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Liaquat Ali Khan: The assassination of Pakistan's first Prime Minister is still a mystery after seven decades
Today is October 16. On this very day 69 years ago, Pakistan's first Prime Minister Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan was shot dead during a rally in Rawalpindi.
Today, almost seven decades have passed since the incident, but it is still unclear whether the turning point in Pakistan's history was the result of a grand conspiracy or an individual act of an extremist.
Ten days after the murder, on October 25, 1951, the then government set up a commission to investigate the murder, headed by Federal Court Judge Justice Muhammad Munir and comprising Punjab Finance Commissioner Akhtar Hussain.
The purpose of this commission was not to find out the motives behind the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan but to find out the circumstances under which Liaquat Ali Khan was killed, what were the security measures at that time, who was responsible for the lack of arrangements and failure. What kind of security arrangements should be in place for a function where front-line leaders are present?
The Commission published its report on August 17, 1952.
In fact, the commission was only tasked with reviewing administrative negligence, which resulted in police officers in Punjab and NWFP (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) clearing up allegations of negligence instead of focusing on the murder investigation. ۔
This was the reason that when the report of this commission was published, not only Liaquat Ali Khan's widow Begum Rana Liaquat Ali Khan but also the people announced their rejection.
Ten days after the publication of the report of this commission, on August 26, 1952, Pakistan's Inspector General of Special Police Nawabzada Aitzaz-ud-Din was flying from Karachi to Peshawar when the plane crashed at Khyora.
Sahibzada Aitzaz-ud-Din was also investigating the murder of Liaquat Ali Khan. It is said that he had with him some important documents of this case which were burnt to ashes with this accident.
The government prepared another report in response to Begum Rana's and the public's reaction to the commission's report, for which CW Urine, a leading Scotland Yard detective, was hired.
CW Urine received 10,000 British pounds in compensation for this service and continued to investigate the murder from 28 November 1954 to 16 June 1955. His report was released on June 25, 1955.
The result of their investigation was that the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan was not a conspiracy but a personal act of an assassin.
Meanwhile, the police department assigned CID inspector Sheikh Abrar Ahmed to investigate the murder of Liaquat Ali Khan. Sheikh Abrar Ahmed was present in the hall at the time of the murder and he had snatched the revolver from the hands of Inspector Muhammad Shah who shot at Syed Akbar, the killer of Liaquat Ali Khan.
The report prepared by Sheikh Abrar Ahmed is included in his autobiography Naqsh-e-Zindagi. According to the report, although the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan was Syed Akbar's personal act, he blamed some newspapers for changing Syed Akbar's mental state, including Liaquat Ali Khan and Begum Rana Liaquat Ali Khan's. The publication of anti-government material was commonplace, and at the same time, the news of the assassination of Iranian Prime Minister Razm Ara received extraordinary coverage.
In his book, The Role of the United States in Pakistan, Venkat Ramani writes: "The Truman administration has faced increasing criticism from Congress for its involvement in the ongoing Korean War." Many critics said the United States had borne the brunt of the casualties and suffered heavy casualties, while very few Asian nations had participated in the military operation. Foreign Minister Dan Aitchison said it was time for a new effort to persuade Pakistan to play a key role in UN command.
"Dan Aitchison instructed the US Ambassador to Pakistan, Eva Warren, to contact the Pakistani authorities immediately and provided them with prudent guidance," he added. The point to be made was Pakistan's own security concerns.
Aitchison suggested that Warren remind Liaquat Ali Khan that if members of the United Nations failed to provide concrete support to the Korean military campaign, it could lead to the collapse of the collective security system. Undoubtedly, Pakistan is aware that other UN countries may one day need UN resources in the event of aggression.
Warren reported the matter to Liaquat Ali Khan on May 11, 1951. Liaquat Ali Khan was also an astute politician who tried to reverse this problem and get the best possible conditions for Pakistan.
He believed that the need for the United States was an opportunity for Pakistan. He said that it was time for a decision.
If the United States asked him to offer cooperation in the Middle East or one or more divisions for use in Korea, then what kind of responsibility would he accept in the case of Pakistan? If they decide to shake hands with the US, will the US support them on the Kashmir issue? Nehru was bent on holding elections to the Constituent Assembly of Indian-administered Kashmir. What steps will the US take to thwart Nehru's behavior? Will US help Pakistan to end Pakhtunistan?
The United States wanted a decision that signaled an irreparable relationship with the West. He was ready to make this decision. Was the US ready to treat Pakistan in the same way?
Liaquat Ali Khan had stated the price he wanted to receive from the United States. Aitchison's response is a clear indication of the US government's attitude towards the subcontinent at that time.
He informed his ambassador Warren that if Liaquat Ali Khan linked the offer of providing troops with full and unconditional support from the United States on Kashmir and Pakhtun issues, it would not be acceptable to him. Such a US move would lead to the complete overthrow of the governments of India and Afghanistan.
As far as Aitchison was concerned, the Pakistani military's offer to Korea could not be accepted on the basis of bargaining with remote political support on other issues not directly related to Korea.
A few years ago, when the US National Archives Department opened its documents to the public, they found letters and telegrams that showed some clues to the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan.
The first of these documents is a telegram sent by US Ambassador to Karachi to Secretary of State Aitchison on September 7, 1951, number 251, with the words "Confidential."
According to the telegram, Pakistan's Finance Minister Ghulam Muhammad met the US ambassador over tea this evening. According to the ambassador, Ghulam Muhammad was recovering rapidly after a serious illness. Ghulam Muhammad asked Warren to convey the following message to the US Secretary of State.
Zafarullah Khan is arriving in Washington next week. Please meet them. He expects you to meet him at his home and give him time to meet with Harryman. "(Here Harryman is probably referring to Harry S. Truman, then President of the United States).
US Ambassador Warren further wrote in the telegram that Ghulam Muhammad says that he does not intend to die without fulfilling his mission of building Pakistan and organizing the Muslim world against communism. He wants you to know that Zafarullah Khan, Gormani and India's teasing will not be allowed to turn into a war. He wants to come to the United States for three weeks in December and see you there.
There is no mention of Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan in this entire statement. In his message, Ghulam Muhammad was assuring the US Secretary of State that he and his two comrades would not allow India's harassment to turn into a war.
The reason why the finance minister of a newly independent country needed to reassure the foreign minister of a world power is well illustrated by the above quote from Venkat Ramani's book. At the same time, on July 27, 1951, Liaquat Ali Khan, while addressing the people, showed India as 'Mecca'.
This telegram also shows that Ghulam Muhammad was not fully 'fit' to run the government due to his illness. There were also reports that he and Gormani were about to be removed from their posts. Liaquat Ali Khan wanted Sardar Abdul Rabb Nishtar as Deputy Prime Minister and Nawab Muhammad Ismail as Governor of Punjab.
Twelve days before Ghulam Muhammad's meeting with the US Ambassador, on August 25, 1951, Liaquat Ali Khan wrote a letter to the US Secretary of State requesting defense equipment for Pakistan.
Given the importance of the contents of the letter, it was considered safer and more appropriate to send it to Foreign Secretary Ikramullah instead of sending it by post or any other means. But such an important letter, written by the Prime Minister of a country to the Foreign Minister of a world power, was delivered to the US Secretary of State on October 18, 1951, two days after the extraordinary delay of the assassination of that Prime Minister.
Eight days after the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan, a report-like article appeared in the Bhopal-based Urdu daily Nadeem. The headline of the article was "Is the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan the result of a deep US conspiracy?"
On October 30, 1951, the US Embassy in Delhi sent a translation of the summary of the article to the US State Department via a secret telegram.
The United States has threatened to end the secret agreement on Kashmir. Liaquat said that Pakistan had taken half of Kashmir without the cooperation of the United States and the rest of Kashmir would also be acquired by Pakistan. Liaquat demanded from the United States to vacate the airport. Liaquat's demand became a bomb on Washington.
The US rulers' dream of conquering Russia from Pakistan's airports has been shattered. The United States began to think about killing Liaquat. The United States wanted the killer to be a Muslim so that international complications could be resolved. The United States has not been able to find any insurgents in Pakistan as it has been successful in Iran, Iraq and Iran.
The US rulers handed over the responsibility to the US embassy in Kabul. The embassy contacted the Pashtun leaders and assured them that if Liaquat Ali was assassinated, the United States would establish Pakhtunistan by 1952. Pashtun leaders incited Syed Akbar to assassinate him and planned to assassinate him on the spot so that the conspiracy could not be uncovered.
The US government's differences with Liaquat Ali Khan were reflected in Graham's report, which he submitted to the Supreme Court. Graham had suddenly started opposing Pakistan even though he had never hinted before. The empty cartridges found in Liaquat's body were American-made and used by top US officials and were not available in the market.
Nadeem writes in his article that when Governor General Khawaja Nazimuddin informed Begum Rana Liaquat Ali Khan about the murder of her husband and offered condolences to her, three and a half minutes before that, the US Ambassador informed Begum Sahiba of this news. Heard condolences. All these factors prove that the accused is an American who has already committed such crimes in the Middle East.
When a copy of this telegram was received by the US Embassy in Karachi, it informed its Foreign Office the very next day (October 31, 1951) that the Delhi Embassy had sent a summary of the article to the US State Department. Ignore it because this article is a masterpiece of misrepresentation and its various components are taken from the Mumbai newspaper Blitz. Nadeem is not a newspaper to be given so much importance.
US Embassy Karachi Telegram: October 31, 1951
A day later, on November 1, 1951, the US State Department informed the US Embassy in Delhi: "Since this article has not been widely publicized, the State Department believes that it should not be publicly denied. If the embassy deems it appropriate, it can informally send this baseless story to the MEA with its impressions. However, this should not be denied in public. We would like to know whether this story Press rules are made in response to the publication. Investigate Nadeem's management secretly.
US State Department Secret Telegram: November 1, 1951
The US embassy in Delhi and the US State Department in Washington, as well as the US embassy in Karachi, have been active in providing information to US officials about Liaquat Ali Khan's assassination.
The series began on the evening of October 16, 1951. These confidential documents can be viewed on the website www.icdc.com. However, the translation of some of these selected documents is as follows.
A report has been received from Lahore that Liaquat was shot dead in Rawalpindi this evening while he was addressing a meeting of the Muslim City League. He was shot twice in the chest. According to the hospital report, the bullet wounds were deep. An angry mob killed the killer at the scene.
US Embassy Karachi Telegram: 16 October 1951
The Prime Minister was assassinated by Islam League fanatics. No reports of unrest were received in the country. The embassy was told that a cabinet meeting would be held tomorrow under the chairmanship of the governor general in which he would possibly take over as caretaker prime minister.
US Embassy Karachi Telegram: 16 October 1951
Although popular opinion is that Khaksar (Tehreek) is involved in Liaquat's assassination, the government's top authority has informed the embassy that the killer, Syed Akbar, is an Afghan national who was involved in the Pakhtunistan movement, his brother's political detention and the Pakistani government. Impressed by the cautious attitude towards Kashmir and inclined to assassinate Liaquat Ali Khan, the assassin had already taken part in the Kashmir war.
Sources said that the news of his Afghan contact would not be released to the press. The killer left Abbottabad for Rawalpindi on October 14. An emergency meeting of ministers chaired by Secretary General Muhammad Ali has just ended. No decision has yet been made on the successor.
US Embassy Karachi Telegram 16 October 1951
The government's information department is now telling the national press that the killer was an Afghan national, the press information officer said, adding that he belonged to the Jadran tribe. Public opinion suggests that if the people believe this report, they will demand war.
US Embassy Karachi Telegram 17 October 1951
"I have just spoken to Ghulam Muhammad (Finance Minister) and he has sent you a message of goodwill. He said that he was bearing the grief of Liaquat's death in a very good way and was thinking of making important decisions which would be necessary after his nomination as Governor General and Khawaja Nizamuddin as Prime Minister Are done The two will take the oath of office tomorrow at 4 p.m.
US Embassy Karachi Telegram 18 October 1951
This afternoon I drank tea with Ghulam Muhammad who had reached Karachi after traveling by train from Rawalpindi. He did not show any signs of fatigue from the journey and his recovery was not affected by the trauma of the last two days. He will be sworn in as Governor General tomorrow at 4 o'clock and will later take oath from Prime Minister Khawaja Nazimuddin. ۔ The new cabinet will not be announced in a hurry. The Liaquat cabinet will continue to function for the time being.
US Embassy Telegram October 18, 1951
The government of Pakistan has identified the killer of former Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan. His name is Syed Akbar son of Babrak Khan. If this claim is true, then Syed Akbar, along with his brother Zamrak, revolted against the Afghan government in 1944.
He was a resident of Almara Jadran in the southern province of Afghanistan. After being defeated by the government forces, the two brothers fled. They wandered around for some time, after which they presented themselves before the British Frontier Authority.
He was detained in Abbottabad and paid a regular salary. After the partition of India, the government of Pakistan gave political asylum to Syed Akbar. It is clear that Syed Akbar had no connection with Afghanistan.
October 18, 1951
Defense Secretary Iskander Mirza met me before the cabinet meeting yesterday and told me that the killer was an Afghan national and that money had been recovered from him. They asked me for advice on whether it could be publicized. I asked if it was based on fact. He replied in the affirmative. I said that publicity would have a negative effect on public opinion, they agreed with me.
US Embassy Karachi Telegram 19 October 1951
Reliable sources in Pakistan's intelligence agency have reported that the Pakistani government was aware of the activities of the Afghan consul in Peshawar who had contacted Syed Akbar several times in recent days.
US Embassy Karachi Telegram 19 October 1951
Bengali Press Reacts to Liaquat Ali Khan's Assassination: Bengali Newspapers Discourage Violence Left-wing newspapers, including the communist newspaper Savadhanina, wrote that the effects of Liaquat's assassination would be detrimental to the Anglo-American bloc.
The newspaper has written for Nazimuddin that he is biased towards the West and he will try to give Suhrawardy due importance in the new setup. These newspapers have suggested that Liaquat's assassination was also the result of an operation by the same group, some of whose members were caught a few months earlier in March 1951 in a plot to overthrow the government.
Limited Telegram of the Consulate General in Calcutta, 19 October 1951
Today, the Afghan embassy released a translation of a statement received from Kabul on October 18 to local newspapers.
The statement said that if the government of Pakistan accepted that Syed Akbar, the assassin of Liaquat, was of Afghan nationality, it would also have to accept that Syed Akbar and his brother (Zamrak) had instigated unrest against the Indian government in 1944 I was involved. The Kabul embassy requested that in view of the gravity of the matter, the issue of the killer's nationality should not be brought to the notice of the public, otherwise suspicion would arise among the people.
US Embassy Telegram October 20, 1951
A clerk at the British embassy in Kabul confirmed that he had asked the Egyptian embassy for a car from Peshawar to Kabul on October 16 when he was told that the Afghan consul had already asked for the car. Although it is not appropriate to link the incident to the murder, the British embassy clerk insisted on bringing it to the record.
Syed Akbar later settled in Abbottabad, where he received a stipend from the British government for carrying out certain secret services during the war. The newspaper also alleged that Syed Akbar had been a member of the Red Shirt organization.
US Embassy Kabul Telegram 21 October 1951
Reports in Rawalpindi and Peshawar are acknowledging that the Afghan consul paid Liaquat Ali's killer. According to a report, the Afghan consul visited the Afghan border in his car and paid his Pakistani driver.
The driver had no prior knowledge of the trip. When he returned to Peshawar, he told his friends and intelligence officials about the consul's visit. Talking to many NGOs, it was learned that Pashtuns provide killers for a reasonable amount of money. The killer, Syed Akbar, also belonged to the Pashtun ethnic group.
US Embassy Karachi Telegram 22 October 1951
Syed Akbar and his brother (Zamrak) were involved in the 1944 uprising against the Afghan government, the Afghan embassy said. After the defeat in this uprising, he crossed the border and went to India, where he took refuge with the British authorities.
For some unknown reason, the British authorities provided him with a canopy in Abbottabad, the center of the Hazara district. After partition, Syed Akbar's services were received by the government of Pakistan and his stipend was maintained. The government of Afghanistan and the Afghan people have not been able to establish any connection with the killer.
US Embassy Moscow Telegram October 26, 1951
The documents, which were opened to the public by the National Archives Department in the United States, contain preserved documents relating to the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan, as well as a number of letters and telegrams, which date back to October 23, 1954.
The letters and telegrams number in the hundreds, and a study of them suggests that the US Embassy in Karachi and the State Department in Washington have been taking a keen interest in the matter.
On August 17, 1952, the government released a summary of the Munir Commission's report to the press. Even then, the US embassy informed the State Department of the public sentiment about the report and wrote that the embassy believed that the commission's The report is vague and does not lead to any conclusions, leaving the cabinet standing where it was before the commission was set up. It is possible that the original report of the commission stated something clearly, but nothing is clear in its summary.
US Embassy Karachi Telegram 18 October 1952
On August 30, 1952, the US Embassy forwarded to its State Department a summary of the political and economic events that took place between August 24 and 29, 1952, including the assassination of Sahibzada Aitzazuddin.
The summary said that the death of the Inspector General of Police in the plane crash has given rise to several rumors. The press claims that Sahibzada Aitzaz-ud-Din was secretly investigating the murder of Liaquat Ali Khan. Opposition leader and Jinnah Awami League chief Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy has also accused the Punjab government of not making adequate arrangements for the safety of Sahibzada Aitzazuddin.
The following week, on September 9, 1952, the US embassy in another similar report shed light on the matter and informed its State Department that the committee investigating the death of Sahibzada Aitzaz-ud-Din in a plane crash was investigating the matter. It is also investigating how many of the documents of Sahibzada Aitzaz-ud-Din's murder, which he was carrying with him to Peshawar, have survived after the accident.
The publication of the Munir Commission report and the sudden death of Sahibzada Aitzaz-ud-Din made the murder case of Liaquat Ali Khan even more mysterious, after which the government hired Scotland Yard detective CW Urine to investigate the murder. Had to
The government appointed Begum Rana Liaquat Ali Khan as Pakistan's ambassador to the Netherlands to silence her. The last document in the US State Department's secret documents regarding the Liaquat Ali Khan murder case is a statement issued by Begum Rana Liaquat Ali Khan on October 16, 1954 from The Hague, the capital of the Netherlands.
In the statement, he raised six questions: (1) Why was Liaquat Ali Khan assassinated at a time when he was about to make an important policy statement and was at the height of his popularity? (2) Why was the killer killed when he was helpless? (3) Why was the police officer who shot the killer promoted instead of punished? (4) Why did some important and influential people in the country want to remove Liaquat Ali Khan from their path? (5) Why is the personality of Quaid-e-Azam and his name being ignored in some important matters? (6) Why aren't all these questions answered? '
These questions raised by Ms. Rana Liaquat Ali Khan are still awaiting their answer.
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