Malik Ghulam Muhammad
Sir Malik Ghulam Muhammad[a] (20 April 1895 – 29 August 1956) was a Pakistani politician and economist who served as the third governor-general of Pakistan from 1951 to 1955.
Sir Malik Ghulam Muhammad
Muhammad Ali (1947–1948)
Sir Victor Turner (1948–1951)
Position established
August 29, 1895
Lahore, Punjab, British India
August 29, 1956 (aged 61)
Lahore, West Pakistan, Pakistan
Fauji Qabrastan near CSD off Shahra-e-Faisal Karachi
Pakistan (1947–1956)
Badshah Begum
Two
Civil servant, Chartered Accountant
Educated at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), he joined the Indian Civil Service as a chartered accountant at the Indian Railway Accounts Service before being promoted to join the Ministry of Finance under Liaquat Ali Khan in 1946. After the Independence of Pakistan in 1947, he joined the Liaquat administration as the country's first Finance Minister where he helped draft the first five-year plans to alleviate the national economy. He co-founded Mahindra & Mohammed in 1945 (later Mahindra & Mahindra in 1948) with Jagdish Chandra Mahindra and Kailash Chandra Mahindra.
Following the assassination of prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan in 1951, Malik was invited to be the Governor-General by Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin who himself took over the government as Prime Minister. Nationwide violence in the aftermath of the language movement in East Bengal and religious riots in Lahore made him dismiss the Nazimuddin administration using the reserve powers to restore stability. In 1955, he was forced to resign from the post of Governor-General due to worsening of his health conditions by then-Interior Minister Iskandar Ali Mirza, who himself took control of the office. After resignation, he fought a brief but unsuccessful battle with his illness, that ultimately resulted in his death in 1956.
His personal image is viewed negatively by Pakistan's historians, criticized for giving rise to political intrigue, undermining the civilian control of the military by authorizing martial law in Pakistan, and devaluing nascent democratic norms by sacking the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan during Prime Minister Bogra's tenure.[1]
Biography[edit]
Family background and education[edit]
Malik Ghulam Muhammad was born in a Kakazai family, in suburban neighbourhood near Mochi Gate, in Lahore, Punjab, India.[2][3][4][5][6] After completing his schooling in Lahore, he went to Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh to attend the MAO College of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), and was a roommate of Nazir Ahmed, a physicist and a bureaucrat.[7] At AMU he gained a BA degree in accountancy.[8][1]
Finance Minister (1947–51)[edit]
In 1946–47, Muhammad left Mahindra & Mahindra and joined the Ministry of Finance as a Cabinet Secretary under Finance Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, assisting him in drafting and preparing India's first union budget.[15]
After witnessing the Partition of India in 1947, he decided to acquire the citizenship of Pakistan and permanently settled in his native city, Lahore, on 14 August 1947.[15] He was brought up in the Liaquat administration when Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan appointed him as country's first Finance Minister.[15] He presented the first budget and submitted the draft of the First Five-Year Plans in 1948.[15]
In 1949, Muhammad invited leaders of the Muslim world to the International Islamic Economics Organization in Pakistan, where he emphasised the idea of a Muslim economic bloc.[15] During this time, he survived the fatal attack of paralysis that made him unable to talk or move effectively and began experiencing with poor health conditions.[17][15]