Muhammad Ayub Khuhro

Muhammad Ayub Khuhro (Urdu: محمد ایوب کھوڑو‎) (14 August 1901 – 1980) was a politician from Sindh, Pakistan, who became its first Chief Minister after independence of Pakistan and subsequently serving two additional terms in the 1950s. He later became the Defence Minister in the government of Prime Minister Feroz Khan Noon, before the imposition of martial law by General Ayub Khan.[1]

Khuhro was born into a landed family at Larkana in Sindh province of what was then British India in 1901. He entered politics in 1923 when he was elected to the Bombay Legislative Council from one of the three Larkana seats. In 1943, he was arrested in the murder case of Allah Bux Soomro, the then prime minister of Sindh. He opposed the separation of Karachi and handing it over to the central government, hence differences cropped up, and in 1948, he was dismissed from the office of the chief minister. From then onward and despite his occasional roles in national affairs, he was primarily identified with the politics and interests of Sindh.

In June 1948, cases against Khuhro for 60 allegations were initiated at Sindh Chief Court. In February 1949, Khuhro was sentenced for two and half years on allegation of typewriter theft. However, in appeal, chief court exonerated him from all charges. He played an important role and helped in the formation of One Unit. It is strange he supported Fatima Jinnah in the presidential election against Gen Ayub Khan. I contested elections of 1970 from Larkana and was defeated by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Later he gave up politics.

Hamida Khuhro, an academic, is his daughter and has written his biography.[1]