RashadWaltman14 at 17:18, 2 February 2026

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{{Short description|Indian politician and monarch}}
{{otherpeople}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan [[Khokhar]]
| image =
[[File:Raja-ghazanfar-ali-khan-1522238385-2209.jpg|frameless|Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan Khokhar (16 August 1895 – 17 April 1963)]]
| office = [[Minister of Health (India)|Indian Minister of Health]]
| term_start = 2 September 1946
| term_end = 14 August 1947
| predecessor =
| successor = [[Rajkumari Amrit Kaur]]
| primeminister = [[Jawaharlal Nehru]]
| office2 = [[Minister of Finance]] of [[State of Alwar|Alwar State]]
| monarch2 = [[Jai Singh Prabhakar]]
| primeminister2 = [[Francis Verner Wylie]]
| term_start2 = 11 January 1933
| term_end2 = 13 February 1937
| predecessor2 = L Alak Dhari
| successor2 = [[Rao Sahib]] Lala Ramlal Anand
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1895|8|16}}<ref name=storyofpakistan>http://storyofpakistan.com/raja-ghazanfar-ali-khan Khokhar, Profile of Ghazanfar Ali Khan Khokhar on storyofpakistan.com website, Published 4 January 2008, Retrieved 9 February 2017</ref><ref name=findpk/>
| birth_place = [[Pind Dadan Khan]], [[Jhelum district]], [[Punjab, British India]] (present-day [[Punjab, Pakistan|Punjab]], [[Pakistan]].)
| death_date = {{death date and age|1963|4|17|1895|8|16|df=yes}}<ref name=storyofpakistan/><ref name=findpk/>
| death_place =
| nationality = [[British Raj|British Indian]] (1895–1947)<br />[[Pakistani people|Pakistani]] (1947–1963)
| party = [[Unionist Party (Punjab)|Unionist party]]<br/>[[All-India Muslim League]] <br/>[[Muslim League (Pakistan)|Pakistan Muslim League]] (post-independence)
| alma_mater = [[Government College, Lahore]]
| profession = {{hlist|Politician|Diplomat}}
}}
[[Raja]] '''Ghazanfar Ali Khan Khokhar''' (16 August 1895 – 17 April 1963) was a [[Pakistan Movement]] activist, politician and diplomat. He was born in [[Pind Dadan Khan]], a town in [[Jhelum district]], [[British India]].<ref name=storyofpakistan/> He was a leading member of the [[All India Muslim League]] and a trusted lieutenant of [[Muhammad Ali Jinnah]], serving in the [[Interim Government of India]] of 1946 as a member of the Central Legislative Assembly of India.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JituAAAAMAAJ&q=Raja+Ghazanfar+Ali+Khan+Jhelum|title= Public life in Muslim India, 1850-1947: a compendium of basic information on political, social, religious, cultural and educational organizations active in pre-partition India |year= 1992|author= Khursheed Kamal Aziz |publisher= The University of Michigan|isbn= 9789694021195 |access-date=12 March 2014}}Page 257 & 344</ref>

After independence of Pakistan in 1947, he became the minister of Food, Agriculture and Health in the [[Government of Pakistan]] and finally a [[diplomat]] for Pakistan in many countries from 1948 to 1957.<ref name=storyofpakistan/><ref name=findpk/>

==Early life and career==
Ghazanfar Ali Khan's father was Saif Ali Khan.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LjluAAAAMAAJ |title=Jinnah and Punjab: Shamsul Hasan collection and other documents, 1944-1947 |first1=Khalid Shamsul |last1=Hasan |first2=Amarjit |last2=Singh |year=2007 |publisher=Kanishka Publishers Distributors |isbn=9788173919169 |page=343 |access-date=5 January 2015}}</ref> A Rajput [[Khokhar]] from Pind Dadan Khan in Jhelum district, Ghazanfar Ali was an uncle of Pir Syed Fazal Shah of [[Jalalpur Sharif]], another influential figure in the region during the [[Pakistan Movement]].<ref name="Talbot" /> Ghazanfar completed his high school education at Jhelum and then went on to [[Government College, Lahore]].<ref name=storyofpakistan/>

Ghazanfar Ali Khan joined the Unionist Party in 1923 because he had political ambitions and was a prominent figure in Muslim politics by 1927, when he attended a conference, comprising 30 significant Muslim leaders, that resulted in the "Delhi Muslim Proposals" which attempted to address constitutional development but were ultimately thwarted by the recommendations of the 1928 [[Nehru Report]].<ref>{{cite book |title=India's Partition: The Story of Imperialism in Retreat |first=Devendra |last=Panigrahi |publisher=Routledge |year=2004 |isbn=9781135768133 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p-uQAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA47 |pages=47–48}}</ref><ref name=storyofpakistan/> He persuaded his nephew to support his career in politics and this brought with it support from those who favoured his nephew Pir Fazal Shah himself.

He was appointed a Revenue Minister of [[Alwar State]] in 1933 and remained on the position till 1937.

He stood in the [[1937 Indian provincial elections|1937 provincial elections]] to the [[Punjab Legislative Assembly (British India)|Punjab Legislative Assembly]] as a candidate of the [[All-India Muslim League]] and won this election to become a member of Punjab Legislative Assembly from 1937 to 1945.<ref name=findpk>http://www.findpk.com/pof/raja_ghazanfar_ali_khan.html, Profile and commemorative postage stamp image of Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan on findpk.com website, Retrieved 9 February 2017</ref> But then deserted the Muslim League in favour of the [[Unionist Party (Punjab)|Unionist Party]] after being offered a position as a parliamentary secretary by [[Malik Khizar Hayat Tiwana]].<ref name="jalal">{{cite book |title=The Sole Spokesman: Jinnah, the Muslim League and the Demand for Pakistan |first=Ayesha |last=Jalal |edition=Reprinted |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1994 |isbn=9780521458504 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D63KMRN1SJ8C&pg=PA148 |page=148}}</ref> He supported the pact arranged at [[Lucknow]] between [[Sikandar Hayat Khan (Punjabi politician)|Sikandar Hayat Khan]] and Muhammad Ali Jinnah in October 1937, believing that the [[Indian independence movement|nationalist movement]] had suffered greatly from internal divisions and that a political party that united the aspirant Hindu and Muslim nationalist communities might prove more effective.<ref>{{cite book |title=Changing Homeleands |first=Neeti |last=Nair |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2011 |isbn=9780674057791 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o-NoCp9Lc24C&pg=PA157 |page=157}}</ref> In 1944, he returned to the League fold after the split between Khizar Hayat Tiwana and Jinnah, realising that the League was likely to get the upper hand. His uncle and local supporters followed him through these various manoeuvres.<ref name="jalal" />

In the [[1946 Indian provincial elections|February 1946 provincial elections]], Khan was a candidate for the League in the Pind Dadan Khan constituency 77 and won the election for Muslim League.<ref name=storyofpakistan/><ref name="Talbot">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KtJcAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA96 |title=Khizr Tiwana, the Punjab Unionist Party and the Partition of India |first= Ian |last=Talbot |year=2013 |publisher=Routledge |access-date=12 March 2014 |pages=68, 96, 146 |isbn=9781136790294}}</ref> In October of that year, he was among the five men nominated by Jinnah on behalf of the League to join the interim Government of India, in which he subsequently took the Minister of Food, Agriculture and Health portfolio. The other four nominated by the League were [[Liaquat Ali Khan]], [[I. I. Chundrigar]], [[Abdur Rab Nishtar]] and [[Jogendra Nath Mandal]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Sole Spokesman: Jinnah, the Muslim League and the Demand for Pakistan |first=Ayesha |last=Jalal |edition=Reprinted |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1994 |isbn=9780521458504 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D63KMRN1SJ8C&pg=PA225 |page=225}}</ref> He said of the League's involvement that "We are going into the interim government to get a foothold to fight for our cherished goal of Pakistan".<ref>{{cite book |title=Gandhi: The Man, His People, and the Empire |first=Rajmohan |last=Gandhi |publisher=University of California Press |year=2006 |isbn=9780520255708 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FauJL7LKXmkC&pg=PA536 |page=536}}</ref>

After the [[Partition of India]], Khan became Pakistan's Minister for Food, Agriculture and Health.<ref name=findpk/> He was minister for refugees and rehabilitation in 1948, during a period when there was much controversy regarding the movement of Muslim people between the now-divided India and Pakistan.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Long Partition and the Making of Modern South Asia: Refugees, Boundaries, Histories |first1=Vazira |last1=Fazila |first2=Yacoobali |last2=Zamindar |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2013 |isbn=9780231511018 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2u_IU-aoNhwC&pg=PT123 |pages=123–126}}</ref>

In 1948, he became the first president of the newly formed [[Pakistan Hockey Federation]] and served for 2 years in that position (1948–1950).<ref>http://www.pakistanhockeyfederation.com/history {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161019081108/http://www.pakistanhockeyfederation.com/history |date=2016-10-19 }}, Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan served as President, Pakistan Hockey Federation (1948–1950), Retrieved 10 February 2017</ref>

From 1948 to 1957, he took to a new career as a diplomat. He was successively [[Ambassador]] to [[Iran]] (1948-1952), Ambassador to [[Turkey]] (1952-1953), [[High Commissioner (Commonwealth)|High Commissioner]] to India (1954-1956) and finally Ambassador to [[Italy]] (1956-1957).<ref name=findpk/>

==Death and legacy==
Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan died on 17 April 1963.<ref name=storyofpakistan/><ref name=findpk/>

* In honour of his contribution to Pakistan, a major road called 'Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan Road' near [[Bohri Bazaar]] in [[Saddar]], [[Karachi]] was named after him.<ref>https://nearbypk.com/location/24.856731/67.030579/raja-ghazanfar-ali-rd-lucky-star-saddar-town-karachi-sindh-74400-pakistan {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211081330/https://nearbypk.com/location/24.856731/67.030579/raja-ghazanfar-ali-rd-lucky-star-saddar-town-karachi-sindh-74400-pakistan |date=11 February 2017 }}, Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan Road shown on map, Retrieved 10 February 2017</ref>
* [[Pakistan Postal Services]] issued a commemorative postage stamp in his honor in its 'Pioneers of Freedom' series in 1990.<ref name=findpk/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Pakistan Movement}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Ghazanfar Ali}}
[[Category:1895 births]]
[[Category:1963 deaths]]
[[Category:First Pakistani Cabinet]]
[[Category:All-India Muslim League politicians]]
[[Category:Leaders of the Pakistan Movement]]
[[Category:People from Jhelum]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of Pakistan to Iran]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of Pakistan to Turkey]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of Pakistan to Italy]]
[[Category:High commissioners of Pakistan to India]]
[[Category:Members of the Central Legislative Assembly of India]]
[[Category:People from Pind Dadan Khan]]
[[Category:Members of the Council of the Governor General of India]]
[[Category:People from Punjab Province (British India)]]

Ghazanfar Ali Khan - Revision history

RashadWaltman14 at 17:18, 2 February 2026