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Political


Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah

Pakistan, one of the largest Muslim states in the world, is a living and exemplary monument of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. With his untiring efforts, indomitable will, and dauntless courage, he united the Indian Muslims under the banner of the Muslim League and carved out a homeland for them, despite stiff opposition from the Hindu Congress and the British Government.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah was born in Karachi on December 25, 1876. His father Jinnah Poonja was an Ismaili Khoja of Kathiawar, a prosperous business community. Muhammad Ali received his early education at the Sindh Madrasa and later at the Mission School, Karachi. He went to England for further studies in 1892 at the age of 16. In 1896, Jinnah qualified for the Bar and was called to the Bar in 1897.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah started his political career in 1906 when he attended the Calcutta session of the All India National Congress in the capacity of Private Secretary to the President of the Congress. In 1910, he was elected to the Imperial Legislative Council. He sponsored the Waqf Validating Bill, which brought him in touch with other Muslim leaders. In March 1913, Jinnah joined the All India Muslim League.
As a member of the Muslim League, Jinnah began to work for Hindu-Muslim unity. In 1917, the annual sessions of both the Congress and the League were held at Lucknow. The League session was presided over by Muhammad Ali Jinnah. It marked the culmination of his efforts towards Hindu-Muslim unity. Here, both the League and the Congress adopted a scheme of reforms known as the Lucknow Pact.
On April 19, 1918, Jinnah married Rutanbai. Their daughter, Dina was born a year later. In 1919, Jinnah resigned from his membership of the Imperial Legislative Council as protest against the "Rowlatt Act".
Until the publication of Nehru Report, Jinnah continued his efforts for Hindu-Muslim unity. The Nehru Report, published in 1928, was severely criticized by all sections of the Muslim community. In December 1928, the National Convention was called to consider the Report. Jinnah proposed some amendments, but they were all rejected. He finally parted ways with the Congress.

In 1929, Jinnah presented his famous Fourteen Points in response to the Nehru Report. When he returned from England, he reorganized the Muslim League. In 1934, he was elected as its permanent president.
The Provincial Assembly elections of 1937 swept the Congress to power in eight provinces. After almost two years of oppressive rule, Muslims under the leadership of Jinnah, celebrated the Day of Deliverance at the end of Congress rule.
The Muslim League held its annual session at Lahore in March 1940. This was presided over by Quaid-i-Azam. The demand for Pakistan was formally put forward here. This goal was realized on August 14, 1947. Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was appointed as its first Governor General.
The establishment of Pakistan brought even greater responsibilities for Jinnah. The refugee problem, the withholding of Pakistani assets by India, and the Kashmir problem were a real test for the Quaid. However, his indomitable will prevailed. He worked out a sound economic policy, established an independent currency and the State Bank for Pakistan. He chose Karachi as the federal capital.
However, he did not live long to witness the progress of the state that he had founded. On September 11, 1948, he died after a protracted illness at Karachi. He was buried in Karachi that witnessed the entire nation mourning over an irreparable loss.

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Allama Muhammad Iqbal

Allama Iqbal, great poet-philosopher and active political leader, was born at Sialkot, Punjab, in 1877. He descended from a family of Kashmiri Brahmins, who had embraced Islam about 300 years earlier.
Iqbal received his early education in the traditional maktab. Later he joined the Sialkot Mission School, from where he passed his matriculation examination.

In 1897, he obtained his Bachelor of Arts Degree from Government College, Lahore. Two years later, he secured his Masters Degree and was appointed in the Oriental College, Lahore, as a lecturer of history, philosophy and English. He later proceeded to Europe for higher studies. Having obtained a degree at Cambridge, he secured his doctorate at Munich and finally qualified as a barrister.
He returned to India in 1908. Besides teaching and practicing law, Iqbal continued to write poetry. He resigned from government service in 1911 and took up the task of propagating individual thinking among the Muslims through his poetry.
By 1928, his reputation as a great Muslim philosopher was solidly established and he was invited to deliver lectures at Hyderabad, Aligarh and Madras. These series of lectures were later published as a book "The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam". In 1930, Iqbal was invited to preside over the open session of the Muslim League at Allahabad. In his historic Allahabad Address, Iqbal visualized an independent and sovereign state for the Muslims of North-Western India. In 1932, Iqbal came to England as a Muslim delegate to the Third Round Table Conference.
In later years, when the Quaid had left India and was residing in England, Allama Iqbal wrote to him conveying to him his personal views on political problems and state of affairs of the Indian Muslims, and also persuading him to come back. These letters are dated from June 1936 to November 1937. This series of correspondence is now a part of important historic documents concerning Pakistan's struggle for freedom.
On April 21, 1938, the great Muslim poet-philosopher and champion of the Muslim cause, passed away. He lies buried next to the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore.

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Sir Syed Ahmad Khan

The greatest Muslim reformer and statesman of the 19th Century, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was born in Delhi on October 17, 1817. His family on the maternal and paternal side had close contacts with the Mughal court. His maternal grandfather, Khwajah Farid was a Wazir in the court of Akbar Shah II. His paternal grandfather Syed Hadi held a mansab and the title of Jawwad Ali Khan in the court of Alamgir II. His father, Mir Muttaqi, had been close to Akbar Shah since the days of his prince-hood. Syed Ahmad's mother, Aziz-un-Nisa, took a great deal of interest in the education and upbringing of her son. She imposed a rigid discipline on him and Sir Syed himself admitted that her supervision counted for much in the formation of his character.

The early years of Sir Syed's life were spent in the atmosphere of the family of a Mughal noble. There was nothing in young Syed's habits or behavior to suggest that he was different from other boys, though he was distinguished on account of his extraordinary physique. As a boy he learnt swimming and archery, which were favorite sports of the well-to-do class in those days.
Sir Syed received his education under the old system. He learnt to read the Quran under a female teacher at his home. After this, he was put in the charge of Maulvi Hamid-ud-Din, the first of his private tutors. Having completed a course in Persian and Arabic, he took to the study of mathematics, which was a favorite subject of the maternal side of his family. He later became interested in medicine and studied some well-known books on the subject. However, he soon gave it up without completing the full course. At the age of 18 or 19 his formal education came to an end but he continued his studies privately. He started taking a keen interest in the literary gatherings and cultural activities of the city.
The death of his father in 1838 left the family in difficulties. Thus young Syed was compelled at the early age of 21 to look for a career. He decided to enter the service of the East India Company. He started his career as Sarishtedar in a court of law. He became Naib Munshi in 1839 and Munshi in 1841. In 1858 he was promoted and appointed as Sadar-us-Sadur at Muradabad. In 1867 he was promoted and posted as the judge of the Small Causes Court. He retired in 1876. He spent the rest of his life for Aligarh College and the Muslims of South Asia.
Sir Syed's greatest achievement was his Aligarh Movement, which was primarily an educational venture. He established Gulshan School at Muradabad in 1859, Victoria School at Ghazipur in 1863, and a scientific society in 1864. When Sir Syed was posted at Aligarh in 1867, he started the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental School in the city. Sir Syed got the opportunity to visit England in 1869-70. During his stay, he studied the British educational system and appreciated it. On his return home he decided to make M. A. O. High School on the pattern of British boarding schools. The School later became a college in 1875. The status of University was given to the college after the death of Sir Syed in 1920. M. A. O. High School, College and University played a big role in the awareness of the Muslims of South Asia.
Unlike other Muslim leaders of his time, Sir Syed was of the view that Muslims should have friendship with the British if they want to take their due rights. To achieve this he did a lot to convince the British that Muslims were not against them. On the other hand, he tried his best to convince the Muslims that if they did not befriend the British, they could not achieve their goals. Sir Syed wrote many books and journals to remove the misunderstandings between Muslims and the British. The most significant of his literary works were his pamphlets "Loyal Muhammadans of India" and "Cause of Indian Revolt". He also wrote a commentary on the Bible, in which he attempted to prove that Islam is the closest religion to Christianity.
Sir Syed asked the Muslims of his time not to participate in politics unless and until they got modern education. He was of the view that Muslims could not succeed in the field of western politics without knowing the system. He was invited to attend the first session of the Indian National Congress and to join the organization but he refused to accept the offer. He also asked the Muslims to keep themselves away from the Congress and predicted that the party would prove to be a pure Hindu party in the times to come. By establishing the Muhammadan Educational Conference, he provided Muslims with a platform on which he could discuss their political problems. Sir Syed is known as the founder of Two-Nation Theory in the modern era.
In the beginning of 1898 he started keeping abnormally quiet. For hours he would not utter a word to friends who visited him. Medical aid proved ineffective. His condition became critical on 24th of March. On the morning of March 27, a severe headache further worsened it. He expired the same evening in the house of Haji Ismail Khan, where he had been shifted 10 or 12 days earlier. He was buried the following afternoon in the compound of the Mosque of Aligarh College. He was mourned by a large number of friends and admirers both within and outside South Asia.

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Liaquat Ali Khan

The second son of Nawab Rustam Ali Khan, was born on October 1, 1896, in a Madal Pathan (Nausherwan) family. He graduated in 1918 from M. A. O. College, Aligarh. He married his cousin, Jehangira Begum in 1918. After his marriage, he went to London for higher education. In 1921, he obtained a degree in Law from Oxford and was called to Bar at Inner Temple in 1922.
On his return from England in 1923, Liaquat Ali Khan decided to enter politics with the objective of liberating his homeland from the foreign yoke

Right from the very beginning, he was determined to eradicate the injustices and ill treatment meted out to the Indian Muslims by the British.
Liaquat Ali started his parliamentary career from the U. P. Legislative Assembly in 1926 as an independent candidate. Later he formed his own party, The Democratic Party, within the Legislative Assembly and was elected as its leader. He remained the member of the U. P. Legislative Council till 1940 when he was elected to the Central Legislative Assembly.
Liaquat Ali's second marriage took place in 1933. His wife Begum Ra'ana was a distinguished economist and an educationist who stood by her husband during the ups and downs of his political career.
When Quaid-i-Azam returned to India, he started reorganizing the Muslim League. Liaquat was elected as the Honorary Sectary of the party on April 26, 1936. He held the office till the establishment of Pakistan in 1947. In 1940,
Liaquat Ali Khan won the Central Legislature election in 1945-46 from the Meerut Constituency in U. P. He was also elected Chairman of the League's Central Parliamentary Board.
After independence, Quaid-i-Azam and Muslim League appointed Liaquat to be the head of the Pakistan Government. Being the first Prime Minister of the country, He had to deal with a number of difficulties facing Pakistan in its early days. Liaquat Ali Khan helped Quaid-i-Azam in solving the riot and refugee problem and setting up an effective administrative system for the country. After the death of Quaid-i-Azam, Liaquat tried to fill the vacuum created by the departure of the Father of the Nation. Under his premiership, Pakistan took its first steps in the field of constitution making, as well as foreign policy. He presented the Objectives Resolution in the Legislative Assembly. The house passed this on March 12, 1949. Under his leadership a team also drafted the first report of the Basic Principle Committee. His efforts in signing the Liaquat-Nehru pact pertaining to the minority issue in 1950 reduced tensions between India and Pakistan. In May 1951, he visited the United States and set the course of Pakistan's foreign policy towards closer ties with the West.
On October 16, 1951, Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated. He had been scheduled to make an important announcement in a public meeting at Municipal Park, Rawalpindi.

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Chaudhry Rahmat Ali

Chaudhry Rahmat Ali, founder of the Pakistan National Movement, was born in 1895. From his early childhood, Rahmat Ali showed signs of great promise as a student. After completing his schooling, he joined the Islamia College of Lahore in order to get his Bachelor of Arts degree. Rahmat Ali finished education in England, obtaining MA and LLB with honors from the universities of Cambridge and Dublin.

It was during the years 1930 through 1933, that he seemed to have established the Pakistan National Movement, with its headquarter at Cambridge. On January 28, 1933, he issued his first memorable pamphlet "Now or Never; Are we to live or perish forever?" He coined the word "Pakistan" for 30 million Muslims who live in the five northern units of India; Punjab, North West Frontier (Afghan) Province, Kashmir, Sindh and Baluchistan. The pamphlet also gave reasons for the establishment of Pakistan as a separate nation. He spoke of an independent homeland for Muslims, Pakistan, in the northern units of India, "Bang-i-Islam" for Muslims in Bengal, and "Usmanistan" for the Muslims in Hyderabad-Deccan.

Chaudhry Rahmat Ali propagated the Scheme of Pakistan with a missionary zeal since its inception in 1933. In August 1947, Pakistan came to be established and in 1948 Chaudhry Rahmat Ali visited Pakistan. Later he proceeded to England to champion the cause of Kashmir through the United Nations.

Sick and weak, he died on February 12, 1951.

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Miss Fatima Jinnah

Miss Fatima Jinnah, younger sister of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, was born in 1893. Of his seven brothers and sisters, she was the closest to the Quaid. Jinnah became her guardian upon the death of their father in 1901. Due to her brother's keen interest, and despite strident family opposition, Miss Fatima received excellent early education. She joined the Bandra Convent in 1902. In 1919 she got admitted to the highly competitive University of Calcutta where she attended the Dr. Ahmad Dental College.

After she qualified, Jinnah went along with her idea of opening a dental clinic in Bombay and helped her set it up in 1923.
Miss Fatima Jinnah initially lived with her brother for about eight years till 1918, when he got married to Rutanbai. Upon Rutanbai's death in February 1929, Miss Jinnah wound up her clinic, moved into Jinnah's bungalow, and took charge of his house; thus beginning the life-long companionship that lasted till Jinnah's death on September 11, 1948.
In all, Miss Jinnah lived with her brother for about 28 years, including the last 19 tiring years of his life. The Quaid would discuss various problems with her, mostly at the breakfast and dinner table. Paying tribute to her sister, the Quaid once said, "My sister was like a bright ray of light and hope whenever I came back home and met her. Anxieties would have been much greater and my health much worse, but for the restraint imposed by her".
Miss Jinnah not only lived with her brother but also accompanied him on his numerous tours. In 1932, she joined him in London when he remained there after the Second Round Table Conference.
When the All India Muslim League was being organized, Miss Fatima Jinnah was taken on as a member of the Working Committee of the Bombay Provincial Muslim League, and worked in that capacity until 1947.
In March 1940, she attended the Lahore session of the MuslimLeague. Fatima was convinced that the Hindus intended to subjugate and dominate the Muslims completely. It was primarily due to her initiative that the All India Muslim Women Students Federation was organized in February 1941 at Delhi.
During the transfer of power in 1947, she was an inspiration to Muslim women. She formed the Women's Relief Committee, which later formed the nucleus for the All Pakistan Women's Association. She also played a significant role in the settlement of refugees in the new state of Pakistan.
Despite her old age, she continued to help social and educational associations. During the Quaid's illness, she remained passionately attached to him. After his death, she often issued important statements on important occasions, as a reminder to the nation of the ideals on which Pakistan had been established.
In 1965, Miss Fatima Jinnah ran for President as a candidate of the Combined Opposition Party. Even a conservative party like the Jamaat-i-Islami accepted her as a woman presidential candidate. Miss Jinnah's greatest advantage was that she was sister of the Founder of Pakistan and had been detached from the political conflicts that had plagued Pakistan after the Founder's death. The sight of this dynamic lady moving in the streets of big cities, and even in the rural areas of a Muslim country, was both moving and unique. She proclaimed her opponent presidential candidate, Ayub Khan, a dictator. Miss Jinnah's line of attack was that by coming to terms with India on the Indus Water dispute, Ayub had surrendered control of the rivers over to India. Her campaign generated such tremendous public enthusiasm that most of the press agreed that if the contest were by direct election, she would have won against Ayub.
It seems that the thought of doing a biography of her illustrious brother came to Miss Jinnah about the time when Hector Bolitho's "Jinnah Creator of Pakistan" was first published in 1954. It was felt that Bolitho had failed to bring out the political aspects of Jinnah's life in his book. Miss Jinnah started looking for a Pakistani author to do a biography of the Quaid. G. Allana was her choice. G. Allana assisted Miss Jinnah on the assignment but they parted company due to reasons undisclosed. Later both carried on their independent works on Jinnah. Her book "My Brother" was published by the Quaid-i-Azam Academy in 1987.
The people of Pakistan hold Miss Fatima in high esteem. Due to her selfless work for Pakistan, the nation conferred upon her the title of Madar-i-Millat, or "Mother of the Nation". She died in Karachi on July 8, 1967. Some historians indicate that the date of her death was actually July 2, 1967.

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Khawaja Nazimuddin

Khawaja Nazimuddin was born on July 19, 1894, at Dhaka. He was educated at M. A. O. College, Aligarh, and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He remained as Chairman of Dhaka Municipality from 1922 to 1929. After becoming the Provincial Education Minister in 1929, he piloted the Bengal Rural Primary Education Bill in 1930, which was strongly opposed by the Hindu members.


He continued as Education Minister till 1934 and then became an Executive Councilor. In that capacity two important Bills were passed to improve the lot of Bengal peasantry that showed his steady levelheaded outlook.
In 1937, he was appointed as the Home Minister. He remained an active member of Coalition Cabinet of the Chief Minister, Fazl-ul-Haq, during 1937-1941. After Fazl-ul-Haq's resignation, Khawaja Nazimuddin, who had been the Leader of Opposition from 1941 to 1943, became Chief Minister on April 24, 1943. In August 1947, he was elected as the leader of the Muslim League Party of East Bengal.
When Muhammad Ali Jinnah passed away on September 11, 1948, Khawaja Nazimuddin was designated as the Governor General of Pakistan. After the assassination of Liaquat Ali, Khawaja Nazimuddin was asked to step in as the Prime Minister as there was no other person found suitable for the post, while Malik Ghulam Muhammad was elevated to the post of Governor General.
Khawaja Nazimuddin died in 1964.

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Maulana Muhammad Ali


Maulana Muhammad Ali was born in Rampur state in 1878, in a wealthy and enlightened family of Pathans. His father died when he was two years old. He and his family suffered financial problems after the death of his father. Due to the efforts, determination and sacrifice by his mother, he and his brothers were able to get good education. He did his graduation from Aligarh University with honors and then went to Lincoln College Oxford, England, in 1898 to study modern history.

On his return he was appointed Director of Education in Rampur State, and later joined the Baroda Civil Service and served there for seven years. Maulana Muhammad Ali was a brilliant and impressive writer, an orator of the first magnitude and a farsighted political leader. He wrote articles in various newspapers like "The Times", "The Observer" and "The Manchester Guardian". Maulana Muhammad Ali wrote both in English and Urdu. He launched his famous English weekly "Comrade" from Calcutta in 1911. After shifting to Delhi in 1913, he, in addition to his English weekly, also launched his Urdu weekly, "Hamdard". The "Comrade" became an internationally famous journal and secured many subscribers in numerous foreign countries. He also worked hard towards making M. O. A. College a Muslim University. He assisted in setting up Jami'ah Milliyah Islamia, which was later transferred to Delhi. For four years after 1911, he remained involved in the Kanpur Mosque affair. Maulana Muhammad Ali Jouhar was one of the cofounders of All India Muslim League. He attended the first session of All India Muslim League at Dhaka in 1906, and was later elected as its President in 1918. He remained active in the affairs of the All India Muslim League till 1928.
The famous English weekly "Comrade" was launched from Calcutta in 1911
During the Khilafat Movement, Maulana Muhammad Ali Jouhar led a delegation to England in 1919, in order to present the view of the Muslims. Although the delegation was not successful in its aim, he still kept on working for the Muslims. He also wholeheartedly joined the non-cooperation movement organized by Gandhi. In 1921, after the British refused to honor their promises in regard to Turkey, he toured the whole of India in order to gather support for the success of the non-cooperation movement. At the end of the movement he was arrested and jailed for two years.

In 1924, he renewed the publication of "Hamdard". In 1928, he left the Indian National Congress, opposed the Nehru Report tooth and nail, and supported the Fourteen Points of Quaid-i-Azam. Despite his ill health, he attended the First Round Table Conference in 1930, where he effectively argued the case of the Indian Muslims. He delivered a memorable, fiery speech against the domination of India and in favor of immediate independence. Soon after the first session was over, he collapsed and died in London on January 4, 1931, and was buried in Jerusalem according to his own wish

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Malik Ghulam Muhammad

Malik Ghulam Muhammad was the first leader to be installed in Pakistan's hall of shame. He was chosen by the Quaid as the fledgling state's first finance minister, one of the few Muslim who had some experience of audit and accounts, as well as dash and drive. That his skills in financial management had been recognised by the topmost non-Muslim industrialist was an additional qualification.

What was not noted was his outsized personal ambition and exposure to intrigues common in princely durbars. A rapid advance in career had sharpened his arrogance and the applause he received from the ignorant for balancing the first state budget and for scoring a point over India by not devaluing the currency when the latter did so, eroded whatever capacity he had for being a responsible team player.He might have secretly envied fellow professionals (Mumtaz Husain, Zahid Husain, Mohammad Ali, et al) but he had little respect for fellow ministers, or even the head of the Cobinet. Few noticed that, like his colleagues in p power, he did not understand the political and social needs of the new state's population, nor the effects of the peculiar demographic and economic disparities between its two separate parts. No one perhaps found the colonial model of state wanting in any respect. He had little to do with Islam or socialism but did not hesutate to offer their mixture as a popular ideal. Ghulam Muhammad will be remembered for founding the tradition of authoritarianism in Pakistan. As the leading actor in three major sequences -- the dismissal of prime Minister Nazimuddin, the dissolution of the Constituent assembly, and the imposition of the non-unit sceme -- he was primarily responsible for launching East Bangal on the path of alienation from Pakistan, for bringing the armed forces into politics, for confirming the country's subservience to Cold War operation, for creating bad blood between Punjab and the other federating units, and for devaluing democratic norms. Taken together his actions created crises that got aggravated year after year and which have dogged the state to this day with enormous costs to the people.

 


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Muhammad Ayub Khan

Muhammad Ayub Khan was born on May 14, 1907, in the village of Rehana near Haripur, in Hazara District. For his basic education, he was enrolled in a school in Sarai Saleh, which was about 4 miles from his village. He used to go to school on a mule's back. Later he was shifted to a school in Haripur, After passing his Matriculation Exams Ayub was sent to Aligarh University where he spent four years. However, before appearing in his B. A. exams, he was selected for the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. He sailed for England in 1926.

Ayub's performance in Sandhurst was exemplary and he won several scholarships. After the completion of training, he got commissioned in the Indian Army in 1928. He fought at different fronts during World War II, first as a Major and then Colonel. During the communal riots of 1947, he was assigned to assist General Pete Rees in the Punjab Boundary Force. At the time of Independence, Ayub Khan opted to join the Pakistan Army, where as a Brigadier, he was the senior-most Muslim officer. In 1951, he was raised to the status of a four-star General and was appointed as the first local Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army.
The first time military was directly involved in politics of the country was when Ayub Khan, a serving Commander-in-Chief, was inducted into Muhammad Ali Bogra's Federal Cabinet in 1954, and was given the portfolio of Defense. Ayub Khan was designated as the Chief Martial Law Administrator. On October 7, 1958, Iskander Mirza enforced the first Martial Law in Pakistan with the help of Ayub Khan. Ayub Khan was designated as the Chief Martial Law Administrator. However, the two leaders couldn't work together for long. Ayub Khan snatched away Mirzas' powers and assumed charge as the President of Pakistan, in addition to his role as Chief Martial Law Administrator. Later on he gave himself the rank of Field Marshal.

On June 8, 1962, Martial Law was lifted from Pakistan and the new Constitution was introduced. According to this new Constitution, Presidential form of government and the principle of Basic Democracy were introduced. The imposition of the Constitution made no change in the powers of Ayub Khan and he remained President even under the new setup. Presidential elections were held in 1965. The Combined Opposition Party nominated Fatima Jinnah as their candidate in the election but Ayub Khan managed to sweep the polls.
Ayub Khan's era is known for the industrialization in the country. He created an environment where the private sector was encouraged to establish medium and small-scale industries in Pakistan. This opened up avenues for new job opportunities and thus the economic graph of the country started rising.He planned a new city and moved the capital from Karachi to Islamabad in 1962.
Every thing was moving in the right direction for Ayub Khan till the start of the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965. The performance of the Pakistani army was good but the war caused a rapid decline of the country's economy. He is also criticized his role at the Tashkent Declaration. . The rest of the political parties formed an alliance, the Democratic Action Committee, with a one-point agenda, i.e. the removal of Ayub Khan's government.

In addition, Ayub's policies of concentrating political power in his own hands, his control over the press and media, imposing state of emergency in the country, and his interference in religion were also responsible for his downfall. Adding insult to injury, Ayub Khan decided to celebrate a decade of his rule in 1968 and made exaggerated claims about the development in the country.

By the end of 1968, the public resentment against the Ayub's regime touched a boiling point and an anti-Ayub movement was launched by the urban-middle class; including students, teachers, lawyers, doctors, and engineers. The Joint Labor Council called for a labor strike. Demonstrations and agitation swept the whole country. Law and order broke down and Ayub was left with no other option but to step down.

On March 25, 1969, he resigned and handed over the power to the Commander-in-Chief of Pakistan Army, General Muhammad Yahya Khan.


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Mian Mohammad Iftikharuddin

Mian Mohammad Iftikharuddin is a unique character in Pakistan's political history. He consistently served his people without any opportunity of rulling over them. Thus he belongs to that category who help shape their society by the ideas they foster and the causes they uphold, as distinguishable from those whose actions in authority determine the nature and functioning of the collective. Gifted with a board vision of life, derived from the ideals of democracy, pease, secularism and egalitarianism, he occupies a prominent place in a small group of eminent Pakistais who offered an alternative to objectives and practices that militated against the spirit of the age, because of which, among other things, dictators and philistines have never gone completely unchallenged. Iftikharuddin raised his voice of sanity whenever the state took a wrong turn. His brave attempt to find a settlement between the Muslim Leauge and the Congress on the eve of partition is well known, as is his role in triggering off the Muslim Leauge civil disobedience movement early in 1947. He called for land reforms not only the grounds of economic and social necessity but also to ensure a rational stellement of the refugees and painless national integation. Struggles for civil liberties, a federation or confederation based on the rights of nationalities, and independence foreign policy were permanent features of the creed. When martial law was enforced in Lahore in 1953 he warned that the way was being prepared for military rule; he warned Ghulam Mohammad against relying on the army to dissolve the Constituent Assembly; he denounced the one-unit as being against provincial rights; and the rejected the 1956 Constitution as being against both national interest and Islam. This record established him as one of the most perceptive politicians Pakistan has had. There is very little in his debit column -- his failure to respond seriously to the Objectives Resolation, his election and business tricks, and his inability to convince his radical supporters that his lifestyle did not compromise his convictions. Perhaps his most durable contribution came in the from of Progressive Papers which not only set standards in conscious and responsible journalism but also served as a nursery for a whole generation of journalista and defined the framework for a few press that has been one of the nation's saving graces.


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Bacha Khan
The real name of this great leader was Abdul-Ghaffar Khan. The title of Bacha Khan was given by the nation. Bacha in Pushtu/Afghani means "The King". In afghan society this title is awarded to someone who is willing to sacrifice every thing for a cause. Indeed Bacha Khan Baba was one such man.

Origon
Bacha Khan was born in the land of Afghans/Pukhtuns. This land is known as Greater Afghanistan or Pukhtunistan.(For more information go to www.pukhtunistan.4t.com). Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan was born in 1890 in Charsadda. He got his early education at his home and near by mosque and Islamic Madrassa (school). After comming to his age,he was shocked by the illiteracy of Pathans/Pukhtuns. He started a movement for the education of Pathan. The other problem of pathan was unity among them. So he opened a school in charsadda to educate the poor Pukhtuns. This school was later demolished by explosions by the provincial govt. of Qayyum Khan.
His movement became very popular among the Pukhtuns. In 1920s he joined Congress Party of India. Due to him Congress party became very popular in NWFP(North West Frontier Province, now known as Pukhtunkhua). He was made member of the central executive committee of Congress party. During British Govt. he was sent several time to prison. He spent 52 years of his 99 years of life in jail of exile. Congress party was always winning election in NWFP till creation of Pakistan. During referendom in NWFP for Joining India or Pakistan Congress Party byocotted the referendom so most of the people did not vote in the referendom. At that time Congress party was the ruling party in NWFP.


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Muhammad Ali Bogra

Muhammad Ali was born in Bogra in an aristocratic Nawab family. Officialy he was carring the family name Bogra. He studied at the Calcutta University and in 1937 he was elected to the Bengal legislative assembly.
In 1943, Muhammad Ali became parliamentary secretary to Khawaja Nazimuddin, the then Chief Minister of Bengal. Later in 1946, he became Finance and Health Minister of the province.

After the formation of Pakistan, he was appointed Ambassador to Burma in 1948 High Commissioner to Canada in 1949 and finally Ambassador to USA in 1952. Muhammad Ali Bogra was appointed Prime Minister on April 17, 1953 by the Governor General.
Muhammad Ali Bogra was very renowned diplomat but almost unknown as a politician. His appointment as Prime Minister came as a surprise to political observers and public alike, and it was widely suspected that his transfer from Washington to Karachi, elevation to the office was a prelude to closer relations between the US and Pakistan.
Only three days after the new premier's nomination, the US President Eisenhower asked Congress for authority to ship hundreds and thousands of tons of wheat to Pakistan. The US was at that time conducting a vigorous anti-Communist policy and looking for friends in Asia. Pakistan entered into defense pacts with it.
After the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly in 1954 by the governor-general, Muhammad Ali was again invited to form a new cabinet call "ministry of all talents."
Muhammad Ali Bogra was replaced by Chaudhary Muhammad Ali in August 1955 after the second constituent Assembly was elected. Muhammad Ali again resumed his assignment as ambassador to the USA. He died in the year 1969



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Iskander Mirza

Iskander Mirza was born on November 15, 1899, in a feudal family of Bengal,Being the senior-most Muslim Civil Servant in the Indian Ministry of Defense, Iskander Mirza was appointed as the first Defense Secretary of Pakistan at the time of Independence. He served at this position for about seven years. With the dismissal of the United Front's Ministry in East Pakistan, Governor General Ghulam Muhammad decided to enforce Governor's Rule in the province and appointed Iskander Mirza as Governor in May 1954.


From October 1954 to August 1955, Iskander Mirza served as the Interior Minister, and then as the Minister of States and Frontier Regions in the Cabinet of Prime