Raja ''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested f ...

Ghazanfar Ali Khan Khokhar (16 August 1895 – 17 April 1963) was an Indian politician and monarch. He was born in

Pind Dadan Khan Pind Dadan Khan (P.D. Khan), a city in Jhelum District, Punjab, Pakistan, is the capital of Pind Dadan Khan Tehsil, which is an administrative subdivision of the district. Location It is located at 32°35'16N 73°2'44E on the bank of River Jhelu ...

, a town in

Jhelum district Jhelum District (Urdu and pnb, ), is partially in Pothohar Plateau, and partially in Punjab Plain of the Punjab province of Pakistan. Jhelum is one of the oldest districts of Punjab. It was established on 23 March 1849. According to the 1998 ...

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 ...

. He was a leading member of the

All India Muslim League The All-India Muslim League (AIML) was a political party established in Dhaka in 1906 when a group of prominent Muslim politicians met the Viceroy of British India, Lord Minto, with the goal of securing Muslim interests on the Indian subcontin ...

and a trusted lieutenant of

Muhammad Ali Jinnah Muhammad Ali Jinnah (, ; born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 1876 – 11 September 1948) was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the ...

, serving in the

Interim Government of India The Interim Government of India, also known as the Provisional Government of India, formed on 2 September 1946 from the newly elected Constituent Assembly of India, had the task of assisting the transition of British India to independence. It ...

of 1946 as a Member of the Central Legislative Assembly of India. After independence of Pakistan in 1947, he became the minister of Food, Agriculture and Health in the

Government of Pakistan The Government of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=hakúmat-e pákistán) abbreviated as GoP, is a federal government established by the Constitution of Pakistan as a constituted governing authority of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provin ...

and finally a

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

for Pakistan in many countries from 1948 to 1957.

Early life and career

Ghazanfar Ali Khan's father's name was Saif Ali Khan. A

Khokhar Khokhar are a Punjabi community native to Pothohar Plateau of Pakistan, and the adjoining areas of India. Khokhars now predominantly follow Islam, though a minority continue to follow Hinduism. Many Khokhars converted to Islam from Hinduism a ...

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

from Pind Dadan Khan in Jhelum district, Ghazanfar Ali was an uncle of Pir Syed Fazal Shah of

Jalalpur Sharif Jalalpur Sharif ( ur, ) is a small town located in Jhelum, and is a Union Council of Pind Dadan Khan Tehsil in Jhelum District, Punjab province, Pakistan. It is located at 32°39'34N 73°24'19E, making it approximately 50 km south west ...

, another powerful and influential figure in the region during the

Pakistan Movement The Pakistan Movement ( ur, , translit=Teḥrīk-e-Pākistān) was a political movement in the first half of the 20th century that aimed for the creation of Pakistan from the Muslim-majority areas of British India. It was connected to the pe ...

. Ghazanfar completed his high school education at Jhelum and then went on to

Government College, Lahore The Government College University, Lahore (colloquially known as GCU), is a public research university located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Opened as Government College, Lahore, in 1864, it became a university in 2002. Overview In 1864, Gov ...

. Ghazanfar Ali Khan joined the Unionist Party in 1923 because he had political ambitions and was a prominent figure in Muslim politics by 1927, when he attended a conference, comprising 30 significant Muslim leaders, that resulted in the "Delhi Muslim Proposals" which attempted to address constitutional development but were ultimately thwarted by the recommendations of the 1928

Nehru Report The Nehru Report of 1928 was a memorandum All Parties Conference in British India to appeal for a new dominion status and a federal set-up of government for the constitution of India. It also proposed for the Joint Electorates with reservation of s ...

. He persuaded his nephew to support his career in politics and this brought with it support from those who favoured his nephew Pir Fazal Shah himself. He was appointed a Revenue Minister of

Alwar State Alwar State was a kingdom from 1770 to 1818 and a princely state under British rule from 1818 to 1947. Initially its capital was Macheri and then the city of Alwar. The nobility of Alwar State belonged to the Naruka branch of the Kachwaha dyna ...

in 1933 and remained on the position till 1937. He stood in the 1937 provincial elections to the

Punjab Legislative Assembly The Punjab Legislative Assembly or the Punjab Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral legislature of the state of Punjab in India. The Sixteenth Punjab Legislative Assembly was constituted in March 2022. At present, it consists of 117 members, directl ...

as a candidate of the

All-India Muslim League The All-India Muslim League (AIML) was a political party established in Dhaka in 1906 when a group of prominent Muslim politicians met the Viceroy of British India, Lord Minto, with the goal of securing Muslim interests on the Indian subcontin ...

and won this election to become a member of Punjab Legislative Assembly from 1937 to 1945.http://www.findpk.com/pof/raja_ghazanfar_ali_khan.html, Profile and commemorative postage stamp image of Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan on findpk.com website, Retrieved 9 February 2017 But then deserted the Muslim League in favour of the Unionist Party after being offered a position as a parliamentary secretary by

Malik Khizar Hayat Tiwana Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Malik Khizar Hayat Tiwana KCSI, OBE ( pa, ; 7 August 1900 – 20 January 1975) was an Indian statesman, army officer, and landowner who served as the prime minister of the Punjab Province of British India between 1942 a ...

. He supported the pact arranged at

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

between

Sikandar Hayat Khan '' Khan Bahadur'' Captain Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan, (5 June 1892 – 26 December 1942), also written Sikandar Hyat-Khan or Sikandar Hyat Khan, was an Indian politician and statesman from the Punjab who served as the Premier of the Punjab, amon ...

and Muhammad Ali Jinnah in October 1937, believing that the

nationalist movement The Nationalist Movement is a Mississippi-founded white nationalist organization with headquarters in Georgia that advocates what it calls a "pro-majority" position. It has been called white supremacist by the Associated Press and Anti-Defamati ...

had suffered greatly from internal divisions and that a political party that united the aspirant Hindu and Muslim nationalist communities might prove more effective. In 1944, he returned to the League fold after the split between Khizar Hayat Tiwana and Jinnah, realising that the League was likely to get the upper hand. His uncle and local supporters followed him through these various manoeuvres. In the February 1946 provincial elections, Khan was a candidate for the League in the Pind Dadan Khan constituency 77 and won the election for Muslim League. In October of that year, he was among the five men nominated by Jinnah on behalf of the League to join the interim Government of India, in which he subsequently took the Minister of Food, Agriculture and Health portfolio. The other four nominated by the League were

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 ...

I. I. Chundrigar Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar ( ur, ابراہیم اسماعیل چندریگر; 15 September 1897 – 26 September 1960), best known as I. I. Chundrigar, was a Pakistani politician who served as the sixth prime minister of Pakistan, appointed in ...

Abdur Rab Nishtar Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar (13 June 1899 – 14 February 1958) was a Pakistani Muslim League politician from North-West Frontier Province.Jogendra Nath Mandal Jogendranath Mandal (Bengali: যোগেন্দ্রনাথ মন্ডল; 29 January 1904 – 5 October 1968), was one of the founding fathers of modern state of Pakistan, and legislator serving as country's first minister of law and ...

. He said of the League's involvement that "We are going into the interim government to get a foothold to fight for our cherished goal of Pakistan". After the

Partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

, Khan became Pakistan's Minister for Food, Agriculture and Health. He was minister for refugees and rehabilitation in 1948, during a period when there was much controversy regarding the movement of Muslim people between the now-divided India and Pakistan. In 1948, he became the first president of the newly formed

Pakistan Hockey Federation The Pakistan Hockey Federation ( ur, ) is the governing body for the sport of field hockey in Pakistan. It is affiliated with the International Hockey Federation (FIH). Management positions The current Patron-in-Chief is Prime Minister Mian M ...

and served for 2 years in that position (1948–1950). From 1948 to 1957, he took to a new career as a diplomat. He was successively

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

(1948-1952), Ambassador to

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

(1952-1953), High Commissioner to India (1954-1956) and finally Ambassador to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

(1956-1957).

Death and legacy

Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan died on 17 April 1963. * In honour of his contribution to Pakistan, a major road called 'Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan Road' near

Bohri Bazaar Bohri Bazaar, also known as Bohra Bazaar, ( ur, ) is a bazaar located in Saddar Town, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. It is one of the oldest marketplace A marketplace or market place is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase a ...

Saddar Saddar ( ur, ), also known as Saddar Bazaar, is a neighbourhood in Karachi, Pakistan. The locality was developed as the primary commercial district during the period of British-era rule in Karachi. As a result, Saddar contains the large concentr ...

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

was named after him.https://nearbypk.com/location/24.856731/67.030579/raja-ghazanfar-ali-rd-lucky-star-saddar-town-karachi-sindh-74400-pakistan, Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan Road shown on map, Retrieved 10 February 2017 *

Pakistan Postal Services Pakistan Post ( ur, ) is a state enterprise which functions as Pakistan's primary and largest postal operator. 49,502 employees through a vehicle fleet of 5,000 operate traditional "to the door" service from more than 13,419 post offices acro ...

issued a commemorative postage stamp in his honor in its 'Pioneers of Freedom' series in 1990.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Ghazanfar Ali 1895 births 1963 deaths First Pakistani Cabinet All India Muslim League members Leaders of the Pakistan Movement People from Jhelum Ambassadors of Pakistan to Iran Ambassadors of Pakistan to Turkey Ambassadors of Pakistan to Italy High Commissioners of Pakistan to India Members of the Central Legislative Assembly of India People from Pind Dadan Khan Members of the Council of the Governor General of India