KARACHI, July 12: Begum Almas Haroon, Chief Executive of Pakistan Herald Ltd and wife of former Sindh governor Mahmoud A. Haroon, daughter-in-law of Haji Abdullah Haroon and sister-in-law of Mr Yousuf A. Haroon, died in Karachi on Tuesday morning. She was 83.
She was hospitalized for renal complications and a lung infection.
She was laid to rest at the Gizri graveyard, Defence Housing Society. The funeral prayers were offered at her residence, Haroon Villa, 12-G, Block 9, Clifton. ‘Dua’ will be held there on Wednesday (today) at 6:30pm between Asr and Maghrib.
Besides her husband, Mr Mahmoud Haroon, Begum Almas is survived by her daughter Amber Saigol and sister Maimoona.
Begum Almas was born in Ludhiana on Sept 22, 1922 where her father, Khawaja Abdul Ghani, was a landowner. Her maternal grandfather, Khawaja Ahad, was a member of the Viceroy’s Legislative Council and founder-publisher of the English language newspaper The Observer.
Begum Almas had two brothers — Khawaja Abdul Majeed and Khawaja A. Rahman — and four sisters, Maimoona, Marium, Zehra and Khadija. Khawaja Abdul Majeed died in 1993. Khawaja Rahman, a former chief executive officer of Pakistan Herald Publications (Pvt) Limited, publishers of the DAWN Group of Newspapers, died in November 1998.
The Quaid-i-Azam, Mr Liaquat Ali Khan, Nawab Mushtaq Gurmani, Mr Ehsanul Haq and Mian Aminuddin were witnesses at Almas Haroon’s ‘nikah’ which was solemnized on July 17, 1946.
Begum Almas got her early education at Ludhiana and Simla and later at the Lahore College for Women.
At independence, she worked at the Walton camp in Lahore where refugees were pouring in from India. In particular, she helped with the adoption of children who were orphaned or had lost parents.
She remained associated with the St John’s Ambulance Brigade and other social welfare activities.
Begum Almas’s other main interest was horticulture, and she personally looked after the garden of her house.
Begum Almas Haroon was by nature a simple and modest person who devoted all her time to looking after her family and coping with a politically-charged household.
