Liaquat Ali Khan - Family Background

Family Background

Khan was Born into Punjabi Muslim Nawab family in Karnal,East Punjab, Khan was educated at the Aligarh Muslim University in India, and the Oxford University in the United Kingdom. Prior to his return to India, Ali Khan rose to prominence and was also the influential member of the Muslim League led under Mohammad Ali Jinnah, advocating and determining to eradicate the injustices and ill treatment meted out to the Indian Muslims by the British government, and rose as the influential and later was one of the principle Founding Fathers of Pakistan. Ali Khan was invited first to join the Congress Party, but allied himself with the Muslim League, playing a vital role in the independence of India and Pakistan, while served as the Finance minister in the interim government of British Indian Empire, prior to partition. Significantly, Ali Khan and his wife are credited with persuading Jinnah to return to India— an event which marked the beginning of the Muslim League's ascendancy and paved the way for the Pakistan movement— following the passage of the Pakistan Resolution in 1940, Ali Khan assisted Jinnah in campaigning for the creation of a separate state for Indian Muslims. His influential role led the British Indian Empire to disintegrate into modern-day state of India and Pakistan.

Considered the confident of Jinnah, Ali Khan was appointed first Prime minister, but his government faced eminent challenges and endless regional conflict with India, forcing Ali Khan to approach to his counterpart Jawaharlal Nehru to reach a settlement to end the religious violence, but Nehru pushed for the referral of the problem to the United Nations. Generally an anti-communist, Ali Khan's foreign policy sided with the United States and the West, although Ali Khan was determined to be a part of the Non-Aligned Movement. Envisaged to established the parliamentary democracy in the country, Ali Khan faced with internal political unrest and also survived coup led by the Leftists and Communists. His influence further grew after the death of Jinnah, responsible to promulgate the Objectives Resolution, and was assassinated in 1951 by a hired assassin Sa'ad Babrak. After his death, Ali Khan is popularly given the titles of Quaid-e-Millat (Leader of the Nation), and posthumously Shaheed-e-Millat (Martyr of the Nation).

His ancestors were traced to Nosherwani-Sassanid Dynasty settled in Eastern Punjab. 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 the United Provinces. The family owned pre-eminence to timely support given by Liaqat's grandfather Nawab Ahmed Ali Khan of Karnal to British army during 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, and the senior British government officers were usually visited at his big and wide mansion at their time of visit.

His family had deep respect for the Syed Ahmad Khan, and his father had strong views and desires for young Liaqat Ali Khan to educated in the British educational system; therefore, his family admitted Ali Khan to famous Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) to study law and political science. Ali Khan was sent to Aligarh to attend the AMU where he would obtained degrees in law and political science.

In 1913, Ali Khan attended the MOA College (now Aligarh Muslim University), graduating with a BSc in Political science and LLB in 1918, and married his cousin, Jehangira Begum, also in 1918. After the death of his father in 1919, Ali Khan, with British Government awarding the grants and scholarship, went to England, attending the Oxford University's Exeter College to pursue his higher education. In 1921, Ali Khan was awarded the LLM in Law and Justice, by the college faculty who also conferred him with a Bronze Medallion. While a graduate student at Oxford, Ali Khan took active participation in student unions and was an 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 joined 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.