Sikander Hyat Khan
Encyclopedia
Sardar Sir Sikander Hayat Khan, KB, KCSI, Doctor of Oriental Lit etc. (5 June 1892 in Multan
Multan
Multan , is a city in the Punjab Province of Pakistan and capital of Multan District. It is located in the southern part of the province on the east bank of the Chenab River, more or less in the geographic centre of the country and about from Islamabad, from Lahore and from Karachi...

 – 25/26 December 1942) was a renowned British Indian politician and statesman from the Punjab
Punjab (British India)
Punjab was a province of British India, it was one of the last areas of the Indian subcontinent to fall under British rule. With the end of British rule in 1947 the province was split between West Punjab, which went to Pakistan, and East Punjab, which went to India...

.

Early Life

He was the son of late Nawab Muhammad Hyat Khan CSI, of Wah
Wah
Wah is a city in the Rawalpindi District in Punjab, Pakistan. It contains a garden which is said to have been built by the Mughal emperor Akbar in the 16th century. Wah Cantonment is nearby....

, who was a close associate of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, and a prominent scion of the Khattar
Khattar
Khattar , is an upper caste Pushtun tribe in Afghanistan and Punjabi, in Punjab, it is variously classified asJatt and Khatri caste in India.-Origins:...

  Jatt tribe of Attock
Attock
Attock is a city located in the northern border of the Punjab province of Pakistan and the headquarters of Attock District...

, North Punjab. He was educated at school in Aligarh and later at Aligarh University, and for a short while was sent to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 for higher education but was recalled home by his family circa 1915.

During the First World War, he initially worked as a War Recruitment Officer in his native Attock district and later served as one of the very first Indian officers to receive the King's Commission, with the 2/67th Punjabis (later the 1/2 Punjab Regiment
Punjab Regiment
Punjab Regiment may refer to the following existing units:*Punjab Regiment *Punjab Regiment From 1922 to 1947, the British Indian Army included 6 numbered Punjab Regiments:*1st Punjab Regiment*2nd Punjab Regiment*8th Punjab Regiment...

). As a result of his distinguished services in the Great War and later, the Third Afghan War, he was awarded an MBE
MBE
MBE can stand for:* Mail Boxes Etc.* Management by exception* Master of Bioethics* Master of Bioscience Enterprise* Master of Business Engineering* Master of Business Economics* Mean Biased Error...

 by the Government of British India.
After 1920, Sir Sikandar turned his talents to business and by dint of his financial acumen and managerial skills, soon became a director or managing director of several companies, including the Wah Tea Estate, The Amritsar-Kasur Railway Company, The People's Bank of Northern India, The Sialkot-Narowal Railway, The ACC Wah Portland Cement Company, the Wah Stone and Lime Company, Messrs. Owen Roberts, the Punjab Sugar Corporation Ltd, Messrs. Walter Locke & Co, The Lahore Electricity Supply Co and many others. He also entered grassroots politics at this time, and remained an honorary magistrate and Chairman of the Attock District Board.

Later Life and Career

In 1921, Sir Sikandar was elected to the Punjab Legislative Council and his effective political role now began, as he became one of the main leaders of the Punjab Unionist Party
Unionist Party
-United Kingdom:In the United Kingdom the term "unionist' may indicate support for either;* the 1707 Act of Union between Scotland and England or,* the 1800 Act of Union between Ireland and Great Britain....

(Later renowned as the Unionist Muslim League
Unionist Muslim League
The Unionist Muslim League, also known simply as the Unionist Party was a political party based in the province of Punjab during the period of British rule in India. The Unionist Party mainly represented the interests of the landed gentry and landlords of Punjab, which included Muslims, Hindus and...

), an all-Punjab political party formed to represent the interests of the landed gentry and landlords of Punjab which included Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus. After an outstanding period of political enterprise between 1924-1934 , he in due course took over leadership of the Unionist Party from Sir Fazli Husein. Khan led his party to victory in the 1937 elections, held under the Government of India Act 1935
Government of India Act 1935
The Government of India Act 1935 was originally passed in August 1935 , and is said to have been the longest Act of Parliament ever enacted by that time. Because of its length, the Act was retroactively split by the Government of India Act 1935 into two separate Acts:# The Government of India...

 and then governed the Punjab as Premier in coalition with the Sikh
Sikh
A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...

 Akali Dal and the Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...

.

Khan opposed the Quit India Movement
Quit India Movement
The Quit India Movement , or the August Movement was a civil disobedience movement launched in India in August 1942 in response to Mohandas Gandhi's call for immediate independence. Gandhi hoped to bring the British government to the negotiating table...

 of 1942 , and supported the Allied powers during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Khan believed in politically cooperating with the British for the independence of India and the unity of Punjab.

In 1937, Jinnah signed the Sikander-Jinnah pact at Lucknow
Lucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....

, merging the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 elements of his powerful Unionist force with the All India Muslim League, as a move towards reconciling the various Muslim elements in the Punjab and elsewhere in India, towards a common, united front for safeguarding their community rights and interests,. He was also later one of the chief supporters and architects of the Lahore Resolution
Lahore Resolution
The Lahore Resolution , commonly known as the Pakistan Resolution , was a formal political statement adopted by the Muslim League at the occasion of its three-day general session on 22–24 March 1940 that called for greater Muslim autonomy in British India...

, March 1940, calling for an autonomous or semi-independent Muslim majority region within the larger Indian confederation—which demand later led to the demand for an independent Pakistan.

Khan died in 1942. He is buried at the footsteps of the Badshahi Masjid in Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...

, commemorated for his contributions to Islam by having restored and revitalized the grand mosque.

Successors and Legacy

His son, late Shaukat Hayat Khan
Shaukat Hayat Khan
Shaukat Hayat Khan was a prominent Muslim League movement worker and political leader, who worked closely with the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, in the Punjab.-Background:...

, continued the family's political role in post-Independence Pakistan. Among Sir Sikandar's grandchildren, are Yawar Hyat Khan, the famous Pakistani television director/producer and Tariq Ali
Tariq Ali
Tariq Ali , , is a British Pakistani military historian, novelist, journalist, filmmaker, public intellectual, political campaigner, activist, and commentator...

 a British Pakistani writer and lecturer of international repute. Among his great-grandchildren, is the Pakistani poet, writer, research scholar and social activist Omer Tarin
Omer Tarin
Omer Tarin , born March 1967, is a well-known Pakistani poet in English, research scholar, and social activist...

 (Omer Salim Khan).

See also

  • Unionist Muslim League
    Unionist Muslim League
    The Unionist Muslim League, also known simply as the Unionist Party was a political party based in the province of Punjab during the period of British rule in India. The Unionist Party mainly represented the interests of the landed gentry and landlords of Punjab, which included Muslims, Hindus and...

  • Punjab Muslim League
    Punjab Muslim League
    When the All-India Muslim League was founded at Dacca, on 30 December 1906 at the occasion of the annual All India Muhammadan Educational Conference, It was participated by the Muslim leaders from Punjab, i.e., Sir Mian Muhammad Shafi, Mian Fazl-i-Hussain, Abdul Aziz, Khawaja Yusuf Shah and Sh....

  • Malik Umar Hayat Khan
    Malik Umar Hayat Khan
    Major General Sir Malik Mohammed Umar Hayat Khan GBE KCIE MVO , was a soldier of the Indian Empire, one of the largest landholders in the Punjab, and an elected member of the Council of State of India...

  • Malik Khizar Hayat Tiwana
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