Liaquat Ali Khan

Liaquat Ali Khan (1896-1951) was the first prime minister of Pakistan. He played an important role in the negotiations leading to the creation of Pakistan and then in the consolidation of the new state.

On Oct. 1, 1896, Liaquat Ali Khan was born at Karnal in Punjab, India. His family were wealthy landowners who later moved to the United Provinces. He was educated at Aligarh and Oxford University. After qualifying as a barrister in England in 1922, he returned to India.

Liaquat was elected to the Legislative Council of the United Provinces in 1926, where he served for the next 14 years. During this period he was active in the affairs of the Muslim League, and in 1937 he became its secretary. Genial and able to mingle easily with all classes, he was a useful counterpoise to the austere Mohammad Ali Jinnah, with whom he worked closely in building up the Muslim League as an effective political organization after 1937. Liaquat was elected to the Central Legislative Assembly in 1940, where, as deputy leader of the Muslim League party, he strengthened the Muslim demand for a separate home-land.

In 1946, when independence for India was being negotiated with the British, Liaquat was appointed finance minister in the interim government. His "poor man's budget," which put heavy taxes on the rich and threatened to investigate the activities of the great industrialists, was regarded as an attack on the Indian National Congress, which the industrialists helped to finance.

After partition on Aug. 15, 1947, Liaquat became prime minister of Pakistan. Although at first he was subordinate to Jinnah, the governor general, after Jinnah's death in 1948 he emerged as the most powerful figure in the nation. Two major issues were used by his opponents, however, to undermine the stability of his regime. One was relations with India, which had been embittered by the struggle over Kashmir. Open war seemed a possibility in 1950, but Liaquat's journey to Delhi, where he signed an agreement with Jawaharlal Nehru pledging cooperation between the two countries, lessened some of the tension. This action was fiercely criticized by militant groups in Pakistan as a concession to India.

The other issue was the demand by orthodox Moslems to declare Pakistan an Islamic state, with all laws conforming to the Koran. Liaquat, who was a liberal democrat, with strong commitments to modernization, opposed this demand as reactionary. His compromise, as accepted by the legislators, was that Pakistan was a state where "Moslems would be enabled to lead their lives … in accord with the teachings of Islam." He was not able to halt the growing factionalism, however, and a fanatic assassinated him on Oct. 16, 1951.

Further Reading

A brief account of Liaquat's career is given in S. M. Ikram, Modern Muslim India and the Birth of Pakistan (1950; 2d ed. 1965). His speeches are collected in M. Rafique Afzal, ed., Speeches and Statements of Quaid-i-Millat Liaquat Ali Khan, 1941-51 (1967). □

Liaquat Ali Khan (b. 1 Oct. 1895, d. 16 Oct. 1951). Prime Minister of Pakistan 1947–51 Born in Karnal (Punjab), he studied at Aligarh, Allahabad, and Oxford, and was admitted to the English Bar in 1922. He returned, and became active in politics almost immediately. He joined the Muslim League and became a member of the Legislative Council of the United Provinces (1926–40). Especially during his time as secretary of the All-India Muslim League (1936–47), and then as chairperson of the Muslim League Central Parliamentary Board from 1945, he was Jinnah's right-hand man. Appointed Finance Minister in Nehru's interim government, he became Prime Minister upon Pakistan's independence in 1947. After Jinnah's death in 1948, he was the dominant figure in the first years of the country. He managed only with difficulty to keep abreast of the factional rivalries within the country's various Muslim groups. In foreign policy, he made peace with India, but found it hard to gain credence for his claim that Pakistan was a nation of equal weight in international affairs. By 1951, he began to lose favour (and control) even among his own supporters. He was assassinated while addressing a public rally in Rawalpindi.

Liaquat Ali Khan , 1895–1951, first prime minister of Pakistan. He was educated at Aligarh Muslim Univ. and at Oxford and was admitted to the English bar in 1922. A year later he joined the Muslim League. He served (1926–40) in the United Provs. legislative council, and while there he became (1936) general secretary of the Muslim League; thereafter he was chief lieutenant to Muhammad Ali Jinnah . He represented the Muslim League in the Central Legislative Assembly of India from 1940 to 1946, when he was appointed to the interim Indian government organized by the British to prepare the way for India's independence. With the creation of Pakistan (Aug., 1947) he became prime minister of the new dominion. He was assassinated in 1951.

Liaqat Ali Khan, Nawabzada (1895–1951) First Prime Minister of Pakistan (1947–51). He began his political career in British India as a Muslim leader in the United Provinces, and from 1933 became JINNAH's right-hand man in the MUSLIM LEAGUE. In 1946 he became Finance Minister in the Interim Government. Between the death of Jinnah in 1948 and his own assassination in 1951 he was the most powerful politician in Pakistan, when he endeavoured to achieve a reconciliation with India via the Delhi Pact (1950).