Feroz Khan Noon

Sir Malik Feroz Khan Noon (ملک فیروز خان نون; 7 May 1893 – 9 December 1970 ), KCSI, KCIE, OStJ, best known as Feroze Khan, was the seventh Prime Minister of Pakistan, appointed in this capacity on 16 December 1957 until being removed when President Iskandar Ali Mirza imposed martial law on 8 October 1958.

Trained as a barrister in England, Feroze Khan served as an Indian diplomat in the United Kingdom before serving as a military adviser over the issues pertaining to British Indian Army to the Prime Minister Winston Churchill's war ministry from the India Office.

Khan was one of the Founding Fathers of Pakistan who helped to negotiate and establish the federation of a nation-state resulted in a successful constitutional movement led under Muhammad Ali Jinnah on 14 August 1947.

Early life and education in England
Feroz Khan was born in the village of Hamoka, located in Khushab District, Punjab in the then British India on 7 May 1893. He hailed from an elite aristocratic and landowning family that were known for their wealth and had reputation in social circles. His ancestors were Bhatti Rajputs who had converted to Islam.

After his initial schooling, Khan attended Aitchison College in Lahore before being sent to England in 1912. The India Office arranged for him to stay with the family of Reverend Lloyd in Ticknall, South Derbyshire. From there he applied to study at Oxford University, initially being rejected by Balliol College and then accepted by Wadham College. Khan stayed with Lloyd's family until 1913, and had a close relationship with them until going to Oxford.

At Wadham College, Khan studied History and Farsi, graduating with a BA degree in History in 1916. He was a keen football player and played collegiate hockey for Isis Club.

During his college years, Khan went to the United States in search of higher education at universities there but returned to Oxford. He interacted with very few Indian students while at university, heeding his father's advice to learn English culture and lacking time to attend any Indian cultural festivals because of concentrating on his studies.

In 1916, Khan moved to London to sit the law examination. He qualified as a Barrister-at-Law from the Inner Temple in 1917 before returning to India.

Law practice and legislative career in India
After returning to India in September 1917, Khan began practising law at the District Court in Sargodha and later moved to the Lahore High Court, establishing his reputation in civil law until 1927.

In 1920–21, Khan entered national politics and was elected for the Punjab Legislative Assembly on the platform of the Unionist Party. During this time, he formed close acquaintanceship with Jogendra Singh. From 1927 until 1931, he joined the cabinet of Governor of Punjab, Malcolm Hailey and held the portfolio of provincial ministry of local government until 1930.

Between 1931 and 1936, Khan was in the cabinets of Governors Geoffrey Fitzhervey de Montmorency, Sikandar Hyat, and Herbert William Emerson where he held provincial portfolios of ministries of health and education.

In December 1932, Khan was appointed as an Officer of the Venerable Order of Saint John. In 1933, Feroze Khan was knighted in the 1933 New Year Honours List. He was appointed as Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (KCIE) in the 1937 Coronation Honours List and appointed as Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India (KCIS) in October 1941.

Diplomatic career: World War II and Pakistan Movement
In 1936, Khan resigned from his public service in Punjab when he was appointed as the High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom.

Over the issue of Immigration Act of 1924 in the United States, the British government directed Khan to Washington D.C. where was accompanied by Nevile Butler of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1941 to address issue of American exploration in Baluchistan and the MFN status between the United States and the United Kingdom in light of the Anglo-American trade treaty signed in 1938. Khanshowed great reluctance to grant American petroleum companies the access to Baluchistan due to the Indian government's difficulty in maintaining control with remote areas adjacent with Iran and Afghanistan, especially when Indians were being barred from entering the United States.

After the start of World War II in 1939, Khan, who had pro-British views, supported the British efforts against the Axis powers, lobbying for deployment of the British Indian Army in Africa and the Middle East. In 1940, he strongly supported Egyptian plans to establish the grand mosque in London. During the height of the anti-British movement in India, Khan played a crucial role by convincing Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the Indian Muslim support for continued British control there.

In 1941, Khan left his diplomatic post when he was asked to join the Churchill cabinet, being appointed first as his military adviser from the Secretary of State for India of India Office on the affairs of the Indian Army. Khan later joined the Viceroy's Executive Council's cabinet as a labour minister, and played a crucial role in advising against the independence of India, without addressing the push of Muhammad Ali Jinnah and other leaders for the Muslim question.

In 1944–45, Churchill appointed Khan in the War Department, leading his own department alongside with A. R. Mudaliar that provided representation for British India in the Pacific War Council. In 1945, he was appointed as Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations, attending the first session in San Francisco, California.

In 1946, Khan joined the Muslim League, led by Jinnah. He merged his faction of the Unionist Party into the Muslim League, and garnered public support for the cause of Pakistan amidst opposition from Khizar Hayat Tiwana, who wanted to remain as Premier of the Indian Punjab.

During the 1945 general elections, Khan's merging of the Unionist Party into the Muslim League played a decisive role. The Muslim League won by a landslide in Punjab.

Governorship of East Bengal and Chief Minister of Punjab
In 1947, Feroze Khan retained his constituency and became MNA of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, following the establishment of Pakistan as a result of the Partition of India.

On October 1947, Jinnah, now Governor-General of Pakistan, appointed him as a special envoy and dispatched him to Saudi Arabia and the Islamic world to introduce Pakistan and explain the reasons of its creation, to familiarize the Muslim countries with its internal problems and to get the moral and financial support from the brother countries. Feroze Khan performed the role assigned to him in a successful manner.

In 1950, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan removed from the Foreign ministry, appointing him as the Governor of East Bengal. However, he was less interested in politics of East Bengal, and had focused towards the provincial politics of Punjab in Pakistan, contesting with the Mumtaz Daultana for the post of Chief Ministership of Punjab. He had little interest in strengthening the political program of the Muslim League in Bengal and offered no political action when the popular language movement took place in 1950-51. On 25 July 1952, returned to Punjab in Pakistan and left the post to Abdur Rahman Siddiqui until returning to the post on 10 November 1952. Feroz Khan left Dhaka to become the Chief Minister of Punjab on 26 March 1953.

After the religious riots in Lahore that resulted in Daultana's resignation, Khan finally achieved his goal when he convinced Prime Minister Khawaja Nazimuddin to appoint him as the third Chief Minister of Punjab.

Foreign ministry in Coalition administration
In 1955, Khan parted rom the Muslim League when he helped to establish the Republican Party, supporting the cause of the One Unit that laid establishment of West and East wings of Pakistan. He took over the party presidency of the Republican Party, and joined the coalition of the three-party government composing of the Awami League, the Muslim League, and the Republican Party that endorsed Iskander Mirza for the presidency. He had been ideologically very closed to Mirza and was appointed in the coalition cabinet of Prime Minister Huseyn Suhrawardy.

In 1956-57, Khan attempted to hold talks with India over the Kashmir issue and insurgency in Eastern India but was unable to make any breakthrough.

Prime Minister of Pakistan (1957-58)
After the resignations of Awami League's H.S. Suhrawardy and Muslim League's I. I. Chundrigar, Khan was the last candidate from the three-party coalition government, and started his support for the premiership on a conservative-Republican Party agenda.

Khan successfully forged an alliance with Awami League, National Awami Party, Krishak Sramik Party, and the parliamentary groups in the National Assembly that allowed him to form the government as its Prime Minister.

On 16 December 1957, Khan took an oath from the Chief Justice M. Munir and formed a coalition government. During this time, Khan entered in complicated but successful negotiation with Muscat and Oman for the accession of Gwadar for the price of US$3 million (US$25,503,380.28 in current value), which was annexed into the federation of Pakistan on 8 September 1958.

Khan's ability to annex the Gwadar into the federation and settlement of political issues in the country generally threatened President Mirza who had seen him as an obstacle in his way of obtaining absolute power. Khan tried to obtain a compromise with India regarding the Kashmir problem.

Khan had not endorsed the presidential re-election of Mirza as the three-party coalition had been negotiating their own president to replace Mirza in 1958. At midnight on 7/8 October 1958, Mirza imposed martial law against his own party's government, effectively dismissing his own appointed Prime Minister to usurp the political power in his own hand.

Later and personal life, and death
After the 1958 Pakistani coup d'état, Khan retired from the national politics and became a political writer. He authored five books on the history of India and on issues pertaining to law and politics in Pakistan.


 * Wisdom From Fools (1940)
 * India (1941)
 * Scented Dust (1965)
 * Kashmir (1957)
 * From Memory (1966)

Khan was married to Victoria Rikhy Noon, an Austrian, who was also a prominent politician and social worker. He died on 7 December 1970 in his ancestral village of Nurpur Noon, Sargodha District, where he is buried.