Iskandar Ali Mirza
Sahibzada Iskandar Ali Mirza[a] (13 November 1899 – 13 November 1969) was a Pakistani politician, statesman and military general who served as the Dominion of Pakistan's fourth governor-general of Pakistan from 1955 to 1956, and then as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan's first president from 1956 to 1958.
Iskander Ali Mirza
Position established
Mohammad Ali Bogra (1955)
Muhammad Ali (1955–56)
Position abolished
Mohammad Ali Bogra
Muhammad Shahabuddin (Acting)
Liaquat Ali Khan (1947–51)
K. Nazimuddin (1951–53)
Mohammad Ali Bogra (1953–54)
Liaquat Ali Khan
13 November 1899
Murshidabad, Bengal Presidency, British India
(now, West Bengal, India)
Cardiac arrest
Imamzadeh Abdullah, Tehran, Iran
Republican Party (1955–59)
Muslim League (1950–55)
6
Nawabs of Murshidabad (paternal)
Tyabji family (maternal)
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1920–1954
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Mirza was educated at the University of Bombay before attending the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. After military service in the British Indian Army, he joined the Indian Political Service and spent the most of his career as a political agent in the Western region of British India until elevated as joint secretary at the Ministry of Defence in 1946. After the independence of Pakistan as a result of the Partition of India, Mirza was appointed as the first Defence Secretary by prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan, only to oversee the military efforts in the first war with India in 1947, followed by the failed secession in Balochistan in 1948. In 1954, he was appointed as the Governor of his home province of East Bengal by Prime Minister Mohammad Ali of Bogra to control the law and order situation sparked by the popular language movement in 1952, but was later elevated as Interior Minister in the Bogra administration in 1955.
Playing a crucial role in the ousting of Governor-General Sir Malik Ghulam, Mirza assumed his position in 1955 and was elected as the first President of Pakistan when the first Constitution was promulgated in 1956. His presidency, however, was marked with political instability which saw his unconstitutional interferences in the civilian administration that led to the dismissal of four prime ministers in a mere two years. Facing challenges in getting the political endorsements and reelection for the presidency, Mirza surprisingly suspended the writ of the Constitution by imposing martial law against his own party's administration governed by Prime Minister Feroze Khan on 8 October 1958, enforcing it through his army commander General Ayub Khan who dismissed him when the situation between them escalated, also in 1958. Mirza lived in the United Kingdom for the remainder of his life and was buried in Iran in 1969.
His legacy and image are viewed negatively by some Pakistani historians who believe that Mirza was responsible for weakening democracy and causing political instability in the country.
Political career in Pakistan[edit]
Defence Secretary (1947–54)[edit]
He was appointed as the first Defence Secretary in the Liaquat administration by the Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, who relied on running the government on the British viceregal model with the close coordination of the civilian bureaucracy, the police, and the military.[21] As Defence Secretary, he oversaw the military efforts in the first war with India in 1947, as well as witnessing the failed secession in Balochistan by Khan of Kalat.[22][23]
In 1950, Mirza was promoted to two-star rank, having skipped the one-star promotion as brigadier, and upgraded his rank to major-general in the Pakistan Army by the promotion papers approved by Prime Minister Ali Khan. He was appointed as colonel commandant of the Military Police while serving as the Defence secretary in the Liaquat administration. In 1951, Prime minister Ali Khan appointed him as the director of the Department of Kashmir and Afghanistan Affairs (DKA).
His tenure as defense secretary also saw the deployment of Military Police in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) as a result of the Bengali Language Movement, during which the East Pakistan Rifles fatally shot four student activists. Within a short span of time, the Military Police had control of the state and its commanding officer submitted the report of their course of action to Major General Iskander Mirza in 1954.[10]
In 1951, he backed the Liaquat administration's decision of appointing the native chiefs of staff of the army, air force, and navy, and dismissed deputation appointments from the British military.[24][25] For the four-star appointment, the Army GHQ sent the nomination papers to the Prime Minister's Secretariat that included four-senior major-generals in the race for the army command of the Pakistan Army: Major-General Iftikhar Khan, Major-General Akbar Khan, Major-General Ishfakul Majid, and Major-General N.A.M. Raza.[26]
Initially, it was Major-General Iftikhar Khan who was promoted to four-star rank and selected to be appointed as the first native commander of the army but died in an airplane crash en route after finishing the senior staff officers' course in the United Kingdom.[27] All three remaining major-generals were bypassed including the recommended senior-most Major-General Akbar Khan and Major-General Ishfakul Majid due to Major-General Mirza's lobbying for the army selection when he presented convincing arguments to Prime Minister Ali Khan to promote the junior-most Major-General Ayub Khan to the post despite the fact that his name was not included in the nomination list.[27] Ayub's papers of promotion were controversially approved and was appointed as the first native Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army with a promotion to the rank of Lieutenant General (acting full General) on 17 January 1951 by Prime Minister Ali Khan.[24]
With Ayub becoming the army chief, it marked a change in the military tradition of preferring native Pakistanis and ending the transitional role of British Army officers.[28] Also in 1951, he helped in elevating Commodore M.S. Choudhri to the promotion to two-star rank, rear-admiral, in order to assume the navy command of the Pakistan Navy, but it was not until in 1953 when Admiral Choudhri took over the command.[24][29]