She believed in strong family ties and made special efforts to lend support to her near and dear ones whenever they needed her.

Her household chemistry was so well-balanced that her mother and mother-in-law lived with her, under the same roof, in perfect harmony. Salma Khan was a good wife (to her extremely supportive husband, Habibullah Khan), a loving mother, a dutiful daughter, a loyal friend, a doting grandmother, and also an excellent professional.

Real emancipation of a woman lies in forging her own path professionally, socially, and in her personal life. Recently, while a few of us were in the middle of a discussion on how to be a 'real woman,' a female friend commented, 'I am so confused trying to decide whether to be a Betty Crocker and bake cakes or a Virginia Woolf and work toward women's emancipation.' Although the remark was made flippantly, I immediately thought of my aunt Salma, for she was the first woman who taught me that there was no need to make these choices. My narrative about Situ would remain incomplete if I did not write about the woman she was. As the ambassador to Indonesia, Salma Khan demonstrated to the international community that women in Bangladesh could rise to the highest levels, not only in politics, but also in the government sector.

Having worked in the CEDAW Committee for over 12 years, she left her mark in the UN human rights system. She distinguished herself as the first Asian chairperson of the UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). She became the founder chairperson of NGO Coalition on Beijing Process (NCBP), a network of 624 NGOs working towards the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action. Her attributes were recognised at international forums. Apart from exceptional courage, her greatest quality was that she did her homework and articulated her viewpoints forcefully and persuasively. She was always unafraid to act I closely observed her in meetings where she took on a horde of men resisting her ideas. As a member of the Planning Commission, she was instrumental in mainstreaming gender issues in the macro framework of the country's Five-Year Plans.

Mind without fear book