17 Facts about Liaquat Ali khan for the Beginner

(Last Updated On: April 16, 2021)

Quaid-e-Millat, meaning Leader of the Nation, and Shaheed-e-Millat, meaning Martyr of the Nation are perfectly applicable to Liaquat Ali Khan who had many remarkable contributions as one of the revolutionary founders of Pakistan. He was a lawyer by profession.

The dreamer of modern Pakistan as well as the first Prime Minister, as well as the first Defense Minister of the country, Mr. Khan had also the cabinet portfolio as the first foreign, defense, as well as the frontier regions minister from 1947 till he was assassinated in 1951.

Biography of Liaquat Ali khan

In this article, I am going to share 17 interesting facts about Liaquat Ali Khan.

1. Birth

Born as the son of a wealthy British landowner in British India, on Monday, October 8, 1900, Liaquat Ali Khan came out of a wealthy family of zamindars in Karnal, East Punjab, British India.

2. Parents

His father Nawab Rustam Ali Khan was highly respected by the British Government and his mother Mahmudah Begum was a religious woman.

3. Education

His family wanted the young Liaquat to be educated according to the British system and to study law and political science at the famed Mohammad Anglo Anglo-Oriental College (now Aligarh Muslim University). He graduated with a BSc and LLB in Political Science on the 5th.

He studied law and political science at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) before moving to England to study at Exeter College, Oxford University.

4. Meritorious

He received scholarships and grants from the British Government that enabled him to study at Exeter College, Oxford University, England for higher education. Khan was awarded the Master of Law and Judiciary in 1208. In 1222 he was called to the bar.

5. Personal life and legacy

Liaquat Ali Khan married his cousin Jahangira Begum. He was married for the second time, Begum Rayana, was a prominent economist and educator who played an influential role in the Pakistan movement. From these marriages, he had three sons.

6. Beginning of Politics

As per the biography of Liaquat Ali Khan, he returned to India in 5 and soon entered national politics.

He wanted to work towards the elimination of this discrimination by observing the injustice and mistreatment of Indian Muslims under the British. He was also a firm believer in Hindu-Muslim unity.

Upon his return to India after completing his education, he became active in national politics and joined the All India Muslim League.

An avid talker, he often spoke about the problems and challenges he faced in the Muslim community that earned him many Muslim supporters.

7. Philosophies

He was a firm believer in the unity of the Hindu-Muslim community. After the partition of India, Pakistan became an independent nation, and Khan was appointed the first Prime Minister of Pakistan.

He took up this significant position at a critical time, yet he did his best to bring about positive political, social, and structural change in the nation.

8. Party inclination

He was approached by the Congress party but he refused to join them and instead joined the All India Muslim League on the 5th.

Another lawyer, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, was led by the Muslim League, with whom Khan developed a close political relationship in the future.

In 1226 he began his political career as an elected member of the United Provinces Legislative Council from the rural Muslim constituency in Muzaffarnagar. In 1932, he was unanimously elected Vice-President of the UP Legislative Assembly.

9. Construction of the Nation

In the following years, Khan worked closely with Jinnah. In 1928, two people decided to discuss the Nehru Report, and in 1930 they attended the first Round Table Conference. The conference proved to be a disaster, after which Jinnah emigrated from British India to Great Britain.

Khan’s height continued to increase in later years. After the elections, the Muslim League won 87% of the seats reserved for Muslims in British India and was elected chairman of the Central League of the Khan League.

The Indian independence movement was at its peak, and Khan assisted Jinnah in negotiations with members of the Cabinet Mission and the Congress leaders.

10. Indo-Pak Partition

India was partitioned in the year 1947 and a separate nation was established on August 7, Pakistan. Liaquat Ali Khan was appointed the first Prime Minister of Pakistan by the founding fathers of Pakistan.

11. Re-construction of the Nation

The late 1940s marked the most turbulent period in the history of the newly formed nation.

Although Khan was determined that Pakistan would be part of a neutral movement, he had to remain with the United States in intense competition with the Soviet Union as the United States promised to support the newly independent Pakistan.

As Prime Minister, he envisioned a glorious future for the country and undertook the development of education infrastructure, science, and technology in Pakistan.

He asked a number of well-known political theorists, academics, and scholars, Ziauddin Ahmed, to draft education.

The policy was later adopted as a roadmap for establishing the education system in Pakistan.

During his tenure, the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) was established in 5 years. After that, a paper currency mill was established in Karachi.

12. Political Setbacks

Despite all his achievements, Khan achieved several setbacks during his political career. During his tenure as Prime Minister, the Indo-Pakistan war and the Balochistan conflict resulted in his disaster.

Active activists and socialists in the country questioned his qualifications as the leader of Pakistan. Problems were also created with the Pakistan Armed Forces.

13. Contribution

After becoming the Prime Minister, Khan implemented initiatives for the development of educational infrastructure, science, and technology in the country.

Immigration and census, economic and education policy, Constitutional annex, War with India, relationship with the United States, etc. were some of the contributions of Liaquat Ali Khan.

He appointed Salimuzzaman Siddiqui as his first official science adviser and asked Ziauddin Ahmed to draft an education policy to establish a strong education system in Pakistan.

During his tenure, the establishment of the University of Sindh was also approved.

As the leader of the newly formed nation, Liaquat Ali Khan visited the United States to build friendly relations with powerful countries like the United States and sought foreign assistance for economic and moral support to build Pakistan, which the United States agreed to.

Prior to the emergence of bilateral relations, Pakistan received US assistance for several years.

14. Criticism

The Daily Times, one of the famous and leading English newspaper, featured Liaquat Ali Khan responsible for mixing religion and politics, and stated that 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”

15. Assassination

Liaquat Ali Khan was supposed to make an important announcement at a public meeting of the Muslim City League at Rawalpindi Company Bagh on October 9th. There, the mercenary murderer Saad Babrak killed him.

On Tuesday, October 16, 1951, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Khan was shot twice by a mercenary killer at a Muslim City League public meeting in Rawalpindi’s company bug (company garden).

The killer was killed by police immediately but the exact motive behind the murder has never been fully revealed.

16. Record

Liaquat Ali Khan had been the longest-serving Prime Minister of Pakistan who spent in total 1,524 days in power, which a record till the present.

17. Recognition after death

After his death, he was given the title “martyr-i-milat” or “martyr of the nation” for his lifetime contribution.