Feroz Khan Noon

Sir Malik Feroz Khan Noon (7 May 1893 – 9 December 1970)[1] KCSI, KCIE, OStJ, best known as Feroze Khan, was the seventh prime minister of Pakistan, serving in this capacity from his appointment on 16 December 1957, until being removed when the President of Pakistan Iskandar Ali Mirza imposed martial law with the 8 October 1958 Pakistani coup d'état.[2]

Sir

Feroz Khan Noon
ملک فیروز خان نون

KCSI, KCIE, OStJ
7th Prime Minister of Pakistan
In office
16 December 1957 – 7 October 1958
PresidentIskander Mirza
Preceded byI.I. Chundrigar
Succeeded byAyub Khan (de facto)
Nurul Amin (Appointed in 1971)
Minister of Defence
In office
16 December 1957 – 7 October 1958
DeputyAkhter Husain
(Secretary of Defence)
Preceded byMumtaz Daultana
Succeeded byAyub Khuhro
5th Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
12 September 1956 – 7 October 1958
DeputySikandar Ali Baig
(Foreign Secretary)
Preceded byHamidul Huq Choudhury
Succeeded byManzur Qadir
Chief Minister of Punjab
In office
3 April 1953 – 21 May 1955
Governor
Preceded byM. Daultana
Succeeded byA.H. Khan Dasti
Governor of East Bengal
In office
31 March 1950 – 31 March 1953
Chief MinisterNurul Amin
Preceded byFrederick Chalmers Bourne
Succeeded byChaudhry Khaliquzzaman
Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations
In office
1945 – September 1946
MonarchGeorge VI
Prime MinisterWinston Churchill
Preceded bySecretariat created
Succeeded bySamarendranath Sen
British Representative to the Pacific War Council
In office
1944–1945
MonarchGeorge VI
Prime MinisterWinston Churchill
Preceded byArcot Ramasamy Mudaliar
Succeeded byDigvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji
Minister of Labour in Viceroy's Executive Council
In office
1941–1944
Preceded byB. N. Mitra
Succeeded byB. R. Ambedkar
High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom
In office
1937 – 29 December 1941
ViceroyEarl of Willingdon
Preceded byB. N. Mitra
Succeeded byAzizul Haque
Provincial Minister of Local Government, Health, and Education
In office
1927–1936
Governor
President of the Republican Party
In office
1956 – 7 October 1958
Vice PresidentIskander Mirza
Preceded byParty established
Succeeded byParty disestablished
Personal details
Born
Malik Feroze Khan Noon

(1893-05-07)7 May 1893
Hamoka, Khushab District Punjab, British India
(Present-day, Sargodha, Punjab in Pakistan)
Died9 December 1970(1970-12-09) (aged 77)
Nurpur Noon, Sargodha District, Punjab, Pakistan
Resting placeNurpur Noon cemetery,Sargodha
Citizenship British India
(1893–47)
 Pakistan
(1947–70)
Political partyMuslim League
(1921–57; 1962–70)
Republican Party
(1957–58)
Spouse(s)Victoria Rikhy Noon
(m. 1945)
Alma materOxford University
(BA in Hist.)
AwardsOrder of the Indian Empire
Order of the Star of India
Order of St. John

Trained as a barrister in England, Khan served as High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom before serving as a military adviser, over issues pertaining to the British Indian Army, to Prime Minister Winston Churchill's war ministry from the India Office.[1]

Khan was one of the Founding Fathers of Pakistan who helped to negotiate and establish the Federation of Pakistan as a nation-state on 14 August 1947, resulting from the successful constitutional movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Early life and education in England

Feroz Khan Noon was born in the village of Hamoka, located in Khushab District, Punjab in the then British India on 7 May 1893.[3] He came from an aristocratic landowning family that were known for their wealth and reputation in social circles[4][5] and belonged to the Noon clan, who were known to have Punjabi Rajput ancestry.[6][7]

After his initial schooling, Noon attended Aitchison College in Lahore before being sent to England in 1912.[8] The India Office arranged for him to stay with the family of a Reverend Lloyd in Ticknall, South Derbyshire. From there he applied to study at Oxford University, initially being rejected by Balliol College, he was then accepted by Wadham College. Noon stayed with Lloyd's family until 1913, and had a close relationship with them until going to Oxford.[1]

At Wadham College, Noon studied history and Farsi, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in history in 1916.[9] He was a keen soccer player and played collegiate field hockey for Isis Club.[1]

During his college years, Noon went to the United States in search of higher education at universities there but returned to Oxford.[9] He interacted with very few Indian students while at university, heeding his father's advice to learn English culture, and lacked time to attend any Indian cultural festivals because he was concentrating on his studies.[1]

In 1916, Noon moved to London to sit the law examination. He qualified as a barrister-at-law from the Inner Temple in 1917 before returning to India.[9]

Political career

Law practice and legislative career in India

After returning to India in September 1917, Khan began practising law at the District Court in Sargodha and later moved to the Lahore High Court, establishing his reputation in civil law until 1927.[9][8]

In 1920–21, Khan entered national politics and was elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly on the platform of the Unionist Party. During this time, he formed a close acquaintance with Jogendra Singh.[10] From 1927 until 1931, he joined the cabinet of the Governor of Punjab, Malcolm Hailey and held the portfolio of provincial Ministry of Local Government until 1930.[11]

Between 1931 and 1936, Khan was in the cabinets of Governors Geoffrey Fitzhervey de Montmorency, Sikandar Hyat, and Herbert William Emerson where he held provincial portfolios of Ministries of Health and Education.[12]

In December 1932, Khan was appointed as an Officer of the Venerable Order of Saint John.[13] In 1933, Khan was knighted in the 1933 New Year Honours List.[14] He was appointed as Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (KCIE) in the 1937 Coronation Honours List[15] and appointed as Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India (KCIS) in October 1941.[16]

Diplomatic career: World War II and Pakistan Movement

In 1936, Khan resigned from his public service in Punjab when he was appointed as the High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom.[12]

Over the issue of the Immigration Act of 1924 in the United States, the British Government directed Khan to Washington D.C.. He was accompanied by Nevile Butler of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1941 to address issues of American exploration in Baluchistan, and the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status between the United States and the United Kingdom, in light of the Anglo-American Trade Agreement signed in 1938. Khan showed great reluctance to grant American petroleum companies access to Baluchistan due to the Indian government's difficulty maintaining control in remote areas adjacent to Iran and Afghanistan, especially when Indians were being barred from entering the United States.[17]

After the start of World War II in 1939, Khan, who had pro-British views, supported British efforts against the Axis powers, lobbying for deployment of the British Indian Army in Africa and the Middle East.[18] In 1940, he strongly supported Egyptian plans to establish the grand mosque in London.[19] During the height of the anti-British Quit India Movement in India, Khan played a crucial role by convincing Prime Minister Churchill of the support of Indian Muslims for continued British control there.[20]

In 1941, Khan left his diplomatic post when he was asked to join the Churchill cabinet, being appointed first as his military adviser from the Secretary of State for India of India Office on the affairs of the Indian Army.[21] Khan later joined the Viceroy's Executive Council's cabinet as a labour minister, and played a crucial role in advising against the Independence of India, without addressing the push of Muhammad Ali Jinnah and other leaders for the Muslim question.[22][23]

In 1944–45, Churchill appointed Khan to the War Department, leading his own department alongside Arcot Ramasamy Mudaliar that provided representation for British India in the Pacific War Council.[24][25] In 1945, he was appointed as Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations, attending the first UN session in San Francisco, California.[26]

In 1946, Khan joined the Muslim League, led by Jinnah.[27] He merged his faction of the Unionist Party into the Muslim League, and garnered public support for the cause of Pakistan amidst opposition from Khizar Hayat Tiwana, who wanted to remain as Premier of the Indian Punjab.[28]

During the 1945 Indian general election, Khan's merging of the Unionist Party into the Muslim League played a decisive role. The Muslim League won by a landslide in the Punjab.[29]

Public service in Pakistan

Governorship of East Bengal and Chief Minister of Punjab

In 1947, Khan retained his constituency and became a Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan (MNA) of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, following the establishment of Pakistan as a result of the Partition of India.[30]

In October 1947, Jinnah, now Governor-General of Pakistan, appointed Khan as a special envoy and dispatched him to Saudi Arabia and the Islamic world to: introduce Pakistan and explain the reasons for its creation, to familiarize the Muslim countries with its internal problems, and to get moral and financial support from the brother countries. Khan performed the role assigned to him in a successful manner.

In 1950, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan removed Feroz Khan from the Foreign Ministry, appointing him as the Governor of East Bengal. However, he was less interested in the politics of East Bengal, and focused towards the provincial politics of Punjab in Pakistan, contesting with Mumtaz Daultana for the post of Chief Minister.[27] He had little interest in strengthening the political program of the Muslim League in Bengal and offered no political action when the popular Bengali Language Movement took place in 1950–51. On 25 July 1952, he returned to Punjab in Pakistan and left the post to Abdur Rahman Siddiqui, returning to his post on 10 November 1952.[31] Khan left Dhaka to become the Chief Minister of Punjab on 26 March 1953.[32]

After the 1953 religious riots in Lahore that resulted in Daultana's resignation, Khan finally achieved his goal when he convinced Prime Minister Khawaja Nazimuddin to appoint him as the third Chief Minister of Punjab.[33]

Foreign ministry in Coalition administration

In 1955, Khan parted from the Muslim League when he helped to establish the Republican Party, supporting the cause of the One Unit programme that laid establishment of West and East wings of Pakistan. He took over the presidency of the Republican Party, and joined the coalition of the three-party government composed of, the Awami League, the Muslim League, and the Republican Party that endorsed Iskander Mirza for the presidency. Khan had been ideologically very closed to Mirza and was appointed in the coalition cabinet of Prime Minister Huseyn Suhrawardy.

In 1956–57, Khan attempted to hold talks with India over the Kashmir issue, and insurgency in Eastern India, but was unable to make any breakthrough.[34]

Prime Minister of Pakistan (1957-58)
Main article: Feroze Khan administration

After the resignations of Awami League's H.S. Suhrawardy and Muslim League's I. I. Chundrigar, Khan was the last candidate from the three-party coalition government, and started his support for the premiership on a conservative-Republican Party agenda.[35]

Khan successfully forged an alliance with Awami League, National Awami Party, Krishak Sramik Party, and the parliamentary groups in the National Assembly that allowed him to form the government as its Prime Minister.

Malik Feroz Khan in London.

Negotiation for Gwadar

On 16 December 1957, Khan took an oath from the Chief Justice M. Munir and formed a coalition government. During this time, Khan entered into complicated but successful negotiations with the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman for the cession of Gwadar, which was taken into the Federation of Pakistan on 8 September 1958, for the price of US$3 million .[36][37]

Khan's ability to get Gwadar into the Federation, and settlement of political issues in the country generally, threatened President Mirza who had seen him as an obstacle to Mirza obtaining absolute power. Khan tried to obtain a compromise with India regarding the Kashmir problem.[38]

In his memoirs, “From Memory”, Noon writes, “With Gwadar in foreign hands, I had felt we were living in a house in which the back room with another door, was occupied by a stranger who could, at any time, sell us out to a power inimical to Pakistan…”.[39][40] The wife of Feroz Khan Noon, Viqar-un-Nisa Noon, also played a large role in the accession of Gwadar to Pakistan. She visited London in 1956 to see the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and to lobby the British Parliament for their colony Oman to give custody of 'Gwadar Port' to Pakistan,[41] and get approval from the House of Lords.[42][43][44][45][46][40]

Khan had not endorsed the presidential re-election of Mirza as the three-party coalition had been negotiating their own president to replace Mirza in 1958.[47] At midnight on 7/8 October 1958, Mirza imposed martial law in a coup d'état against his own party's government, effectively dismissing his own appointed Prime Minister to usurp all political power into his own hands.[32]

Later and personal life, and death

After the 1958 Pakistani coup d'état, Khan retired from national politics and became a political writer. He authored five books on the history of India and on issues pertaining to law and politics in Pakistan.

  • Wisdom From Fools (1940), short stories for children.[48]
  • Scented Dust (1941), a novel.[49]
  • India (1941)
  • Kashmir (1957)
  • From Memory (1966)

Khan was married to Viqar-un-Nisa Noon, an Austrian, who was a prominent politician and a social worker by profession. He died on 7 December 1970 in his ancestral village of Nurpur Noon, Sargodha District, where he is buried.[32]

See also

References
  1. Open University. "Making Britain :Firoz Khan Noon". www.open.ac.uk. London, UK: Making Britain. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  2. Butt, Daud (24 October 2020). "On the Same Page -The History of Martial Law in Pakistan". The Wallet. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  3. Poel, Jean van der (2007). Selections from the Smuts Papers: Volume VII, August 1945 – October 1950. Cambridge University Press. p. 427. ISBN 9780521033701.
  4. Mandal, U. C. (1997). Bureaucracy Growth And Devel. New Delhi, India: Sarup & Sons. p. 96. ISBN 9788185431840.
  5. Kamra, Sukeshi (2002). Bearing Witness: Partition, Independence, End of the Raj. University of Calgary Press. p. 393. ISBN 9781552380413.
  6. Rajghatta, Chidanand. "View: Most Pakistanis are actually Indians". The Economic Times. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  7. "Noon clan" (PDF). Bitstream.
  8. Churchill, Winston; Gilbert, Martin (1993). The Churchill War Papers: The ever-widening war, 1941. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 1094. ISBN 9780393019599.
  9. Noon, (Sir Malik) Firoz Khan Noon (1966). From Memory. Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan: Ferozsons. pp. 72–74.
  10. Malhotra, S. L. (1979). From civil disobedience to quit India: Gandhi and the freedom movement in Punjab and Haryana, 1932–1942. New Delhi, India: Publication Bureau, Panjab University. pp. 76–77.
  11. Cell, John W.; Cell, John Whitson (22 August 2002). Hailey: A Study in British Imperialism, 1872-1969year=2002. Cambridge, Uk: Cambridge University Press. p. 141. ISBN 9780521521178.
  12. Korson, J. Henry (1974). Contemporary Problems of Pakistan. U.S.: Brill Archive. p. 13. ISBN 9004039422.
  13. London Gazette, 3 January 1933
  14. London Gazette, 2 January 1933
  15. London Gazette, 11 May 1937
  16. London Gazette, 10 October 1941
  17. Malik, Iftikhar H. (1991). Us-South Asian Relations 1940–47: American Attitudes Toward The Pakistan Movement. New York: Springer. pp. 39–49. ISBN 9781349212163.
  18. Current Biography Yearbook. H. W. Wilson Co. 1958. ISBN 9780824201234.
  19. Nasta, Susheila (2013). India in Britain: South Asian Networks and Connections, 1858–1950. London: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 89. ISBN 9780230392717.
  20. Toye, Richard (2017). Winston Churchill: Politics, Strategy and Statecraft. Indiana, U.S.: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 121. ISBN 9781474263863.
  21. Venkataramani, M. S.; Shrivastava, B. K. (1983). Roosevelt, Gandhi, Churchill: America and the last phase of India's freedom struggle. New Delhi, India: Radiant Publishers. p. 335.
  22. Hess, Gary R. (1971). America encounters India, 1941–1947. Johns Hopkins Press. pp. 38–39. ISBN 9780801812583.
  23. Hope, Ashley Guy (1968). America and Swaraj: The U.S. Role in Indian Independence. Public Affairs Press. pp. 58–59.
  24. Ray, Jayanta Kumar (2007). Aspects of India's International Relations, 1700 to 2000: South Asia and the World. Mumbai, India: Pearson Education India. pp. 395–396. ISBN 9788131708347.
  25. "CONCLUSIONS of a Meeting of the War Cabinet held at 10, Downing Street, S.W. 1, on Tuesday, 3rd April, 1945, at 11-30 am" (PDF). filestore.nationalarchives.gov.uk.
  26. Lentz, Harris M. (2014). Heads of States and Governments Since 1945. Washington, DC: Routledge. p. 612. ISBN 9781134264902.
  27. "Feroz Khan Noon" (PDF). Shodhganga.
  28. Jalal, Ayesha (1994). The Sole Spokesman: Jinnah, the Muslim League and the Demand for Pakistan. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 144–145. ISBN 9780521458504.
  29. Mohiuddin, Yasmeen Niaz (2007). Pakistan: A Global Studies Handbook. New York, U.S.: ABC-CLIO. p. 70. ISBN 9781851098019.
  30. Lentz, Harris M. (2014). Heads of States and Governments Since 1945 (1st ed.). Washington, DC: Routledge. p. 612. ISBN 9781134264902.
  31. "Siddiqui, Abdur Rahman – Banglapedia". en.banglapedia.org. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  32. Jafar, Abu. "Noon, Malik Firoz Khan". en.banglapedia.org. Banglapedia. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  33. Mahmud, Syed (1958). A nation is born. Karachi, Pakistan: Feroz Printing Works. p. 26.
  34. Pandey, Sudhakar (2015). Govind Ballabh Pant. Publications Division Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. p. 189. ISBN 9788123026466.
  35. "Remembering Malik Feroz Khan Noon: Pakistan owes him Gwadar". www.linkedin.com. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  36. Choudhry, Dr. Shabir (16 December 2016). "CPEC – A potential threat to turn Gilgit-Baltistan a battleground – II – Northlines". Northlines. London, UK: Northlines. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  37. Sir), Firoz Khan Noon (Malik; Nūn, Fīroz K̲h̲ān̲ (1966). From Memory. Ferozsons. p. 282.
  38. Salahuddin, Syed (15 May 2010). "Consensus on Kashmir". DAWN.COM. DAWN.COM. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  39. Ranjan, Amit (20 November 2018). Partition of India: Postcolonial Legacies. ISBN 9780429750526.
  40. Jones, Jeremy (10 March 2013). Oman, Culture and Diplomacy. ISBN 9780748674633.
  41. "Gwadar, Victoria and Aga Khan". www.ourbeacon.com. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  42. "r/pakistan - Viqar Ul Nisa, the woman who helped Pakistan obtain Gwadar (Info in comments)". reddit. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  43. "Who do we thank for Gwadar?". Daily Times. 22 May 2018. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  44. "Why did Oman sell Gwadar to Pakistan? - Quora". www.quora.com. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  45. Dhillon, Ali Ahmad (17 January 2019). "Gwadar Ki Shaan, Begum Waqar Un Nisa Noon!". Daily Urdu Columns. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  46. "Who do we thank for Gwadar?". Ismailimail. 25 May 2018. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  47. Mazari, Sherbaz Khan (1999). A Journey to Disillusionment. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195790764. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  48. Indian Information, Volume 15 (1944), Page 312
  49. Current Biography Yearbook, 1958, Page 411
Political offices
Preceded by
Frederick Chalmers Bourne		 Governor of East Bengal
1950–1953		 Succeeded by
Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman
Preceded by
Mumtaz Daultana		 Chief Minister of Punjab
1953–1955		 Succeeded by
Abdul Hamid Khan Dasti
Preceded by
Hamidul Huq Choudhury		 Minister of Foreign Affairs
1956–1958		 Succeeded by
Manzur Qadir
Preceded by
Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar		 Prime Minister of Pakistan
1957–1958		 Succeeded by
Nurul Amin
Preceded by
Mumtaz Daultana		 Minister of Defence
1957–1958		 Succeeded by
Muhammad Ayub Khuhro
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