Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan October 1895 – 16 October 1951), often simply referred as Liaquat, was one of the leading Founding Fathers[1] of modern Pakistan, statesman, lawyer, and political theorist who became and served as the first Prime Minister of Pakistan; in addition, he was also the first Defence minister, the first Finance Minister of India, and the minister of Commonwealth and Kashmir Affairs from 1947 until his assassination in 1951.[1][1]
Born in Sherwani tribe and hail from Karnal, East Punjab, Ali Khan was educated at the Aligarh Muslim University in India, and then the Oxford University in the United Kingdom.[2] Well educated, he was an Islamic democracy political theorist who promoted the parliamentarism in India. After being invited by the Congress Party, he opted for the Muslim League led by influential Mohammad Ali Jinnah who was advocating and determining to eradicate the injustices and ill treatment meted out to the Indian Muslims by the British government.[2][3] He pushed his role in the independence movements of India and Pakistan, while serving as the first Finance minister in the interim government of British Indian Empire, prior to the independence of Pakistan in 1947.[3] Ali Khan assisted Jinnah in campaigning for the creation of a separate state for Indian Muslims.[4]
Ali Khan's credentials secured him the appointment of Pakistan's
first Prime Minister, Ali Khan's foreign policy sided with the United
States and the West, though his foreign policy was determined to be a part of the Non-Aligned Movement.[5] Facing internal political unrest, his government survived a coup hatched by the leftists and communists. Nonetheless, his influence grew further after Jinnah's death, and he was responsible for promulgating the Objectives Resolution. In 1951, at a political rally in Rawalpindi, Ali Khan was assassinated by a hired assassin, Sa'ad Babrak.[2][5]He is Pakistan's longest serving Prime Minister spending 1,524 days
in power, a record which has stood for 63 years to the present [
Family background
Liaquat Ali Khan was born into a Punjabi Muslim Nawáb (lit. Noble) Marhal family in Karnal,[7] Eastern Punjab of India, on 1 October 1895.[8] His father, Nawab Rustam Ali Khan, possessed the titles of Rukun-al-Daulah, Shamsher Jang and Nawab Bahadur, by the local population and the British Government
who had wide respect for his family. The Ali Khan family was one of the
few landlords whose property (300 villages in total including the jagir
of 60 villages in Karnal) expanded across both eastern Punjab and the United Provinces.
[9]
The family owned pre-eminence to timely support given by Liaqat's
grandfather Nawab Ahmed Ali Khan of Karnal to British army during 1857
rebellion.(source-Lepel Griffin's Punjab Chiefs Volume One).Liaquat Ali
Khan's mother, Mahmoodah Begum, arranged for his lessons in the Qur'an and Ahadith at home before his formal schooling started.[10]
His family had strong ties with the British Government, and the senior
British government officers were usually visited at his big and wide
mansion at their time of visit.[10]
His family had deep respect for the Indian Muslim thinker and philosopher Syed Ahmad Khan,
and his father had strong views and desires for young Liaqat Ali Khan
to educated in the British educational system; therefore, his family
admitted Ali Khan to famous Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) to study law and political science. Ali Khan was sent to Aligarh to attend the AMU where he would obtained degrees in law and political science.
In 1913, Ali Khan attended the Muhammedan Anglo-Oriental College (now Aligarh Muslim University), graduating with a BSc in Political science and LLB in 1918, and married his cousin, Jehangira Begum, also in 1918.[11]
After the death of his father in 1919, Ali Khan, with British
Government awarding the grants and scholarship, went to England,
attending the Oxford University's Exeter College to pursue his higher education.[10] In 1921, Ali Khan was awarded the Master of Law in Law and Justice, by the college faculty who also conferred him with a Bronze Medallion.[10]
While a graduate student at Oxford, Ali Khan took active participation
in student unions and was an elected Honorary Treasurer of the Majlis Society— a student union founded by Indian Muslim students to promote the Indian students rights at the university.[10] Thereafter, Ali Khan was called to joined the Inner Temple, one of the Inns of Court in London.[10] He was called to the Bar in 1922 by one of his English law professor, and starting his practices in law as an advocate.[9]
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