she was made Minister for Posts and Telecommunications. She served that ministry for two years until 2014. She was re-elected from Dhaka-18 constituency in the tenth and the eleventh parliamentary elections held in 2014 and 2018 respectively.
Sahara Khatun also held various important positions in Bangladesh Awami League. She was the first female secretary of Dhaka Metropolitan Awami League, office secretary and general secretary of Mahila Awami League and vice-president of Mahanagar Awami League. She was also elected assistant secretary and secretary of Law of the Central Committee of Bangladesh Awami League. In 2009, Sahara Khatun was elected presidium member of the party. Besides, she acted as the Finance Committee chairperson of the Bangladesh Bar Council and practiced as a Supreme Court lawyer. She was a member of the Family Planning Association, Dhaka Bar Association, Gazipur Bar Association, Dhaka Taxes Bar Association and Bangladesh Supreme Court Bar Association. She was also noted for her work in establishing rights of women. Sahara Khatun was the founder member, joint secretary and general secretary of Bangladesh Woman’s Association. Furthermore, she also worked in international arena promoting human rights and woman development. She was a member of International Alliance of Woman, Associated Country Woman of the world and Woman Council. She participated in many seminars and workshops organized in USA, UK, France, Norway, Japan, India, Russia, China, Italy, Bulgaria, Holland and Sri Lanka on gender issues. As a representative of Bangladesh Mahila Samity, she also participated in the DPI NGO conference in New York, USA.
She breathed her last on 9 July 2020 at the age of 77. [Tahmida Khanam]
