Sardar Bahadur Khan

Sardar Bahadur Khan (born 8 July 1908– 31 December 1975) was the 9th Chief Minister of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (then NWFP). He was a son of Risaldar Mir Dad Khan and brother of a President of Pakistan, General Muhammad Ayub Khan. He was born at Rehana village in Haripur District.

He received his LLB Degree from Aligarh Muslim University.^{[citation needed]} A member of the Muslim League in the province, he was elected to the NWFP Legislative Assembly from the Haripur Central constituency at a by-election in Winter 1939, after the demise of the incumbent, senior Muslim League leader Khan Sahib Abdul Majid Khan Tarin.^[1] He became Speaker of the Assembly in 1942.

He was re-elected in the 1946 elections.

Khan (Pakistan Muslim League) served as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Commonwealth Relations and Communications in the government of Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan (Muslim League]) from 17 February – 10 September 1949 when he was promoted to Cabinet Minister.

He served as Minister for Communications in the cabinets of multiple Prime Ministers: Liaquat Ali Khan from 10 September 1949 – 19 October 1951, Khawaja Nazimuddin from 24 October 1951 – 17 April 1953 and Muhammad Ali Bogra from 17 April 1953 – 24 October 1954. He held the additional portfolio of Health and Works from 10 September 1949 – 20 September 1949.

Khan served as Chief Commissioner of Balochistan from 8 November 1954 – 19 July 1955.

He was a proponent of the ""One Unit Scheme"" and was nominated to replace Sardar Abdur Rashid Khan as Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister. He remained Chief Minister from 29 July 1955 – 14 October 1955 when the province merged into the new province of West Pakistan.

After the 1962 elections, he became Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly of Pakistan during the government of President Field Marshal Muhammad Ayub Khan.

The Sardar Bahadur Khan Women University in Quetta is named in his memory.^{[citation needed]}

References