The late Khan Bahadur Ghulam Faruque Khan (1899–1992) was a politician and industrialist of Pakistan. He belonged to the village Shaidu in Nowshera District, Nowshera is the home of the famous Pashtun Tribe the Khattaks of the NWFP Province in Pakistan. Because of his contribution to Pakistan's Industrial development he is sometimes described as "The Goliath who Industrialized Pakistan". Before the partition of India, he was the General Manager of the East Indian Railways from 1945-1947. During Partition he distinguished himself in negotiating with the Indians over the division of assets. At the time of independence in 1947, when Pakistan had no industrial base, Ghulam Faruque set up the Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC), which used to set up industries with government money and then subsequently handed them over to the private sector. This was a highly successful venture which was vital to the establishment of the military, defence and manufacturing industries in Pakistan, including the establishment of the Pakistan Ordinance Factories, of which he was later chairman. Up until 1960 there was not much electricity in Pakistan, Ghulam Faruque was again entrusted the task and set up the 'Water and Power Development Authority', which realized the potential of Pakistans tremendous waterpower resources and built a number of large hydro-electric dams around the country. He was also responsible for the implementation of the Indus Water Treaty. He later held government posts, such as Governor of East Pakistan (1962); Federal Minister for Commerce and Defence Advisor (1965-67); Chairman Investment Corporation of Pakistan; Secretary, Ministry of Industries; NWFP Provincial Minister for Finance, Planning and Development. He also held Posts in the National Assembly, Federal Council and Senate. Ghulam Faruque ran his own businesses alongside his responsibilities in the government. He founded the 'Ghulam Faruque Group' in 1947, which has diversified interests in Cement, Sugar, Construction, Engineering and Shipping and ranks amongst the most prominent commercial and industrial houses in Pakistan and is recognised for its entrepreneurial skills and valuable contribution to the economy. The group is now managed by his family. He was awarded the following honors for his services:
- Officer of the Order of the British Empire, 1944
- Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire, 1946
- Commander of the Order of Merit, Spain, 1956
- Hilal-e-Pakistan, 1958
Ghulam Faruque Group
Subsidiary companies
- Cherat Cement Company Ltd.
- Cherat Papersack Ltd.
- Cherat Electric Ltd.
- Mirpurkhas Sugar Mills Ltd.
- Faruque (pvt) Ltd
- Greaves Air-Conditioning(pvt) Ltd
- Greaves Engineering Services(pvt) Ltd
- Unicol Ltd.- A JV Company
- Madian Hydro Power Ltd. - A JV Company
- Zensoft (pvt) Ltd.
