When two nations were born from a single entity in mid-August of 1947, a large number of people migrated to either side of the border. Many among those later rose to the highest positions in their country. There is a long list of personalities who were born in India but represented Pakistan at various high positions.
Here we list some prominent Pakistani leaders born in India
1. Liaquat Ali Khan
The first Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan was also among the leading founding fathers of Pakistan. He was born on 1 October 1895 in Karnal, eastern Punjab of British India (a district in present day Haryana). Ali Khan studied at the Aligarh Muslim University in India, and then Oxford University in the United Kingdom. He was assassinated during a public meeting in Rawalpindi on October 16, 1951.
2. Iskander Mirza
Born on 14th December 1898 in Murshidabad (present day West Bengal), Iskander Mirza was elected as first President of Pakistan in 1956. He grew up in erstwhile Bombay, now Mumbai, receiving his early education at Elphinstone College, part of the then University of Bombay. During his presidency, Pakistan suffered a lot of instability. He is criticized for facilitating the first Martial Law in the history of Pakistan.
3. Chaudhary Mohammad Ali
The fourth Prime Minister of Pakistan Mohammad Ali was born in Jalandhar, Punjab on July 15, 1905. Though he served as a Prime Minister for a very short period – that of a year – he was widely regarded to have promulgated the 1956 Constitution of Pakistan with wide scale public approval.
4. Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy
Suhrawardy was born on 8 September, 1892 in a Bengali Muslim family in Midnapore, West Bengal. He served as fifith Prime Minister of Pakistan from 12 September 1956 – 17 October 1957. He has also served as Mayor of Calcutta and Prime Minister of Bengal during British rule.
He was forced to resign on 10 October 1957 under threat of dismissal by President Iskandar Mirza. He was banned from public life by the military junta of General Ayub Khan. Suhrawardy died in 1963 in Lebanon from a heart attack.
5. Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar
Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar belonged to the Muslim Chundrigar community and was born in 1897 in Ahmedabad city of Gujarat. He studied from Bombay University.
He was elected as Prime Minister of Pakistan on 7 October 1957. His tenure lasted for less than two months and he was forced to resign on December 11, 1957. Chundrigar was more of a lawyer than a politician. He gained a lot of popularity as a constitutional lawyer when he pleaded the case of Maulvi Tamiz-ud-din for the restoration of the first Constituent Assembly of Pakistan.
6. Zia – ul – Haq
The famous army general who served as the sixth President of Pakistan from 1978 until his death in 1988 is known for Operation Fair Play. It was a coup by which he overthrew the government of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. He was born on 12 August 1924 in Jalandhar, Punjab.
On assuming power, Zia pushed Pakistan towards Islamization. In his first TV speech to the country, he said, “Pakistan which was created in the name of Islam will continue to survive only if it sticks to Islam. That is why I consider the introduction of Islamic system as an essential prerequisite for the country”.
7. Pervez Musharraf
Another general who became President of the Pakistan, Pervez Musharaf was born on 11 August 1943 in Delhi. The infiltration on Indian posts by Pakistani army and militants in Kargil was planned and executed while Musharraf was army chief under Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. He became the President of Pakistan 18 months after a bloodless coup wherein he dethroned the elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
8. Mamnoon Hussain
Mamnoon Hussain is the serving President of Pakistan since September 9, 2013. He hails from a Mujahir family of traders and was born in Agra on 23 December 1940. Before this, he has also served as Governor of Sindh.
Source: Zee News