Iskander Ali Mirza

Iskander Ali Mirza

Syed Iskander Ali Mirza was born in Murshidabad, Bengal, on November 13, 1899 to a Syed feudal family and was a descendant of Mir Jafar. He was a Shia Muslim, as his emblem below displays the sign of the Zulfiqar, the sword of Ali (son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad). He grew up in Bombay. After completing his early education at Elphinstone College Bombay, he was later educated at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, becoming the first graduate from the Indian subcontinent at the academy, and commissioned into the British Indian Army in 1920.), Cmsnd. 2nd-Lieut. IA attached 2nd Btn., Cameronians 16/7/1920, served Khodad Khel Operations 1921 and Waziristan 1924, trsnf. 17th Poona Hse. (Queen Victoria's Own) 1924, joined IPS 1926, Assistant Commissioner . Abbottabad 1926-1928, Bannu 1928-1930, Nowshera 1930-1933, and Tank 1933, Department Commissioner. Hazara 1933-1936 & Marda 1936-1938, Political Agent Khyber 1938-1940, Dep. Cmsnr. Peshawar & Political Agent to the Mohmands 1940, Political Agent Orissa States 1945-1946, Joint Defence Sec. India 1946-1947, Defence Sec. Mirza only served in the army for six years, after which he was the first Indian to be accepted in the elite Indian Political Service, eventually becoming a joint secretary in the Ministry of Defence of British India. In this position, he was responsible for dividing the British Indian Army into the future armies of Pakistan and India. Upon the formation of Pakistan, Mirza was made the Defence Secretary of the new nation, this appointment owed to Mirza's ranking as the highest Muslim civil servant in India at the time. In 1954, he was made governor of East Pakistan to bring order to a politically distressed region. This position was followed by his being appointed Minister of Interior and Frontier Regions in Prime Minister Muhammad Ali Bogra's cabinet. In 1955, he became acting Governor-General, before becoming the last Governor-General of Pakistan. Iskander Mirza was also a great advocate of the One Unit scheme and believed in the separation of state and religion. When Mirza succeeded the ailing Ghulam Mohammad as Governor-General, he was married to his second wife, Mrs Nahid Mirza, an Iranian lady who was previously the wife of the Military Attaché of Iran in Pakistan. In 1956, Pakistan established its first constitution, and the position of Governor-General was replaced by that of President. The two were essentially the same, but Mirza was officially elected as President by the Assembly. During his presidency, Pakistan was politically unstable, this was marked by four different prime ministers in two years. By 1958, realising that the 1956 Constitution was contributing to political instability, Mirza declared martial law on October 7th with the view to introducing a new constitution "more suited to the genius of the Pakistani people" in November. However, it is disputed that even though, he became the first President of Pakistan under the new constitution, he was not very fond of it. He is quoted in the book, Shahabnama [1], holding the constitution in his hand, and referring it as a "trashy book." Mirza's efforts and energies, as Shahab relates, were geared to one principal purpose, his continuation in office. Mirza was apprehensive that general elections could lead to a change in the Office of President and so elections had to be deferred under some pretext or other, which lead to his declaration of Martial Law on October 7, 1958. He appointed the commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Army, Ayub Khan, as the martial law administrator. Once the deed was done, he realized that he forfeited his own political legitimacy. Less than three weeks into martial law he was ushered out of the Presidential Palace, first to Quetta and then to exile in London. He thus precipitated his departure from the Office of President rather than prolong his tenure. Ayub Khan declared himself President on October 27th after a bloodless coup d'état. Mirza lived in exile in London till his death in 1969. His life in exile is believed to be of misery and he died penniless . After Yahya Khan's military government refused to allow him to be buried in his own country, his body was flown to Tehran where the Shah of Iran gave him a State Funeral befitting a Head of State.