 One unit formula

Ch. Muhammad Ali as a Prime Minister

Chaudhry Muhammad Ali (15 July 1905 – 2 December 1982), best known as Muhammad Ali, was the fourth
Prime Minister of Pakistan, appointed on 12 August 1955 until being removed through successful passage of
vote of no confidence motion in the National Assembly on 12 September 1956.

Conclusion
Chaudhry Muhammad Ali was belonged to Jalandhar. There are many personalities who belonged to
Jalandar. The opinion of World‘s renowned Readers Digest‘ the extraordinary personality of
Muhammad Ali helped in overcoming the financial difficulties and adopted such measures which
saved the newly born nation. He received his early education from Primary school from his native
town. He passed his middle examination from the same school. On the basis of his best performance
in the middle examination he won the scholarship. His father wanted to educate his son the modern
education so he put him on the line of Ali Garh. Due to his personal attention he received up-to-date
education and sound training. In 1925 he graduated from Islamia College. He attained his M.Sc.
degree in 1927 from the University of Punjab. During these years he learnt a lot from the company of
Allama Muhammad Iqbal,. His interest with Iqbal‘s poetry could be judged by the fact that he copied
the whole edition ‗Ramozee-Be-Khudi‘ in his own handwriting. He was very active in literary
activities, he along with his friends setup a mascot science society too.

He was also well aware of the political developments of the Muslim community. He was active in
Muslim student‘s politics and used to participate in the processions of Anjuman-i-Hamyat-ul-Islam
regularly. He had special attachment with Muslim League Annual session of Muslim, League was
held in Lahore in 1922 and he participated in organizing the session as a volunteer. He was impressed
by the thought provoking address of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. But he took part in active politics only when
Allama Iqbal contested the election for Punjab Assembly seat in 1926.

After that he joined the Indian Audit and Accounts service in 1928 and was deputed as Accountant General to
Bahawalpur State in 1932. It is worth mentioning that he was first Indian to be appointed on this rank in the
state of Bahawalpur. He was sent there as a Financial Expert in the capacity of Accountant General as the
financial system of the said state was out dated. There was huge expenditure and no proper accounting records.
This put the state under heavy dept of the central Government of India. He devoted his attention to improve the
situation. This resulted in dwindling expenditures and escalating incomes.

This healthy situation prodded the state to pay back the depts to the Government of India. Seeing his
performance in the state of Bahawalpur the Government of India inducted him in the department of finance and
commerce in 1936 and then he was appointed under secretary in the Federal Government. He was the first ever
Indian to be appointed as Secretary to Central Finance Ministry. With the beginning of Second World War, he
was appointed deputy and later joined as financial advisor in the department of Military Finance. From 1943 to
1946 he was appointed on different finance posts in different department.

It was in those days that the prescient eye of Quaid-i-Azam recognized that vital role of Chaudhry Muhammad
Ali could play in the establishment of the state of Pakistan and thereafter his trust and faith in him continued. It
was his extraordinary ability which won praise even from Quaid-i-Azam. During his service years though he
remained aloof from active politics, but due to his community consciousness he was fully aware of trends in
Muslim Politics. He presented his service as non-official advisor in the cabinet of Muslim League. In those days
the government presented its annual budget which was prepared by Liaquat Ali Khan with the help of Chaudhry
Muhammad Ali.
This was a poor man‘s budget. In the preparation of this budget he had played an important role. In
those days Steering Committee was the caretaker of government of India, he was also the member of
this committee from Muslim‘s side. It worked very hard from June to August 1947 to arrange and
finalize the issue of division and partition. Chaudhry Muhammad Ali and H.M Patel‘s services
deserve a special mention regarding the importance of task. Both of them laboured to divide the
heritage of their four hundred million country masses. This was a great effort on their part as the task
of division was very critical and required special skills and care to handle it. Both of them were with
their salt. So due to their efforts the Steering Committee was successful in making consensus upon a
whole range of divergent issues.

September 1955 in the Assembly

‗‘The general discussion on this bill has been remarkable for its length and even more remarkable for its
irrelevance. The country has viewed with increasing concern the rate at which are proceeding. We have taken
three weeks and more for the general consideration of this bill‘‘.
In the same speech he gave his opinion about constitution making. However the establishment of West Pakistan
Bill was passed on September 30, 1955. But Hussain Shaheed Surawary and Sardar Abdul Rashid from
N.W.F.P criticized this scheme bitterly.

constitution for the country as early as possible. Draft of the constitution was prepared in December 1955.He
After the establishment of one unit there was an important task before Chaudhry Muhammad Ali to frame the
adopted different ways for passing the constitution. He persuaded the members of United Front on the issue of
division of power between centre and provinces. He convinced them to accept more powers for centre which
included the control over finance, defence and interprovincial trade, communication, international trade and
immigration.

He had promised with the nation that by the end of February constitution will be approved by the Constituent
Assembly and will be promulgated. In spite of all obstacles, he tried his best to keep his words. It was
remarkable achievement that after the struggle of eight long years, constitution was finally approved by sincere
efforts of Prime Minister and some of his trusted lieutenants. It was promulgated on 23rd March.
It had been cherished desire of Choudhry Muhammad Ali to get the constitution approved from the Assembly
with unanimous consensus, but his desire could not be fulfilled. However his efforts were highly appreciated in
press and media. The constitution of 1956 declared itself Islamic, Parliamentary and federal in character. But
due to some reasons he left his post.

During his rule dependency on external borrowings was reduced considerably. A new programme of National
Credit scheme was introduced to keep the supply of money smooth. He was a great economist and played a vital
role in the economic development of the country. But during his reign he had little chance to implement it
although he laid the foundation of a economic structure of Pakistan. Announcement of the first five years plan
was one of the most important achievements of his government. The main objectives of this plan were to
increase the gross national product of the country. Textile industry was flourished during his reign. In this way
foreign exchange was saved. 95
So it is concluded that in larger perspective he succeeded in achieving some notable tasks which were not
undertaken by previous reigns. But he was a poor politician who failed to control his own party. His greatest
blunder was the selection of Dr. Khan Sahib as Chief Minister of the unified provinces of West Pakistan despite
the opposition of Muslim League. Dr. Khan Sahib was an old Congress man who had opposed the creation of
Pakistan. However he enjoyed the support of the President Iskander Mirza.
After the resignation Chaudhry Muhammad Ali did not remain quiet. He protest against the dictator ship of

Ayub Khan. He toured East and West Pakistan in connection with molding the public opinion against him. His
basic purpose was to unite the democratic forces against dictatorship. His first success was in 1964 in the shape
of coalition of five parties namely combined opposition parties. The manifesto of this combined opposition was
also prepared by him. He had been working for the restoration of democracy for quite a long time. But his health
began to down day by day so in 1969 due to ill-health be retired from active politics. But he kept on expressing
his opinion on the national and constitutional issues through his writing. He also wrote a book in his life namely
―Emergence of Pakistan‖.

Sikander Mirza Governor General

Mirza joined the military before then establishment of Pakistan and had served in the British Indian Army. After
the partition of India, he was appointed as the Minister of Defence of Pakistan by the prime minister and later
appointed in Bengal during the Language Movement in 1952. In 1956, he elected as the first president of the
country. During his governance, four prime ministers were dismissed in only two years, which resulted in his
dismissal by his appointed Chief of Army Staff Ayub Khan.

EDUCATION OF MIRZA

Mirza got his early education in Bombay now Mumbai. He attended the Elphinstone College of the University
of Mumbai but later quit it and joined Royal Military College after his selection by Governor-General for King’s
Commission. He joined the army as a 2nd lieutenant on 16 July 1920.

ISKANDER ALI MIRZA FAMILY

He was born to an aristocratic family. The family was entitled to Nawab of Bengal and Nawab of Murshidabad.
The name Mirza was bestowed to the family to represent royalty. During British India, it was common that
people are given names for their services. The family had close ties with the British monarchy. He was born to
Fateh Ali Mirza and Dilshad Begum. Sikandar Mirza had two wives named Rifaat and Naheed Begum. They
had 6 children.

MIRZA DATE OF BIRTH

Mirza was born on 13 November 1899 in Murshidabad, British India, and now West Bengal India.

MILITARY CAREER

 He was the first Indian graduate of the military college. After his attachment to the second battalion of
Cameronians, he was promoted to lieutenant and assigned to command a platoon on 30 December
1921. Though he belonged to military police, he spent his most of his career in NWFP and participated
in the Waziristan War. He was appointed as an Assistant Commissioner of Aligarh after he joined the
Indian political Service.

 Later, he posted as a political agent in Hazara. Soon he was promoted to the rank of Captain. From
1928 to 1933, he spent his career as a political agent in most of the tribal areas of NWFP. In 1933, he
served as a Deputy Commissioner of Hazara and then assistant commissioner of Mardan. From 1938 to
 1945, he served as a major and was appointed the Tribal belt political agent. His administrative skills
made him the joint Defence Secretary of India in 1946.

POLITICAL CAREER
INITIAL CAREER
Before the partition, he made relations with Liaquat Ali Khan and other politicians. Soon after the partition, he appointed as the Defence
Secretary by Liaqat Ali Khan. He oversaw military affairs during the War against India in 1947. In 1950, he promoted to the rank of major
general; after one year, he appointed as the director of the Department of Kashmir and Afghanistan Affairs. As a Secretary of defense, he
also deployed the police in East Bangladesh during the language movement. He also lobbied for the promotion of Ayub Khan despite his
juniority.

GOVERNOR OF EAST BENGAL

East Bengal saw political instability in 1954. Mirza appointed as the governor of East Bengal after the approval of Malik Ghulam. Soon he
took over the East Bengal government, dismissed the legislative Assembly, and imposed Martial law. He announced that he would use force
to establish peace and threatened Maulana Bhashani of shooting him and arrested more than 300 political activists with in the first week. He
was soon relieved from his post due to public criticism and appointed as an interior Minister.

GOVERNOR-GENERAL
 In 1955, the Governor-General Malik Ghulam survived a fatal Paralysis attack. He was unable to walk and talk Mirza was
appointed only as acting governor-general. Still, he dismissed his government on 7th August and invited Muhammad Ali to take
over the government as prime minister. After the first constitution was promulgated on 23 March 1956, he elected as the first
president of the country by the Electoral College.

 The Awami league built the pressure on him when he established his party under the name Republican Party. He was unable to
deal with the pressure and invited Awami League to form the central government and appointed Husain suharwardy as the Prime
Minister. Their partnership never established, and after pressure put by Mirza, Husain resigned from his seat in 1957. In 1958, he
imposed Martial Law after pressure built for the electoral reforms.

 In his speech on the radio, he announced that a new constitution would make as the country is not suited for democracy due to its
15% literacy rate. It was the first Martial Law of the country that lasted till 1971. In October 1958, Ayub Khan, the Chief of
Army Staff asked the military to enter the president palace and sent Mirza in an airplane on exile to England

ISKANDER MIRZA EXILE AND DEATH

He spent the rest of his life in exile in England. Coming from an aristocratic family, Mirza suffered extreme financial problems and lived on
a pension. It reported that he once asked his wife that they cannot pay for the treatment and let him die. On 13 November 1969, he died of a
heart attack. His burial denied in Pakistan, but he buried in Iran. It is said that after the Islamic revolution, his grave desecrated.

ISKANDER ALI MIRZA MEDALS

1. India General Service Medal
2. King George Silver Jubilee Medal
3. Pakistan Independence Medal
4. Queen Elizabeth Coronation Medal
5. Order of Supreme Sun, 1st class of the Kingdom of Afghanistan