Sughra Begum [Lady Ghulam Husain Hidayatullah]

Sughra Begum, daughter of Khan Yaqub Khan, a big landlord of Shikarpur, was born in 1904. She was brought up in strict purdah but was given a liberal education specially in religion and in Urdu, Sindhi and elementry English. She was married in 1919 to Shaikh (later Sir) Ghulam Husain Hidayatullah, a, prominent political leader of Sindh. The Begum very wisely aimed her life at helping her husband in his social and political activities.

In 1938, she began her political life as worker of the All-India Muslim League and the same year she was taken on the women's central sub-committee. It was due to her efforts that various branches of the provincial sub-committee were formed in different districts of Sindh such as Haiderabad, Nawab Shah, Dadoo, etc. In December 1943, she was elected president of the women's reception committee on the occasion of the annual session of the AllIndia Muslim League held at Karachi.

In February 1947, during the civil disobedience movement, the Begum reached Lahore and took part in processions, urging the government to accept the League demands. It is believed that the grand procession which marched towards the civil secretariat by the end of February, 1947 was led by Begum Hidayatullah. It was on the same day when the Muslim League flag was hoisted on the secretariat building by Fatima Sughra. During the partition riots, she actively worked in removing the sufferings of the refugees. Her services in the `Women's Refugee relief committee' were commendable.