George Ali Murad Khan II Talpur ( ur, ; born 29 June 1933) is a member of the

Talpur dynasty The Talpur dynasty ( sd, ٽالپردور) were rulers based in Sindh. Four branches of the dynasty were established following the defeat of the Kalhora dynasty at the Battle of Halani in 1783: one ruled lower Sindh from the city of Hyderabad, S ...

who was the Mir (ruler) of

Khairpur Khairpur( Sindhi and ur, ) is a city and the capital of the Khairpur District, in Pakistan's Sindh province. History The Talpur dynasty was established in 1783 by Mir Fateh Ali Khan, who declared himself the first ''Rais'', or ruler of Sindh, ...

from 1947 to 1954. At an age of nine months, Khan was mistakenly shot by his father. Although the bullet passed through his right lung and stomach, he survived. Ascending to the throne after his father's removal from power, he chose to accede to the

Dominion of Pakistan Between 14 August 1947 and 23 March 1956, Pakistan was an independent federal dominion in the Commonwealth of Nations, created by the passing of the Indian Independence Act 1947 by the British parliament, which also created the Dominion of I ...

in the same year and was invested with full powers by

Liaquat Ali Khan Liaquat Ali Khan ( ur, ; 1 October 1895 – 16 October 1951), also referred to in Pakistan as ''Quaid-e-Millat'' () or ''Shaheed-e-Millat'' ( ur, lit=Martyr of the Nation, label=none, ), was a Pakistani statesman, lawyer, political theoris ...

in 1951. Three years later, the state merged with Pakistan, removing Khan's sovereign status. Khan fathered two sons, Abbas Raza Khan and Mehdi Raza Khan and one daughter Zahra from his second wife.

Early life

Khan was born on 29 June 1933 at

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Mir Faiz Muhammad Khan Talpur II Mir Faiz Muhammad Khan Talpur ( ur, ; 4 January 1913 - 1954), was 7th ruler of Sohrabani Talpur dynasty of Khairpur State from 1935 until 1947. Biography He was born on 4 January 1913 to Mir Ali Nawaz Khan Talpur. He was educated at Mayo Col ...

and Dulhan Pasha Begum. He studied at

St Bonaventure's High School St Bonaventure's High School (formerly St Bonaventure's Boys' High School) is a private Catholic primary and secondary school, located on Foujdari Road in Saddar, Hyderabad in the Sindh province of Pakistan. The school has another branch in the ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

followed by

Aitchison College Aitchison College ( ur, ایچیسن کالج) is an independent, semi-private boys school for boarding and day students from grade 1–13 in Lahore, Pakistan. It has a tradition of providing an education that uses academics, sports, and co-curri ...

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

, before graduating from the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. At an age of nine months, Khan was mistakenly shot by his father. Although the bullet passed through his right lung and stomach, he survived.

Reign

Khan's father Faiz Muhammad Khan II was deposed by the British on 19 July 1947, due to being declared mentally unfit. On 24 July, he ascended the throne at

Faiz Mahal The Faiz Mahal ( ur, ) is a palace in Khairpur, Sindh, Pakistan. It was built by Mir Sohrab Khan in 1798 as the principal building serving as the sovereign's court for the royal palace complex of Talpur monarchs of the Khairpur dynasty. Origin ...

but a regency board, consisting of his close relatives was created to govern the state on his behalf, as he was a minor. On 4 August 1947, the state government issued a notification declaring that 15 August would be celebrated as the state's Independence Day. On that day, with the partition of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

into two new dominions, Pakistan and India, the princely states became fully independent. Most of the future

princely states of Pakistan The princely states of Pakistan ( ur, ; sd, پاڪستان جون نوابي رياستون) were princely states of the British Indian Empire which acceded to the new Dominion of Pakistan between 1947 and 1948, following the partition of Br ...

took no immediate action to accede to it. However, after some negotiation, on 3 October, Mir Ghulam Hussain Khan, one of the regents, signed an instrument of accession on behalf of Khan, acceding the state to the

. It thus became one of the first two

. During Khan's reign, Khairpur spanned over with a population of around 300,000 and a substantial part of the Lahore-Karachi railway track was within the state, thus making it a high-value territory for the newly formed Pakistan to wish to gain. A supplementary instrument signed on 1 February 1949 considerably reduced the effective powers of Khan and the Durbar, giving Pakistan control of the armed forces and also agreeing that the chief-minister of the state would be appointed only after consultation with the national government. The Government of Khairpur Act, 1949, was initiated quasi-democratic reforms and established a 15-member legislative assembly composed of local representatives, making Khairpur one of the first two princely states of Pakistan (the other one being Bahawalpur) where

universal adult franchise Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stance ...

was enabled for the first time. But, democratic ideals failed to develop, given that the proceedings of the assembly were allowed to be vetoed by the Chief-minister and additionally, the Chief Minister was granted absolute authority to promulgate laws without the consent of the assembly. In 1951, Prime Minister

invested the 18-year-old Khan with absolute ruling powers and disbanded the regents-council. The Government of Khairpur Act was passed in 1953, despite the strong reservations of Khan, converting Khairpur into a province and consolidating further powers in the hands of a centrally appointed chief-minister. On 25 May 1954, the assembly passed a resolution that rejected proposals of a merger with

Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

. Finally, having come to believe a merge was inevitable, the state assembly passed a resolution to unite with the

on 10 November 1954. Ten days later, Khan signed a merger agreement with Pakistan. This merger ended Khan's status as a sovereign.

Personal life

Khan's first wife was Ghulam Saddiquah Begum, the daughter of Nawab

Sadeq Mohammad Khan V General Nawab Sir Sadiq Muhammad Khan V Abbasi ( ur, ) (born 29 September 1904, in Derawar – died 24 May 1966, in London) was the Nawab, and later Amir, of Bahawalpur State from 1907 to 1966. He became the Nawab on the death of his fat ...

Bahawalpur State Bahawalpur (Urdu, skr, ) was a princely state of British India, and later Dominion of Pakistan, that was a part of the Punjab States Agency. It existed as an autonomous state, within Pakistan from 1947 to 1955, when it was dissolved and merg ...

, whom he married at the Sadiqgarh Palace in

Bahawalpur Bahawalpur () is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. With inhabitants as of 2017, it is Pakistan's 11th most populous city. Founded in 1748, Bahawalpur was the capital of the former princely state of Bahawalpur, ruled by the Abbasi fa ...

. His second wife was Alya Talpur, a daughter of religious scholar Allama

Rasheed Turabi Raza Hussain also known as Allama Rasheed Turabi (1908–1973) was an Islamic scholar, religious leader, public speaker, poet and philosopher. He was born on 9th Jamadi-us-Sani 1326, 9 July 1908 in Hyderabad, India. He was the eldest s ...

. She died on 8 February 2019. Khan fathered two sons, Abbas Raza Khan and Mehdi Raza Khan and one daughter Zahra from his second wife.

Bibliography

Notes References * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, George Ali Murad 1933 births Living people People from Khairpur District Indian monarchs Talpur dynasty Aitchison College alumni Alumni of the University of Cambridge