Nasim Jahan

Nasim Jahan was born Nasim Shahnawaz in the prominent Mian family of Baghbanpura. Her parents Mian Muhammad Shahnawaz and Begum Jahanara Shahnawaz were both politicians, and so was her maternal grandfather Sir Muhammad Shafi.{{sfn|Asdar Ali, Communism in Pakistan|2015|p=148}}

{{citation |title=Life & Times |publisher=Begum Shahnawaz web site |url=http://begumshahnawaz.com/life.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160131103735/http://begumshahnawaz.com/life.html |archive-date=31 January 2016}}

Begum Jahanara was one of the first Indian Muslim women to abandon the veil and pursue high education. She participated in the Round Table Conferences as the sole representative of Indian Muslim women.{{sfn|Pirbhai, Fatima Jinnah|2017|pp=66–67}} Nasim's elder sister Mumtaz Shahnawaz was also an activist and politician, who died in an air crash while on her way to represent Pakistan in the United Nations.

File:Murree Richtone(HDR).jpg, overlooking Kashmir]]

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|Azad Kashmir

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|caption = Murree and western Kashmir

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{{location map~ |Azad Kashmir |lat=33.76|N |long=74.09|E |label=Poonch |position=right |link=Poonch (town) |mark=Blue pog.svg |marksize=4 |label_size=70}}

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{{location map~ |Azad Kashmir |lat=32.71|N |long=74.86|E |label=Jammu |position=right |link=Jammu |mark=Blue pog.svg |marksize=4 |label_size=70}}

{{location map~ |Azad Kashmir |lat=32.385|N |long=75.517|E |label=Kathua |position=right |link=Kathua |mark=Blue pog.svg |marksize=4 |label_size=70}}

{{location map~ |Azad Kashmir |lat=32.57|N |long=75.12|E |label=Samba |position=right |link=Samba |mark=Blue pog.svg |marksize=4 |label_size=0}}

{{location map~ |Azad Kashmir |lat=34.36|N |long=73.47|E |label=Muzaffarabad |position=right |link=Muzaffarabad |mark=Blue pog.svg |marksize=4 |label_size=70}}

{{location map~ |Azad Kashmir |lat=34.18|N |long=73.24|E |label=Abbottabad |position=top |link=Abbottabad |mark=Red pog.svg |marksize=4 |label_size=0}}

{{location map~ |Azad Kashmir |lat=33.91|N |long=73.39|E |label=Murree |position=left |link=Murree |mark=Green pog.svg |marksize=4 |label_size=70}}

{{location map~ |Azad Kashmir |lat=33.58|N |long=73.05|E |label=Rawalpindi |position=bottom |link=Rawalpindi |mark=Red pog.svg |marksize=6 |label_size=70}}

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Nasim Shahnawaz married Colonel Akbar Khan, who became a decorated war hero in World War II.{{sfnp|Asdar Ali, Communism in Pakistan|2015|loc=p. 278, note 50}} Nasim is often described as ambitious and well-connected, and having been a significant influence on Akbar Khan's activities.

{{citation |last=Jalal |first=Ayesha |authorlink=Ayesha Jalal |title=The Struggle for Pakistan: A Muslim Homeland and Global Politics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=87VnBAAAQBAJ |year=2014 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-74499-8 |pages=79–80}}

Hamid Hussain, [http://www.brownpundits.com/2016/10/25/general-mohammed-akbar-khan/ General Mohammed Akbar Khan (and some others)], Brown Pundits web site, 25 October 2016.

Her activism came to the fore soon after the Partition of India, during the Kashmir conflict.

Syed Ali Hamid, [https://thefridaytimes.com/08-Jan-2021/general-tariq-and-the-rawalpindi-conspiracy-case-ii General Tariq and the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case - II], The Friday Times, 8 January 2021.

Akbar Khan, who was apparently part of a plan to capture Kashmir by invasion,{{sfnp|Joshi, Kashmir, 1947–1965: A Story Retold|2008|loc=p. 60: 'The history [of 11th Cavalry] adds, "During the last week of August 1947 [the] Commanding Officer and Second-in-Command were called to attend an operational briefing in General Headquarters in the presence of Colonel Sher Khan MC, Director Military Intelligence, Colonel Akbar Khan, DWC and Colonel Khanzadah Ordnance Branch...."'}}

{{citation |last=Amin |first=Agha Humayun |chapter=Memories of a Soldier by Major General Syed Wajahat Hussain (Book Review) |title=Pakistan Military Review, Volume 18 |date=August 2015 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=978-1516850235 |chapter-url=https://www.slideshare.net/AAmin1/pakistan-military-review-volume-18-inside-waziristan |quote=However Sardar Yahya Effendi clearly mentions on page-151 of his book [..] that [the] Commanding Officer of 11 Cavalry was called by Pakistani Director Military Intelligence Colonel Sher Khan, MC to the GHQ in last week of August 1947 and briefed about Pakistani invasion plan.}}

wondered how to influence Pakistan's political leadership to back it.

{{citation |last=Jha |first=Prem Shankar |authorlink=Prem Shankar Jha |title=Kashmir, 1947: Rival Versions of History |url=https://archive.org/details/kashmir1947rival00jhap |via=archive.org |url-access=registration |year=1996 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-563766-3 |page=29 |quote='The big question really was', Khan writes, 'whether our government could be moved to take an active hand in the affair. We were soon to find that a move in this direction had already started'.}}

Soon he came in contact with Mian Iftikharuddin, a leader of the Muslim League in Punjab and a cousin of Nasim,

{{citation |last=Raghavan |first=Srinath |title=War and Peace in Modern India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EbtBJb1bsHUC |date=2010 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1-137-00737-7 |page=105 |quote=Akbar was also approached by a senior Muslim League leader, Mian Iftikharuddin, who was proceeding to Kashmir's capital, Srinagar, to assess Pakistan's prospects.}}

and Sardar Ibrahim Khan, an activist of Kashmir's Muslim Conference who was looking to launch a rebellion against the Maharaja of Kashmir and seeking Pakistan's help.

{{citation |last=Schofield |first=Victoria |authorlink=Victoria Schofield |title=Kashmir in the crossfire |url=https://archive.org/details/kashmirincrossfi0000scho |via=archive.org |url-access=registration |year=1996 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |isbn=978-1-86064-036-0 |page=141 |quote='One day someone introduced me to Sardar Ibrahim', writes Akbar Khan, a junior army officer who was in Murree in September 1947.}}

In a 12 September planning meeting with the prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan, both Iftikharuddin and Akbar Khan participated.

After this meeting, Akbar Khan was barred from participating in Pakistan's covert action, but Nasim seems to have been closely involved.{{sfnp|Joshi, Kashmir, 1947–1965: A Story Retold|2008|loc=p. 58: "But his wife Nasim Akbar Khan, a Muslim League activist in her own right, seems to have been clearly involved..."}} She attended a meeting in Murree towards the end of September, where Khurshid Anwar briefed the Muslim Conference activists about the invasion plan.{{sfnp|Joshi, Kashmir, 1947–1965: A Story Retold|2008|p=58}}{{sfnp|Zaheer, Rawalpindi Conspiracy|1998|p=98}} On 23 October, the day after the tribal invasion was launched, she and the Commissioner of Rawalpindi Division, Khawaja Abdur Rahim, went to announce to Sardar Ibrahim that he was to be the President of the Azad Kashmir provisional government. During the evidence presented to a tribunal later in the 1950s, a witness mentioned that she and her sister (Mumtaz Shahnawaz) appeared to have "sponsored" Sardar Ibrahim to be the leader.{{sfnp|Zaheer, Rawalpindi Conspiracy|1998|pp=112–113}}{{efn|Up to this point, Sardar Ibrahim had the designation of prime minister in the provisional government. The president, who was publicly announced under the pseudonym "Mr. Anwar", is believed to have been Ghulam Nabi Gilkar, who went to Srinagar and got arrested by the Maharaja's government.}}

After the first phase of the invasion, Akbar Khan was given the charge of commanding the invasion. He assumed the nom de guerre of 'General Tariq' and moved to Murree, where he lived with Nasim and established his operational headquarters. When Captain Wajahat Hussain visited the couple on one occasion, he found Akbar Khan talking in even tones, but Nasim is said to have loudly complained about lack of support from the government and the Army headquarters.

After this assignment, Akbar Khan was sent to command the Kohat Brigade.

The Kashmir War ended in a ceasefire on 1 January 1949. It is said that Nasim and Akbar Khan entertained lavishly in Kohat, inviting other military officers, and discussing world politics and government inefficiency. Akbar Khan is said to have openly canvassed for a military dictatorship.

Syed Ali Hamid, [https://thefridaytimes.com/15-Jan-2021/general-tariq-and-the-rawalpindi-conspiracy-case-iii ‘General Tariq’ and the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case - III], The Friday Times, 15 January 2021.

Nasim brought to the table her leftist and communist contacts, including Faiz Ahmad Faiz, who was said to be close a friend.{{sfnp|Asdar Ali, Communism in Pakistan|2015a|p=133}} The government was on to them before long, and a special Deputy Inspector General of police was assigned specifically to investigate the interactions between Faiz and Nasim.{{sfnp|Asdar Ali, Communism in Pakistan|2015|p=180}}

By 1951, Akbar Khan was promoted to Major General, and appointed as the Chief of General Staff. It is said that the new commander-in-chief, General Ayub Khan, kept him in the General Headquarters in order to monitor his activities.{{sfnp|Asdar Ali, Communism in Pakistan|2015|loc=p. 278, note 50}} Between 9 and 10 March, Nasim and Akbar Khan, Faiz and several other army officers deemed to have been part of the conspiracy were arrested.{{sfnp|Asdar Ali, Communism in Pakistan|2015|p=180}} A Special Tribunal conducted trials for what came to be known as the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case, and delivered a verdict in January 1953. Nasim Akbar Khan was acquitted but Akbar Khan received a twelve-year prison sentence.{{sfnp|Asdar Ali, Communism in Pakistan|2015|p=180}}

Akbar Khan and Nasim were divorced in 1959. Afterwards, Nasim took "Jahan" as her last name.

Nasim Jahan was a founding member of the Pakistan People's Party, founded by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1967. During the 1970 general election, she motivated and mobilised Punjabi women, especially from Lahore, in democratic participation.{{sfnp|Awan, Political Discourse and Socio-Cultural Placement of Pakistani Women|2016|p=216}} She was elected to the National Assembly from a reserved constituency for women. She was selected by Bhutto, along with Begum Ashraf Abbasi, for the Constitution Committee, to formulate a new constitution for Pakistan. She fought for retaining the principle of female suffrage for the reserved women's seats, but was unsuccessful in carrying it through the National Assembly.{{sfnp|Shami, Political Empowerment of Women in Pakistan|2009|pp=144–145}} But the constitution ensured some social and political rights to women through articles 25, 32, 34, 35 and 2238.{{sfnp|Awan, Political Discourse and Socio-Cultural Placement of Pakistani Women|2016|p=216}}

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{{reflist|30em}}

• {{citation |last=Asdar Ali |first=Kamran |title=Communism in Pakistan: Politics and Class Activism 1947-1982 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Kc7DwAAQBAJ |year=2015 |publisher=I.B.Tauris |isbn=978-0-85773-995-7 |ref={{sfnref|Asdar Ali, Communism in Pakistan|2015}}}}
• {{citation |last=Asdar Ali |first=Kamran |title=Communism in Pakistan: Politics and Class Activism 1947-1982 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e7eKDwAAQBAJ |year=2015a |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=9780857726759 |ref={{sfnref|Asdar Ali, Communism in Pakistan|2015a}}}}
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• {{citation |last=Zaheer |first=Hasan |title=The Times and Trial of the Rawalpindi Conspiracy, 1951: The First Coup Attempt in Pakistan |year=2007 |publisher=Sang-e-Meel Publishers |orig-date=first published by Oxford University Press Pakistan in 1998 |isbn=978-969-35-1992-1 |ref={{sfnref|Zaheer, Rawalpindi Conspiracy|2007}}}}

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Category:20th-century Pakistani women politicians

Category:Mian family

Category:People of the 1947 Kashmir conflict

Category:Members of the National Assembly of Pakistan

Category:Activists from Lahore