The state visit of Liaquat Ali Khan to the United States, from 3 to 5 May 1950, was the official

visit Visit refer as go to see and spend time with socially. Visit may refer to: *State visit, a formal visit by a head of state to a foreign country *Conjugal visit, in which a prisoner is permitted to spend several hours or days in private with a visit ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

first First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Liaquat Ali Khan Liaquat Ali Khan (1 October 189516 October 1951) was a Pakistani lawyer, politician and statesman who served as the first prime minister of Pakistan The prime minister of Pakistan (, Roman Urdu, romanized: Wazīr ē Aʿẓam , ) is the he ...

, to

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

. He was accompanied by the First Lady of Pakistan,

Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan Begum Ra'ana Liaqat Ali Khan (, known as Gul-i-Rana; 13 February 1905 – 13 June 1990) was the First Lady of Pakistan from 1947 to 1951 as the wife of Liaquat Ali Khan who served as the 1st Prime Minister of Pakistan. She was also the first fe ...

Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan President Truman

President Truman had sent his personal aircraft, ''The Independence'', to ferry the Pakistani prime minister from London to Washington, D.C., and accorded him the highest honour by personally welcoming him at the national airport, accompanied by his entire cabinet. A photograph from that time shows Truman and his wife smiling at the camera, surrounded his Pakistani guests and their wives in "Gharar" outfits in front of Blair House, the state guest house across the street from the White House. Liaqat Ali Khan was wearing a Western Suit with a "Jinnah" Karkuli cap. Upon Prime Minister Ali Khan's arrival, there was an official parade in the New York City in his honour, he was also conferred with an honorary degree by the

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. During his visit, he also spoke at the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

, the

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

of the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

. At home front, Prime Minister Ali Khan's trip to the United States was highly politicised and criticised by the left–wing sphere who levelled its charges on ignoring the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

's invitation in favour of the United States. Upon returning to Pakistan, Ali Khan spoke highly of his visit to the US but survived a conspiracy hatched by the left–wing sphere in 1951. According to the English newspaper, ''

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the diffuse sky radiation, appearance of indirect sunlight being Rayleigh scattering, scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc ha ...

'', Ali Khan's state visit and further reliance towards the United States became a permanent fixture of the

foreign policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...

of Pakistan during the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

Background

After the

independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

in 1947, the United States was one of the first countries to recognise the new State of Pakistan as

US Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

had rushed the US Consul-General in

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

to Karachi to represent the

US government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, execut ...

in the Pakistan's

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...

ceremony on 14 August 1947 with a message of warm greetings and good wishes from the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

. The

of Pakistan in 1947 oversaw the first war over

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

region. During the war,

Founder Founder or Founders may refer to: Places *Founders Park, a stadium in South Carolina, formerly known as Carolina Stadium * Founders Park, a waterside park in Islamorada, Florida Arts, entertainment, and media * Founders (''Star Trek''), the ali ...

of Pakistan and

Governor-General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

Muhammad Ali Jinnah Muhammad Ali Jinnah (born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 187611 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 inception of Pa ...

unsuccessfully asked the United States for $2 billion in military and financial aid but the US followed a policy of

neutrality Neutral or neutrality may refer to: Mathematics and natural science Biology * Neutral organisms, in ecology, those that obey the unified neutral theory of biodiversity Chemistry and physics * Neutralization (chemistry), a chemical reaction in ...

, rebuffing any requests made by Pakistan's government. During this time, Pakistan's relations with the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

remained to be fluctuated. In 1949, Indian Prime minister

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

paid the state visit to the United States, which eventually led Pakistan's government to cement relations with the

. Finally on 3 June 1949, Soviet Union sent an invitation to Prime Minister Ali Khan which came as a surprise to the United States. With India's strict commitment towards the

Non-aligned Movement The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 121 countries that Non-belligerent, are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. It was founded with the view to advancing interests of developing countries in the context of Cold W ...

(NAM) influenced the United States to send an invitation to Ali Khan in 1950.

Visit and aftermath

Photograph of President Truman and Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan of Pakistan in Washington during the Prime

In a reference written by Kalim Bahadur in his book ''Democracy in Pakistan: Crises and Conflicts'', Prime Minister Ali Khan quickly accepted the invitation and postponed his visit to Moscow. On 3 May 1950, Prime Minister Ali Khan, the First Lady of Pakistan, Begum Ali Khan and the large civic-military delegation arrived to the United States via United Kingdom and their official flight landed at the New Orleans Airport,

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, Louisiana. Prime Minister Ali Khan was met with honour and received a warm welcome from the general American public; he was personally received by the President of the United States,

Harry Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...

. Upon reaching New York City, President Truman organised a parade and accorded the red-carpet treatment to welcome Ali Khan and his family. Ali Khan gave a lecture on

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

, which conferred him with an honorary degree. Thereafter, he also engaged and spoke to the

US House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

. Speaking at the

session, Ali Khan highlighted the importance of Pakistan's geostrategic location, and the visit set the course of Pakistan's foreign policy: close ties with the United States and co-operation against a perceived threat from the USSR. Upon returning to Pakistan, he strongly defended his trip to the United States in a broadcast from

Radio Pakistan The Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (); also known as ''Radio Pakistan'', serves as the national public broadcaster for radio in Pakistan. Although some local stations predate its founding, it is the oldest existing broadcasting network in P ...

on 30 June:

Criticism and politicisation

At home front, Prime Minister Ali Khan was highly politicised and criticised by the left-wing sphere who charged him with ignoring the

's initiation. However, Ali Khan counter-argued that the

had slowly extended the invitation and "were unable to fix a date to pay a state visit." Ali Khan's state visit and alignment towards the United States became a pivot in Pakistan's

during the

. After the

assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

of Ali Khan, the relations with the USSR soured until 1965 when the relations improved to such an extent that USSR sponsored the

Tashkent Agreement The Tashkent Declaration was signed between India and Pakistan on 10 January 1966 to resolve the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. Peace was achieved on 23 September through interventions by the Soviet Union and the United States, both of which pus ...

between India and Pakistan. In 1972, due to Prime Minister

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979) was a Pakistani barrister and politician who served as the fourth president of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973 and later as the ninth Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan from 19 ...

rapprochement In international relations, a rapprochement, which comes from the French word ''rapprocher'' ("to bring together"), is a re-establishment of cordial relations between two countries. This may be done due to a mutual antagonist, as the German Empire ...

, visit led to normalise the relation after providing a help to finance the founding of Pakistan's largest industrial complex:

Pakistan Steel Mills The Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation, colloquially referred to as ''Pak Steel'', is a Pakistani state-owned company that produces long-rolled steel and heavy metal products in the country. Headquartered in Karachi, Sindh, the PSMC is currently ...

. In a critical assessment opinion written in English newspaper ''

'', Liaquat Ali Khan is chiefly responsible for throwing Pakistan into the US camp.

Media gallery

File:PrimeMinisterAliKhanSpeaksInNewOrleans1950.jpg, Prime Minister Ali Khan speaking with the American public. File:Begum Liaquat Ali Meets President of MIT.jpg, Prime Minister Ali Khan and First Lady Begum Ali Khan speaks with the faculty of

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

. File:Barkley showing Vice Presidents seal to Ali Khan.jpg, Vice-President

Alben Barkley Alben William Barkley (; November 24, 1877 – April 30, 1956) was the 35th vice president of the United States serving from 1949 to 1953 under President Harry S. Truman. In 1905, he was elected to local offices and in 1912 as a U.S. rep ...

explains the 1948 version US Seal.

References

Liaquat Ali Khan on US Visit - Colorized Pakistan
– A detailed article on Liaquat Ali Khan's visit to the American Locomotive Company, featuring a colorized historical photograph and analysis.

Background

Visit and aftermath

Criticism and politicisation

Media gallery

References

Further reading