Liaquat Ali Khan
Shaheed-e-Millatt Liaquat Ali Khan | |
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لیاقت علی خان | |
Official portrait, c. 1945 | |
| 1st Prime Minister of Pakistan | |
| In office 15 August 1947 – 16 October 1951 | |
| Monarch | George VI |
| Governors-General | Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1947–1948) Khawaja Nazimuddin (1948–1951) |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Khawaja Nazimuddin |
| 1st Minister of Defence | |
| In office 15 August 1947 – 16 October 1951 | |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Khawaja Nazimuddin |
| 1st Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 15 August 1947 – 27 December 1949 | |
| Deputy | Mohammed Ikramullah |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Muhammad Zafarullah Khan |
| Minister for Kashmir and Frontier Affairs | |
| In office 15 August 1947 – 16 October 1951 | |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Mahmud Hussain |
| Minister of Finance of British India | |
| In office 29 October 1946 – 14 August 1947 | |
| Monarch | George VI |
| Governors General | Archibald Wavell (1943–1947) Lord Mountbatten (1947) |
| Vice President | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| President of the Pakistan Muslim League | |
| In office 11 September 1948 – 17 October 1951 | |
| Preceded by | Muhammad Ali Jinnah |
| Succeeded by | Khawaja Nazimuddin |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1 October 1895 |
| Died | 16 October 1951 (aged 56) |
| Manner of death | Assassination |
| Resting place | Mazar-e-Quaid |
| Party | All-India Muslim League (1921–1947) Pakistan Muslim League (1947–1951) |
| Spouse | |
| Children |
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| Alma mater | Aligarh Muslim University (BSc in Polysci) Oxford University (LL.B. in Jurisprudence) |
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Personal Prime Minister of Pakistan
In popular culture |
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Liaquat Ali Khan (1 October 1895 – 16 October 1951) was a Pakistani lawyer, politician and statesman who served as the first prime minister of Pakistan from 1947 until his assassination in 1951. He played a key role in consolidating the state of Pakistan, much as Muhammad Ali Jinnah did in founding it. A leading figure in the Pakistan Movement, he is revered as Quaid-e-Millat ("Leader of the Nation") and Shaheed-e-Millat ("Martyr of the Nation").
Khan was born in Karnal, Haryana, to a wealthy family. His grandfather, Nawab Ahmad Ali, provided significant support to the British during the Mutiny uprising of 1857–1858, earning him substantial rewards in the form of prestigious honours and complete remission of rent. Khan was educated at the Aligarh Muslim University and the University of Oxford. After first being invited to the Indian National Congress, he later opted to join the All-India Muslim League led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, an Indian independence activist who later advocated for a separate Muslim nation-state out of Hindu-majority India. Khan assisted Jinnah in the campaign for what would become known as the Pakistan Movement and was known as his 'right hand'. He was a democratic political theorist who promoted parliamentarism in British India.
Khan's premiership oversaw the beginning of the Cold War, in which Khan's foreign policy sided with the United States-led Western Bloc over the Soviet Union-led Eastern Bloc. He promulgated the Objectives Resolution in 1949, which stipulated Pakistan to be an Islamic democracy. He also held cabinet portfolio as the first foreign minister, defence minister, and frontier regions minister from 1947 until his assassination in 1951. Prior to the part, Khan briefly tenured as Finance minister of British India in the Interim Government that undertook independence of Pakistan and India, led by Louis Mountbatten, the then-Viceroy of India. In March 1951, he survived an attempted coup by left-wing political opponents and segments of the Pakistani military. While delivering a speech in the Company Bagh of Rawalpindi, Khan was shot dead by an Afghan militant Said Akbar for unknown reasons.