Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar Khan

Chaudhry Muhammad sarwar Khan
چوہدری محمد سرور خان
Ch. Muhammad Sarwar Khan (Left) meeting President Suharto (Right) of Indonesia

Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar Khan (Urdu: چوہدری محمد سرور خان‎; 1919-2003); was a renowned and the longest serving Parliamentarian in the history of Pakistan.[1] He served in Provincial Assembly of the Punjab and National Assembly of Pakistan from 1951 to 1999. The first direct elections held in Pakistan after independence were for the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab between 10–20 March 1951. He was elected as a Member of Legislative Assembly in 1951. He was again elected in the 1962 and 1964 Provincial Assembly elections in Pakistan.[2]

He was elected as Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan in 1985, 1988, 1990, 1993 and 1997 General Elections.[3] Despite being a stalwart of Pakistan Muslim League, Mr Sarwar accompanied Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto for Simla Agreement in India in 1972 to ease the tensions between the two countries following the Indo-Pak war of 1971. On 24 December 1981, a Federal Council (Majlis-e-Shoora) was constituted by then President General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Its members were nominated by the President. Khan served in the Federal Council from 1982–1984. In 1997 he was appointed as chairman Parliamentary Special Committee on Kashmir by then Prime Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Nawaz Sharif. He led Kashmir Committee composed of 26 MNA's from May 1997 to October 1999.[4]

Following the landslide victory of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) in the 1997 parliamentary elections, Khan was nominated as the presidential candidate by the party but ultimately Nawaz Sharif appointed Rafique Tarar as the president of Pakistan.

After the 1999 coup d'état staged by General Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was exiled to Saudi Arabia. Following the exile, Khan was nominated as the party president, however due to old age and deteriorating health he refused the party presidency and it was passed on to Makhdoom Javed Hashmi.[5] Khan was referred as "Baba-e-Muslim League" by Nawaz Sharif due to his lifelong services in politics of Pakistan.

During Kargil War, as the Chairman of National Assembly Kashmir Committee, Khan addressed the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) in Geneva and asked the world powers to give Kashmiris the right of self-determination according to UN resolutions.

Family Background

Chaudhry Sarwar (Right) representing Pakistan at United Nations Geneva, Switzerland.

Ch. Muhammad Sarwar Khan was born in a well known Sulehria Rajput (Rajput Clan) family of Rupochak, District Narowal cum Sialkot . He was a respected politician from Rupochak, Narowal. His father Khan Bahadur Qasim and uncle Kazim Khan both served in the British Indian army. Khan Bahadur Qasim won the 1937 election from the state of Kashmir and Jammu and his younger brother Kazim khan held a top bureaucratic post in British Raj after retirement. Ch.Muhammad Sarwar Khan's grandfather Hashim Khan also served in the British Indian Army during World War I in "58th Vaughan's Rifles (Frontier Force)" regiment and was awarded the Highest "Medal of Gallantry" during his service with Lord Kitchener in the Third Anglo-Afghan War. Hashim khan's father Sazawar Khan died fighting against the British during 1857 Indian Mutiny, his grandfather Abdul Nabi Khan was a Nawab in the Mughal court (No Hazari) and was under an obligation to provide 9000 troops to the Mughal Empire.[6]

His son Barrister Mansoor Sarwar Khan is the first elected Central Punjab President and member Core-Committee of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Central Punjab is composed of Lahore and Gujranwala divisions having ten districts altogether.[7][8]

References

  1. ↑ "DISTRICT & SESSIONS COURT, NAROWAL". District Courts Narowal. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
  2. ↑ "Punjab Assembly of Pakistan". Na.gov.pk. Retrieved 17 December 2012.
  3. ↑ "Election Commission of Pakistan". Ecp.gov.pk. Archived from the original on 17 March 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2012.
  4. ↑ "National Assembly of Pakistan". Na.gov.pk. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  5. ↑ "Geo news pakistan". siasat.pk. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  6. ↑ Page 151, Fateh  by Haroon-ur-Rasheed, Aligarh books Pakistan 2007
  7. ↑ "Dawn Newspaper". dawn.com. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  8. ↑ "Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf". insaf.pk. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
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