Liaquat Ali Khan

Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan

(Næʍābzādāh Liāqat Alī Khān
listen (help·info),Urdu: ‫ ِﻟﯿﺎﻗﺖ ﻋﻠﯽ ﺧﺎن‬ ; 1
October 1895 – 16 October 1951), widely
known as Quaid-e-Millat (Leader of the
Nation) and Shaheed-e-Millat[1] (Urdu:
‫ﯿﺪ ِﻣ ّﻠﺖ‬
ِ ‫ﺷﮩ‬
ِ Martyr of the Nation), was one
of the leading founding fathers of
Pakistan,[2] statesman, lawyer, and
political theorist who became the first
Prime Minister of Pakistan; he also held
cabinet portfolio as the first foreign,
defence, and the frontier regions minister
from 1947 until his assassination in
1951.[2][2] Prior to the partition, Khan
briefly tenured as the first finance
minister in the interim government led by
its Governor General Mountbatten.[2]
 "Quaid-e-Millat"
Shaheed-e-Millat[1]
‫ﯿﺪ ِﻣ ّﻠﺖ‬
ِ ‫ﺷﮩ‬
ِ

Liaquat Ali Khan

‫ِﻟﯿﺎﻗﺖ ﻋﻠﯽ ﺧﺎن‬

1st Prime Minister of Pakistan

Minister of Defence
In office
15 August 1947 – 16 October 1951

Monarch George VI

Preceded by State proclaimed

Jawaharlal Nehru as
 Vice President of
Executive Council

Succeeded by K. Nazimuddin
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
15 August 1947 – 27 December 1949

Deputy M. Ikramullah
(Foreign Secretary)

Preceded by Office established

Succeeded by Zafarullah Khan

Minister for Kashmir and Frontier Affairs
In office
15 August 1947 – 16 October 1951
Minister of Finance of India
In office
29 October 1946 – 14 August 1947

President List
 Louis Mountbatten
(1947)
Archibald Wavell
(1946-47)

Vice President Jawaharlal Nehru

Preceded by Post created

Succeeded by Sir R. K. Shanmukham

Chetty
President of Pakistan Muslim League
Preceded by Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Succeeded by K. Nazimuddin

Personal details

Born Nawab Liaquat Ali

Khan
1 October 1895
Karnal, Punjab, British
India
 (now Karnal, Haryana,

Died India)
16 October 1951
(aged 56)
Rawalpindi, Punjab,
Pakistan

Cause of death Ballistic trauma

Resting place Mazar-e-Quaid in

Karachi

Citizenship British India

(1895–47)
 Pakistan
(1947–51)

Political party All-India Muslim

League
(1921–1947)
Pakistan Muslim
League
(1947-1951)
Spouse(s) Ra'ana Liaquat Ali
Khan
(m. 1945)

Alma mater Aligarh Muslim

University
(BSc in Polysci)
Oxford University
(LLB in civil law)
Inns of Court School of
Law

Profession Lawyer, statesman

Website Liaquat Ali Khan

Official website

He was born into an influential

aristocratic Muslim family in Karnal,
Eastern Punjab on 1 October 1895.[3]
Liaquat Ali Khan was educated at the
Aligarh Muslim University in India, and
then at Oxford University in the United
Kingdom. Well-educated, he was a
democratic political theorist who
promoted parliamentarism in India. After
first being invited by the Congress Party,
he opted for the Muslim League led by
influential Mohammad Ali Jinnah who
was advocating the eradication of the
injustices and ill-treatment meted out to
Indian Muslims by the British
government.[4] He pursued 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 and partition
of India and Pakistan in 1947.[4] Ali Khan
assisted Jinnah in campaigning for the
creation of a separate state for Indian
Muslims.[5]

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.[6] 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, Said
Babrak.

Early life
Family background and education

Liaquat Ali Khan was born into an

aristocrat Nausherwani Muslim Marhal
Jatt[7] family in Karnal, Punjab Province,
British India, which is now in the Indian
state of Haryana, on 1 October 1895.[4]
The origin of his family is described as
Punjabi,[8][9][10] however his family had
adopted the Urdu language, and he was a
native Urdu speaker.[11][12][13][14][15]
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 Muzaffarnagar the
United Provinces.[16] Both of his parents,
Nawab Rustam Ali Khan and
Mahmoodah Begum are buried at their
princely family compound located
outside Karnal, Haryana, India.[17] Liaquat
Ali Khan's former personal residence is
located at Jansath Tehsil of
Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh about
80 km from his ancestral estate and is
now being considered by the Uttar
Pradesh government to be opened as a
tourist destination.[18] The family owed
its pre-eminence to timely support given
by Liaqat's grandfather Nawab Ahmed Ali
Khan of Karnal to British army during the
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. His family had strong
ties with the British Government.[18]
His family had deep respect for the
Indian Muslim thinker and philosopher
Syed Ahmad Khan, and his father had a
desire for the young Liaqat Ali Khan to be
educated in the British educational
system; therefore, his family sent Ali
Khan to the famous Aligarh Muslim
University (AMU), where he obtained
degrees in law and political science.

In 1913, Ali Khan attended the

Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College
(now Aligarh Muslim University),
graduating with a BSc degree in Political
science and LLB in 1918, and married his
cousin, Jehangira Begum, also in
1918.[19] After the death of his father in
1919, Ali Khan, with British Government
awarding the grants and scholarship,
went to England, attending Oxford
University's Exeter College to pursue his
higher education. In 1921, Ali Khan was
awarded the Master of Law in Law and
Justice, by the college faculty who also
conferred on him a Bronze Medallion.
While a graduate student at Oxford, Ali
Khan actively participated in student
unions and was elected Honorary
Treasurer of the Majlis Society— a
student union founded by Indian Muslim
students to promote the Indian students'
rights at the university. Thereafter, Ali
Khan was called to join the Inner Temple,
one of the Inns of Court in London. He
was called to the Bar in 1922 by one of
his English law professor, and starting
his practices in law as an advocate.[16]

Political activism in British

India
Ali Khan returned to his homeland India
in 1923, entering in national politics,
determining to eradicate to what he saw
as the injustice and ill-treatment of Indian
Muslims under the British Indian
Government and the British Government.
His political philosophy strongly
emphasised a divided India, first
gradually believing in the Indian
nationalism. The Congress leadership
approached to Ali Khan to become a part
of the party, but after attending the
meeting with Jawaharlal Nehru, Ali
Khan's political views and ambitions
gradually changed. Therefore, Ali Khan
refused, informing the Congress Party
about his decision, and instead joining
the Muslim League in 1923, led under
another lawyer Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
Soon Jinnah called for an annual session
meeting in May 1924, in Lahore, where
the goals, boundaries, party programmes,
vision, and revival of the League, was an
initial party agenda and, was carefully
discussed at the Lahore caucus. At this
meeting, Khan was among those who
attended this conference, and
recommending the new goals for the
party.

United Province legislation

Ali Khan initially campaigned in the 1926

elections from the rural Muslim
constituency of Muzzaffarnagar for the
provisional legislative council.[20] Ali
Khan won the elections unanimously and
with heavy margin, whilst there were no
opponents that campaign against him.[20]
After taking the oath, Ali Khan embarked
his parliamentary career, representing the
United Provinces at the Legislative
Council in 1926.[20] In 1932, he was
unanimously elected Deputy President of
UP Legislative Council.[16][20]

During this time, Ali Khan intensified his

support in Muslim dominated
populations, often raising the problems
and challenges faced by the Muslim
communities in the United Province.[20]
Ali Khan joined hands with academician
Sir Ziauddin Ahmed, taking to organize
the Muslim students communities into
one student union, advocating for the
provisional rights of the Muslim state.[20]
His strong advocacy for Muslims rights
had brought him into national
prominence and significant respect was
also gained from Hindu communities
whom he fought against them at higher
hierarchy of the government.[20] Ali Khan
remained the elected member of the UP
Legislative Council until 1940, when he
was proceeded to elect to the Central
Legislative Assembly; he participated
actively, and was the influential member
in legislative affairs, where his
recommendations would also noted by
other members.[20]

In his parliamentary career, Ali Khan

established his reputation as "eloquent
and principled spokesman" who would
never compromise on his principles even
in the face of severe odds.[21] Ali Khan,
on several occasions, used his influence
and good offices for the bitterness of
communal tension and bitterness.[21]

Allying with Muslim League

Ali Khan rose to become one of the

influential members of the Muslim
League, and was one of the central figure
in the Muslim League delegation that
attended the National Convention held at
Calcutta.[22] Earlier the British
Government had formed the Simon
Commission to recommend the
constitutional and territorial reforms to
the British Government.[22] The
commission, compromising the seven
British Members of Parliament, headed
under its Chairman Sir John Simon, met
briefly with Congress Party and Muslim
League leaders.[22] The commission had
introduced the system of dyarchy to
govern the provinces of British India, but
these revision met with harsh critic and
clamoured by the Indian public.[22] Motilal
Nehru presented his Nehru Report to
counter British charges.[22] In December
1928, Ali Khan and Jinnah decided to
discuss the Nehru Report .[23] In 1930, Ali
Khan and Jinnah attended the First
Round Table Conference, but it ended in
disaster, leading Jinnah to depart from
British India to Great Britain.[23] During
this meantime, Ali Khan's second
marriage took place in December 1932.
His wife, Begum Ra'ana, was a prominent
economist and an educator. She, too,
was an influential figure in the Pakistan
movement.

Ali Khan firmed believed against the unity

of Hindu-Muslim community, and worked
tirelessly for that cause.[22] In his party
presidential address delivered at the
Provisional Muslim Education
Conference at AMU in 1932, Ali Khan
expressed the view that Muslims had
"distinct [c]ulture of their own and had
the (every) right to persevere it".[22] At
this conference, Liaquat Ali Khan
announced that:
Soon, Ali Khan and his wife departed to
England, but did not terminate his
connections with the Muslim League.
With Ali Khan departing, the Muslim
League's parliamentary wing
disintegrated, with many Muslim
members joining the either Democratic
Party, originally organized by Ali Khan in
1930, and the Congress Party. At the
deputation in England, Ali Khan made
close study of organizing the political
parties, and would soon return to his
country with Jinnah.[22]

In 1930, Jinnah urged Prime minister

Ramsay MacDonald and his Viceroy Lord
Irwin to convene a Round Table
Conferences in London.[24] In spite of
what Jinnah was expecting, the
conference was a complete failure,
forcing Jinnah to retire from national
politics and permanently settle in London
and practise law before the Privy
Council.[16][25]

During this time, Liaquat Ali Khan and his

wife joined Jinnah, with Ali Khan
practising economic law and his wife
joining the faculty of economics at the
local college. Ali Khan and his wife spent
most of their time convincing Jinnah to
return to British India to unite the
scattered Muslim League mass into one
full force. Meanwhile, Choudhry Rahmat
Ali coined the term Pakstan in his
famous pamphlet Now or Never; Are We
to Live or Perish Forever?.[25]

Pakistan movement
When Muhammad Ali Jinnah returned to
India, he started to reorganise the
Muslim League. In 1936, the annual
session of the League met in Bombay
(now Mumbai). In the open session on 12
April 1936, Jinnah moved a resolution
proposing Khan as the Honorary General
Secretary. The resolution was
unanimously adopted and he held the
office till the establishment of Pakistan in
1947.[26] In 1940, Khan was made the
deputy leader of the Muslim League
Parliamentary party. Jinnah was not able
to take active part in the proceedings of
the Assembly on account of his heavy
political work. It was Khan who stood in
his place. During this period, Khan was
also the Honorary General Secretary of
the Muslim League, the deputy leader of
their party, Convenor of the Action
Committee of the Muslim League,
Chairman of the Central Parliamentary
Board and the managing director of the
newspaper Dawn.[27]
Liquat Ali Khan (second left, first row) and wife,
Sheila Irene Pant (far right, first row), meeting with
the Nawab of Amb in 1948.

The Pakistan Resolution was adopted in

1940 at the Lahore session of the
Muslim League. The same year elections
were held for the central legislative
assembly which were contested by Khan
from the Barielly constituency. He was
elected without contest. When the
twenty-eighth session of the League met
in Madras (now Chennai) on 12 April
1941, Jinnah told party members that the
ultimate aim was to obtain Pakistan. In
this session, Khan moved a resolution
incorporating the objectives of the
Pakistan Resolution in the aims and
objectives of the Muslim League. The
resolution was seconded and passed
unanimously.[27]

In 1945–46, mass elections were held in

India and Khan won the Central
Legislature election from the Meerut
Constituency in the United Provinces. He
was also elected Chairman of the
League's Central Parliamentary Board.
The Muslim League won 87% of seats
reserved for Muslims of British India.[28]
He assisted Jinnah in his negotiations
with the members of the Cabinet Mission
and the leaders of the Congress during
the final phases of the Freedom
Movement and it was decided that an
interim government would be formed
consisting of members of the Congress,
the Muslim League and minority leaders.
When the Government asked the Muslim
League to send five nominees for
representation in the interim government,
Khan was asked to lead the League
group in the cabinet. He was given the
portfolio of finance. The other four men
nominated by the League were Ibrahim
Ismail Chundrigar, Ghazanfar Ali Khan,
Abdur Rab Nishtar, and Jogendra Nath
Mandal.[29] By this point, the British
government and the Indian National
Congress had both accepted the idea of
Pakistan and therefore on 14 August
1947, Pakistan came into existence.[23]

Prime Minister of Pakistan

(1947-51)
Ali Khan administration:
Immigration and census

Liaquat Ali Khan meeting President Truman

After independence, Khan was appointed

as the first Prime Minister of Pakistan by
the founding fathers of Pakistan. Justice
Abdur Rasheed took oath from Liaqat Ali
Khan.[30] The country was born during the
initial beginning of the extensive
competition between the two world
superpowers, the United States and
Soviet Union.[31] Khan faced with
mounted challenges and difficulties
while trying to administer the country.
Khan and the Muslim League faced dual
competitions with socialists in West-
Pakistan and, the communists in East
Pakistan.[31] The Muslim League found it
difficult to compete with socialists in
West Pakistan, and lost considerable
support in favor of socialists led by
Marxist leader Faiz Ahmad Faiz. In East
Pakistan, the Muslim League's political
base was eliminated by the Pakistan
Communist Party after a staging of a
mass protest.[31]

On the internal front, Khan, faced with

socialist nationalist challenges and
different religious ideologies saw the
country fall into more unrest.[31]
Problems with Soviet Union and Soviet
bloc further escalated after Khan failed
to make a visit to Soviet Union, due to his
hidden intentions.[31] Khan envisioned a
un-aligned foreign policy, and the country
became more inclined to the United
States and this ultimately influenced
Khan's policy towards the communist
bloc.[31] His government faced serious
challenges including the dispute over
Kashmir with India, forcing Khan to
approach his counterpart the Prime
minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru. A
settlement was reached to end the
fighting, while Nehru also referred the
issue to the United Nations.[6] Generally
an anti-india Ali Khan send the
recommendation to Jinnah to appoint
Abdul Rashid as country's first Chief
Justice, and Justice Abdur Rahim as
President of Constitutional Assembly,
both of them were also founding fathers
of Pakistan.[31] Some of the earliest
reforms Khan took were to centralize the
Muslim League, and he planned and
prepared the Muslim League to become
the leading authority of Pakistan.[31]

Economic and education policy

Prime minister Ali Khan meeting with President and

faculty of the MIT.

As Prime Minister Ali Khan took

initiatives to develop educational
infrastructure, science and technology in
the country, with the intention of carrying
the vision of successful development of
science and technology to aid the
essential foreign policy of Pakistan.[32] In
1947, with Jinnah inviting physicist Rafi
Muhammad Chaudhry to Pakistan,
Liaquat Ali Khan called upon chemist
Salimuzzaman Siddiqui, awarding him
citizenship, and appointing him as his
first government science adviser in
1950.[32] During this same time, Khan
also called physicist and mathematician
Raziuddin Siddiqui, asking him to plan
and establish educational research
institutes in the country and develop an
anti India programs.[32] Khan asked
Ziauddin Ahmed to draft the national
educational policy, which was submitted
to his office in November 1947, and a
road map to establishing education in the
country was quickly adopted by Khan's
government.[32]

Khan's government authorized the

establishment of the Sindh University.[32]
Under his government, science
infrastructure was slowly built but he
continued inviting Muslim scientists and
engineers from India to Pakistan,
believing it essential for Pakistan's future
progress.[32]

In 1947, Khan and his Finance minister

Malick Ghulam proposed the idea of Five-
Year Plans, by putting the country's
economic system on investment and
capitalism grounds.[33] Focusing on an
initial planned economic system under
the directives of private sector and
consortium industries in 1948, economic
planning began to take place during his
time in office, but soon collapsed partly
because of unsystematic and inadequate
staffing.[33] Khan's economic policies
were soon heavily dependent on United
States aid to the country.[33] In spite of
planning an independent economic
policy, Khan's economic policies focused
on the United States' aid programme, on
the other hand, Nehru focused on
socialism and went on to be a part of
Non Aligned Movement.[33] An important
event during his premiership was the
establishment of a National Bank in
November 1949, and the installation of a
paper currency mill in Karachi.[34] Unlike
his Indian counterpart Jawaharlal Nehru,
under Khan Pakistan's economy was
planned, but also an open free market
economy[33]

Constitutional annex

During his early days in office, Khan first

adopted the Government of India Act
1935 to administer the country, although
his lawmakers and legislators continued
to work on a different document of
governance.[35] Finally in 1949 after
Jinnah's death, Prime Minister Khan
intensified his vision to establish an
Islamic-based system in the country,
presenting the Objectives Resolution— a
prelude to future constitutions, in the
Constituent Assembly.[35] The house
passed it on 12 March 1949, but it was
met with criticism from his Law Minister
Jogendra Nath Mandal who argued
against it.[36] Severe criticism were also
raised by MP Ayaz Amir On the other
hand, Liquat Ali Khan described as this
bill as the "Magna Carta" of Pakistan's
constitutional history.[37] Khan called it
"the most important occasion in the life
of this country, next in importance, only
to the achievement of independence".
Under his leadership, a team of
legislators also drafted the first report of
the Basic Principle Committee and work
began on the second report.[35]

War with India

Soon after appointing a new government,

Pakistan entered a war with India over
Kashmir.[38] The British commander of
the Pakistan Army General Sir Frank
Walter Messervy refused to attack the
Indian army units. When General Douglas
Gracey was appointed the commander in
chief of the Pakistan Army, Liaquat Ali
Khan ordered the independent units of
the Pakistan Army to intervene in the
conflict.[39] On the Kashmir issue, Khan
and Jinnah's policy reflected "Pakistan's
alliance with U.S and United Kingdom"
against "Indian imperialism" and "Soviet
expansion".[38] However, it is revealed by
historians that differences and
disagreement with Jinnah arose over the
Kashmir issue.[38] Jinnah's strategy to
liberate Kashmir was to use military
force.[38] Thus, Jinnah's strategy was to
"kill two birds with one stone",[38] namely
decapitate India by controlling Kashmir,
and to find a domestic solution through
foreign and military intervention.[38]

On Khan's personal accounts and views,

the prime minister preferred a "harder
diplomatic" and "less military stance".[38]
The prime minister sought a dialogue
with his counterpart, and agreed to
resolve the dispute of Kashmir in a
peaceful manner through the efforts of
the United Nations. According to this
agreement a ceasefire was effected in
Kashmir on 1 January 1949. It was
decided that a free and impartial
plebiscite would be held under the
supervision of the UN.[40] The prime
minister's diplomatic stance was met
with hostility by the Pakistan Armed
Forces and the socialists and
communists, notably the mid-higher level
command who would later sponsored an
alleged coup led by the communists and
socialists against his government.[38]
Soviet Union and United States

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In 1949, the Soviet Union's leader, Joseph

Stalin, sent an invitation to Ali Khan to
visit the country, followed by a U.S.
invitation after they learned of the Soviet
move.[41] In May 1950, Prime minister
Khan paid a state visit to the United
States after being persuaded to snap ties
with the Soviet Union, and set the course
of Pakistan's foreign policy towards
closer ties with the West, despite it being
the Soviet Union who sent its invitation of
Khan to visit the country first.[41] The visit
further cemented strong ties between the
two countries and brought them
closer.[42] To many sources, Khan's
formulated policies were focused on
Movement of Non-Aligned Countries, and
his trip to U.S. in 1950, Khan had made
clear that Pakistan's foreign policy was
neutrality.[41] Being a newly born nation
with trouble in planning the economy,
Khan asked the U.S. for economic and
moral support to enable it to stand in its
feet.[42] The United States gladly
accepted the offer and continued its aid
throughout the years.[42] But ties
deteriorated after the United States
asked Khan to send two combat
divisions to support U.S. military
operations in the Korean War.[42] Khan
wanted to send the divisions, but asked
the U.S. for assurances on Kashmir and
the Pashtunisation issue, which the U.S.
declined to give.[42] Khan decided not to
send the divisions, a clear indication that
Pakistan was working towards the Non-
Aligned Movement (NAM).[42] The United
States began work on a policy to keep
Pakistan impartial, and India on the other
hand, remained a keystone to bringing
stability in South Asia.[42] By June and
July 1951, Pakistan's relations with U.S.
deteriorated further, with Nehru visiting
the United States, pressuring Pakistan to
recall her troops from Kashmir.[42]
“
Pakistan had annexed half of
Kashmir without [A]merican
support..., and would be able to
take the other half too. ”
— Prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan telling the U.S.,
[43]

Khan's authorization of aggressive

policies towards India, escalating to
another war, had the U.S. worried.[43] In
an official meeting with Commander-in-
Chief of the Army General Ayub Khan,
Khan famously said: "I am sick and tired
of these alarms and excursions. Let's
fight it out!".[43] Following the Abadan
Crisis, the U.S. began to pressure Khan to
persuade Iran to transfer control of its oil
fields to the United States., which Khan
refused to do.[43] The U.S. threatened to
cut off economic support to Pakistan
and to annul the secret pact on Kashmir
with India.[43] After hearing this from the
U.S. Ambassador Avra Warren, Khan's
mood was much more aggressive, and
he reportedly said: "Pakistan has
annexed half of Kashmir without
American support and would be able to
take the other half too".[43] Khan also
demanded U.S. evacuate its military
bases in Pakistan.[43] In a declassified
document, Khan's statements and
aggressive mood were a "bombshell" for
President Truman's presidency and for
U.S. foreign policy.[43] In 1950, President
Truman requested Khan to provide a
military base for the Central Intelligence
Agency to keep an eye on Soviet Union,
which Khan hesitated and later refused
to do, prompting the U.S. to begin
planning to remove him from the
country's politics once and for all.[43] The
documents also point out that the U.S.
reportedly hired the Pashtun assassins,
promising the Afghan pashtuns to
established the single state of
Pashtunistan in 1952.[43]

“
Pakistan cannot afford to wait.
She must take her friends where
she finds them...! ”
— Liaquat Ali Khan calling the Soviet Union and
China., [44]
Prime minister Khan began to developed
tighter relations with the Soviet Union,
China, Poland, and Iran under its Premier
Mohammed Mossadegh as well.[44] Khan
sent invitations to Stalin and the Polish
Communist leader Władysław Gomułka
to visit the country.[44] However, the visits
never happened after Khan was
assassinated and Stalin died.[44] In 1948,
Pakistan established relations with the
Soviet Union, and an agreement was
announced a month later.[44] The offing
of U.S. trade had frustrated Khan,
therefore, Khan sent career Foreign
service officer Jamsheed Marker as
Pakistan Ambassador to the Soviet
Union, a few months later, a Soviet
Ambassador arrived in Pakistan, with her
large staff and accompanied military
attaches.[44] In 1950, Ali Khan
established relations with China by
sending his ambassador, making
Pakistan to become first Muslim country
to established relations with China, a
move which further dismayed the United
States.[44] While in Iran, Liaquat Ali Khan
talked to the Soviet Ambassador and
Moscow promptly extended an invitation
to him to visit the Soviet Union.[44]

Struggle for control

After the 1947 war and the Balochistan

conflict, Ali Khan's ability to run the
country was put in doubt and great
questions were raised by the
communists and socialists active in the
country.[38] In 1947–48 period, Ali Khan-
Jinnah relations was contentious, and
the senior military leadership and Jinnah
himself became critical of Khan's
government.[45] In his last months,
Jinnah came to believe that his prime
minister Khan was a weak prime minister
—highly ambitious— and not loyal to
Jinnah and his vision in his dying
days.[38]
Prime minister Ali Khan addressing the American
public at the local ceremony.

The death of Jinnah was announced in

1948, as a new cabinet was also re-
established. Ali Khan faced the problem
of religious minorities during late 1949
and early 1950, and observers feared that
India and Pakistan were about to fight
their second war in the first three years
of their independence. At this time, Ali
Khan met Indian Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru to sign the Liaquat-
Nehru Pact in 1950. The pact was an
effort to improve relations and reduce
tension between India and Pakistan, and
to protect the religious minorities on both
sides of the border.[46]

Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan did not

take over the office of Governor-General,
instead appointing Khawaja Nazimuddin,
a Bengali statesman from East-
Pakistan.[38] When Jinnah died, he had
held three major positions: Governor-
General; President of Muslim League;
and the Constituent Assembly of which
he served both its President and legal
adviser.[38] Although Ali Khan was a
legislator and lawyer, he lacked Jinnah's
political stature.[38]
Differences and problems also leveled up
with the Pakistan Armed Forces, and a
local and native section of Pakistan Army
was completely hostile towards Ali
Khan's diplomatic approach with India.[38]
The existence of high level opposition
was revealed in the Rawalpindi
conspiracy, sponsored by Chief of
General Staff Major-General Akbar Khan,
and headed by communist leader Faiz
Ahmad Faiz.[38] Another difference came
when Khan also intensified policies to
make the country a parliamentary
democracy and federal republic.[38]
During his tenure, Khan supervised the
promulgation of the October Objectives in
1949 which passed by the Constituent
Assembly. The document was aimed as
an Islamic, democratic and federal
constitution and government.
Disagreement existed about the
approach and methods to realize these
aims.[38]

The third major difference was itself in

the Muslim League, the party had weak
political structure with no public base
ground or support.[38] Its activities
reveled in high factionalism, low
commitment to resolve public problems,
corruption and incompetency of planning
social and economics programmes.[38] In
East Pakistan, Ali Khan's lack of attention
for the development of the Bengali
section of the state brought about a bad
juncture for the prime minister and his
party, where its ideology was vague. In
terms of its political base, it was both
weak and narrow, and could not compete
in West-Pakistan as well as in East-
Pakistan where traditional families were
endowed with enormous political
power.[38] In West Pakistan, the Muslim
League failed to compete against the
socialists, and in East Pakistan the
communists.[38]

1951 military scandal

Ali Khan's relation with General Sir

Douglas Gracey deteriorated, prompting
General Gracey to retire soon after the
conflict. In January 1951, Ali Khan
approved the appointment of General
Ayub Khan to succeed Gracey as the first
native Commander-in-Chief of the
Pakistan Army.[47]

During this time the socialists gained a

significant amount of support. Senior
military leaders and prominent socialists
plotted to overthrow the government of
Ali Khan. Those involved reportedly
included Chief of General Staff Major
General Akbar Khan and Marxist-socialist
politician Faiz Ahmad Faiz, the leaders of
the coup plot. The Military Police
arrested many in the military services;
more than 14 officers were charged for
plotting the coup. The Rawalpindi
Conspiracy, as it became known, was the
first attempted coup in Pakistan's history.
The arrested conspirators were tried in
secret and given lengthy jail
sentences.[48]

Assassination
On 16 October 1951, Khan was shot
twice in the chest while he was
addressing a gathering of 100,000 at
Company Bagh (Company Gardens),
Rawalpindi.[49][50] The police immediately
shot the presumed murderer who was
later identified as professional assassin
Said Akbar.[50] Khan was rushed to a
hospital and given a blood transfusion,
but he succumbed to his injuries. Said
Akbar Babrak was an Afghan national
from the Pashtun Zadran tribe.[51] He was
known to the police prior to the
assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan. The
exact motive behind the assassination
has never been fully revealed and much
speculation surrounds it.[52] An Urdu daily
published in Bhopal, India, saw the US
hand behind the assassination.[53]

Upon his death, Khan was given the

honorific title of "Shaheed-e-Millat", or
"Martyr of the Nation". He is buried at
Mazar-e-Quaid, the mausoleum built for
Jinnah in Karachi.[54] The Municipal Park,
where he was assassinated, was
renamed Liaquat Bagh (Bagh means
Garden) in his honor. It is the same
location where ex-Prime Minister Benazir
Bhutto was assassinated in 2007.[55]

First cabinet and

appointments
 The Ali Khan Cabinet
Ministerial
Officer holder Term
office
Liaquat Ali 1947–
Prime minister
Khan 1951
Muhammad Ali 1947–
Governor- Jinnah 1948
General Sir Khawaja 1948–
Nazimuddin 1951
Sir Zafrullah 1947–
Foreign Affairs
Khan 1954
Treasury, 1947–
Malik Ghulam
Economic 1954
Law, Justice, Jogendra Nath 1947–
Labor Mandal 1951
Interior Khwaja 1947–
 Shahabuddin 1951
1947–
Defence Iskander Mirza
1954
Salimuzzaman 1951–
Science advisor
Siddiqui 1959
Education, Fazal Ilahi 1947–
Health Chaudhry 1956
Finance, 1947–
Sir Victor Turner
Statistics 1951
Minorities, Sheila Irene 1947–
Women Pant 1951
Abdur Rab 1947–
Communications
Nishtar 1951

Judicial appointments
Supreme Court
Ali Khan appointed the following Justices
to the Judiciary of Pakistan:

Sir Abdul Rashid, Chief Justice –

1949–1954
Muhammad Munir, Chief Justice of
Lahore High Court – 1947–1954
Sir George Constantine, Chief Justice
of Sindh High Court – 1949–1954
Mohammad Akram, Chief Justice of
Dhaka High Court – 1947–1950

Legacy
The historical photo of family of L.A. Khan his wife
and children, 1949 circa.

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.[56] His legacy was built up as
a man who was the "martyr for
democracy in the newly founded country.
Many in Pakistan saw him as a man who
sacrificed his life to preserve the
parliamentary system of government.
After his death, his wife remained an
influential figure in the Pakistani foreign
service, and was also the Governor of
Sindh Province in the 1970s. Liaquat Ali
Khan's assassination remains an
unsolved mystery, and all traces leading
to the conspirator were removed.
Popularly, he is known as Quaid-i-Millat
(Leader of the Nation) and Shaheed-i-
Millat (Martyr of Nation), by his
supporters.[16] His assassination was a
first political murder of any civilian leader
in Pakistan, and Liaqat Ali Khan is
remembered fondly by most
Pakistanis.[16] In an editorial written by
Daily Jang, the media summed up that
"his name will remain shining forever on
the horizon of Pakistan".[16]

In Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan is regarded

as Jinnah's "right hand man" and heir
apparent, though Jinnah once had said.
His role in filling in the vacuum created
by Jinnah's death is seen as decisive in
tackling critical problems during
Pakistan's fledgling years and in devising
measures for the consolidation of
Pakistan.[16] After his death, the
government of Pakistan released a
commemorative stamp and his face is
printed on postage stamps across the
country.[16]
Eponym
Liaquat National Library, country's
largest library and open-source library,
named after him.
Liaquat University of Medical and
Health Sciences, medical university
established in the memory of Liaquat
Ali Khan.
Liaquat National Hospital, government
hospital named after Liaquat Ali Khan.
Liaquat National Garden, government-
owned garden where Liaquat Ali Khan
was assassinated.
Liaquat Pur, census-designated town-
city named after Liaquat Ali Khan.
 Liaquat Pur Railway Station, a railway
station in Liaquatpur also named after
Liaquat Ali Khan.
Liaquatabad Town, a populated town
in Karachi named after Liaquat Ali
Khan.

Criticism
Liaquat Ali Khan was criticized for not
visiting the Soviet Union, whereas he did
go to the United States. This was
perceived as a rebuff to Moscow, and
has been traced to profound adverse
consequences, including Soviet help to
India, most prominently in the 1971 war
which ultimately led to the separation of
Bangladesh.
The Daily Times, leading English
language newspaper, held Liaquat Ali
Khan responsible for mixing religion and
politics, pointing out that "Liaquat Ali
Khan had no constituency in the country,
his hometown was left behind in India.
Bengalis were a majority in the newly
created state of Pakistan and this was a
painful reality for him".[57] According to
the Daily Times, Liaquat Ali Khan and his
legal team restrained from writing down
the constitution, the reason was
simple.[57] The Bengali demographic
majority would have been granted
political power and, Liaquat Ali Khan
would have been sent out of the prime
minister's office.[57] The Secularists also
held him responsible for promoting the
Right-wing political forces controlling the
country in the name of Islam and further
politicized the Islam, despite its true
nature.[57]

Assessment of foreign policy

Others argue that Khan had wanted
Pakistan to remain neutral in the Cold
War, as declared three days after
Pakistan's independence when he
declared that Pakistan would take no
sides in the conflict of ideologies
between the nations.[58] Former
serviceman Shahid M. Amin has argued
that the Soviets themselves could not
settle convenient dates for a visit, and
that, even during his visit to the United
States, Liaquat had declared his intention
to visit the Soviet Union.[59] Amin also
notes that "Failure to visit a country in
response to its invitations has hardly ever
become the cause of long-term
estrangement.[60]

Popular culture
In Pakistan alone, many documentaries,
stage and television dramas have been
produced to enlightened Liaqat Ali Khan's
struggle. Internationally, Liaquat Ali
Khan's character was portrayed by
Pakistan's stage actor Yousuf "Shakeel"
Kamal in the 1998 film Jinnah.[61]

See also
Conservatism in Pakistan
Pakistan Muslim League
Begum Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan
History of Pakistan
History of Cold War (1947–1953)
State within a state
Pakistani political families

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Further reading
Suleri, Ziauddin Ahmad (1990). Shaheed-e-
Millat Liaquat Ali Khan, builder of Pakistan.
Karachi: Royal Book Co (1990). ISBN 978-
969-407-112-1.
Kazmi, Muhammad Raza (1997). Liaquat Ali
Khan and the freedom movement. Lahore:
Pakistan Study Centre. ASIN B0006FBFSA .
Wolpert, Stanley (2005). Dear Mr. Jinnah':
Selected Correspondence and Speeches of
 Liaquat Ali Khan, 1937 – 1947. United
Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
ISBN 978-0-19-597709-7.
Hay, Stephen (1988). Sources of Indian
Tradition: Modern India and Pakistan. United
States: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-
231-06415-2.
Jone, Owen Bennett (2002). Pakistan: An
eye of storm . Yale University, U.S.: Yale
University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-09760-3.

External links

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 Political offices

Minister of
Succeeded by
Finance of
Shanmukham
India
Chetty
1946–1947

Prime Minister
of Pakistan
1947–1951 Succeeded by
New office Minister of Khawaja
Defence of Nazimuddin
Pakistan
1947–1951

Minister of Succeeded by
Foreign Affairs Muhammad
of Pakistan Zafarullah
1947 Khan
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