Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan ( ur, نواب زاده نصر الله خان) (13 November 1916 – 27 September 2003) was a senior politician in
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 ...
and later
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
.Urdu: نواب زاده نصر الله خان لیلیزئی
Early life and career
He was born in
Khangarh, Punjab
Khangarh ( ur, ) is a city in the Muzaffargarh District, which is in the southern part of the province Punjab (Pakistan), Punjab in Pakistan. It is situated on the west bank of the Chenab River. The city is known for being the hometown of the l ...
in Muzaffargarh District in southern Punjab.
He started his political career in 1933 by joining a religious political party namely the
Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam
Majlis-e Ahrar-e Islam ( ur, مجلس احرارلأسلام), also known in short as Ahrar, is a religious Muslim political party in the Indian subcontinent that was formed during the British Raj (prior to the Partition of India) on 29 Dece ...
, soon after it was formed by Syed Ata ullah Shah Bukhari. He was also elected the Secretary General of All India Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam in 1945. This party held an Indian Nationalist position. Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, coming from a background with ties to the
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...
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 subcont ...
in 1947 after the partition of India and the
creation of Pakistan
The Pakistan Movement ( ur, , translit=Teḥrīk-e-Pākistān) was a List of historical separatist movements, political movement in the first half of the 20th century that aimed for the creation of Pakistan from the Muslims, Muslim-majority a ...
occurred. He won a seat of
Provincial Assembly of Punjab
The Provincial Assembly of the Punjab is a unicameral legislature of elected representatives of the Pakistani province of Punjab, which is located in Lahore, the provincial capital. It was established under Article 106 of the Constitution of Paki ...
in general elections in 1952 and the National Assembly of Pakistan seat in the 1962 general elections. In 1964, he supported Fatima Jinnah in the election against president Ayub Khan. In 1966, he served as the President of the Awami League party mostly active in former
East Pakistan
East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Myanmar, wi ...
. In June 1967, he founded his own political party named as
Pakistan Democratic Party
The Pakistan Democratic Party (PDP) was a political party in Pakistan, founded by Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan in June 1967. Nawbzada Nasrullah Khan led the party until his death in 2003. After Nawab's death, the party's leadership was later taken ...
and served its chairman till his death in 2003. He helped form the opposition alliance Democratic Action Committee to remove military dictator President Ayub Khan from power. In 1993, he was elected again to the National Assembly of Pakistan. He was also made the chairperson of the Kashmir Committee. Just before his death, he was the Chairman of
Alliance for Restoration of Democracy
The Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) was an alliance of the two then largest political parties in Pakistan - the Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League (N) formed on 3 December 2000. The two parties had been know ...
(ARD) working for the restoration of democracy in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
against General
Pervez Musharraf
General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of t ...
.
Death and legacy
He died on 27 September 2003 after being admitted to a hospital in
Islamabad
Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...
, following a heart attack. He was 86 years old. He is buried in Khangarh, District
Muzaffargarh
Muzaffargarh (Urdu and pa, , , Fort of Muzaffar) is a city in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. Located on the bank of the Chenab River, it is the capital of the district with the same name. It is the 39th largest city of Pakistan by populatio ...
, Punjab, Pakistan. His survivors include five sons and four daughters.
A major Pakistani English-language newspaper comments about him, "Known for his Hukka, dark achkan and distinctive cap, Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan spent all his life in fighting against dictators, military as well as civilian, and struggled to strengthen the parliamentary democracy, bothering little how he would go down in history for targeting all governments."
In its obituary for Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, Dawn (newspaper) of Pakistan called him
a 'Crusading democrat'.
Another major English-language newspaper
The Nation (Pakistan)
''The Nation'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Majid Nizami Trust and based in Lahore, Pakistan since 1986. ''Rameeza'' is the Executive Editor of ''The Nation''. She is the adopted daughter of the renowned Pakistani journalist, ...
ran his obituary in its editorial - titled, 'Death of a veteran'.Death of a veteran The Nation (Pakistan) newspaper, Retrieved 20 December 2018