Pakistan Affairs MCQs – Page 13 (Q121-130)

Liaquat Ali Khan represented the Muslim League as Finance Member in the 1946 Interim Government, a position from which he introduced a controversial budget in early 1947 that significantly raised taxes on business classes largely dominated by Hindu industrialists. This move was widely seen as a deliberate political tactic by the League to pressure the Congress-led government and assert Muslim League influence within the coalition. His tenure highlighted the deep functional breakdown of the Interim Government, which struggled to operate cohesively given the sharp rivalry between Congress and the League. Liaquat went on to become Pakistan's first Prime Minister after independence later that same year, in August 1947.

Lord Mountbatten became Viceroy of India in March 1947, the last person to hold the position, tasked with overseeing the final transfer of power and originally targeting a transition by June 1948. He accelerated the timeline dramatically, announcing the 3 June 1947 Plan that set independence for August 1947, just months after his arrival, in order to reduce the risk of further communal violence. Mountbatten's rushed approach has been widely debated by historians, with critics arguing it contributed to the chaotic and violent nature of partition. He went on to become independent India's first Governor-General, a position he held until 1948, while Muhammad Ali Jinnah assumed the equivalent role for Pakistan.

The 3rd June Plan, also known as the Mountbatten Plan, was announced in 1947, setting out the basic framework for partitioning British India into the independent dominions of India and Pakistan. It proposed that Punjab and Bengal would be divided based on religious majorities if their legislative assemblies voted for partition, while also allowing princely states to choose their future allegiance. The plan set independence for mid-August 1947, a dramatically accelerated timeline compared to earlier proposals extending into 1948. It was quickly followed by the Indian Independence Act, passed by the British Parliament in July 1947, giving the plan legal force ahead of the transfer of power.

The transfer of power creating Pakistan took place on 14 August 1947, when British rule formally ended and Pakistan emerged as an independent dominion within the British Commonwealth. The ceremony took place in Karachi, where Muhammad Ali Jinnah was sworn in as the country's first Governor-General, one day ahead of India's own independence ceremony on 15 August. This transfer followed the 3 June 1947 Mountbatten Plan and the subsequent Indian Independence Act, which provided the legal basis for partition. The event was accompanied by the drawing of new borders under the Radcliffe Line and one of history's largest mass migrations, as millions crossed the newly created frontier.

Jogendra Nath Mandal, a prominent Dalit Hindu leader from Bengal, served as Pakistan's first Law Minister, reflecting Jinnah's stated commitment to including religious minorities in the new state's government. Mandal also briefly served as Minister for Labour and was a strong advocate for the rights of scheduled caste Hindus, having earlier allied with the Muslim League on the belief that Pakistan would offer better protection for depressed classes than a Congress-led India. He resigned from the Pakistani cabinet in 1950 and migrated to India, citing what he described as growing discrimination against Hindus in Pakistan. His appointment nonetheless remains notable as an early symbol of Jinnah's vision of Pakistan as inclusive of non-Muslim citizens in top government roles.

Malik Ghulam Muhammad served as Pakistan's first Finance Minister in the cabinet formed at independence in 1947, bringing decades of experience as a senior civil servant in British India's finance department. He went on to become Pakistan's third Governor-General in 1951, succeeding Khawaja Nazimuddin, and used the office's discretionary powers controversially, most notably dismissing Nazimuddin's government in 1953 and dissolving the first Constituent Assembly in 1954. Ill health eventually forced him from office in 1955, after which Iskander Mirza took over as Governor-General. Zahid Hussain, another name tied to Pakistan's early economic institutions, instead became the first Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan.

Sir Muhammad Zafarullah Khan served as Pakistan's first Foreign Minister from 1947 to 1954, representing the country's case for Kashmir at the United Nations Security Council in its earliest years. A distinguished lawyer, he had earlier represented Muslim interests before the Radcliffe Boundary Commission in 1947 and had served on the Viceroy's Executive Council in pre-partition India. He later had a prominent international legal career, serving as President of the UN General Assembly in 1962 and as a judge, and later President, of the International Court of Justice at The Hague. As a member of the Ahmadiyya community, his prominent early role stands out given the community's later disenfranchisement under Pakistan's 1974 constitutional amendment.

Liaquat Ali Khan, Pakistan's first Prime Minister, was assassinated on 16 October 1951 while addressing a public gathering in Rawalpindi, just over three years after Jinnah's death had already left the country without its founding leader. His assassin, Said Akbar, was shot dead by security on the spot, and the killing was never fully investigated to establish a motive, feeding decades of conspiracy theories. His death triggered a period of political instability, with a rapid succession of unelected leaders including Ghulam Muhammad and Iskander Mirza wielding outsized power over the following years. Liaquat Bagh, the renamed site of his death, later gained further tragic significance as the location of Benazir Bhutto's assassination in 2007.

Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated in Rawalpindi, at a public park then called Company Bagh, which was renamed Liaquat Bagh in his memory shortly afterward. Rawalpindi has long held special significance in Pakistan's political and military life, serving as the headquarters of the Pakistan Army and briefly functioning as the country's interim capital between 1959 and the completion of Islamabad. The same city, and the very same Liaquat Bagh park, was later the site of Benazir Bhutto's assassination in December 2007, an eerie historical parallel. Rawalpindi's twin city, Islamabad, lies just to its north and now houses the seat of the federal government.

Ghulam Muhammad became Pakistan's third Governor-General in 1951, succeeding Khawaja Nazimuddin, who in turn moved to become Prime Minister following Liaquat Ali Khan's assassination that same year. A career civil servant and former Finance Minister rather than a politician, his tenure marked a shift toward greater bureaucratic and military influence over Pakistan's early governance. He used his sweeping discretionary powers to dismiss Nazimuddin's government in 1953 and to dissolve the Constituent Assembly in 1954, actions later upheld by the courts under the controversial 'doctrine of necessity'. Failing health forced him to step down in 1955, and he was succeeded by Iskander Mirza, who became Pakistan's last Governor-General and first President.