Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar (15 September 1897 – 26 September 1960) was a Pakistani politician who served as the sixth

prime minister of Pakistan The prime minister of Pakistan (, Roman Urdu, romanized: Wazīr ē Aʿẓam , ) is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Cabinet of Pakistan, cabinet, desp ...

, appointed in this capacity on 17 October 1957. He resigned due to a

vote of no confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fi ...

on 11 December 1957, against him. He was trained in

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in ...

at the

University of Bombay University of Mumbai is a public university, public List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, state university in Mumbai. It is one of the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, largest univ ...

and was one of the

Founding Fathers The Founding Fathers of the United States, often simply referred to as the Founding Fathers or the Founders, were a group of late-18th-century American revolutionary leaders who united the Thirteen Colonies, oversaw the War of Independence ...

of the

Dominion of Pakistan The Dominion of Pakistan, officially Pakistan, was an independent federal dominion in the British Commonwealth of Nations, which existed from 14 August 1947 to Pakistan Day, 23 March 1956. It was created by the passing of the Indian Independence ...

. Having served for just 55 days, Chundrigar's tenure is the third shortest served in the

parliamentary history ''Parliamentary History'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which Scholarly method, scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, after those of

Shujaat Hussain Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain (born 27 January 1946) is a senior Pakistani politician who previously served as 16th prime minister of Pakistan. Hussain is the Party chair, party president of the Pakistan Muslim League (Q), PML(Q) since 2003. Hailing ...

and

Nurul Amin Nurul Amin (15 July 1893 – 2 October 1974) was a Pakistani politician and jurist who served as the eighth prime minister of Pakistan from 7 December to 20 December 1971. His premiership term of only 13 days was the shortest served in Pakista ...

, who served as prime minister for 54 and 13 days, respectively.

Biography

Early life and law practice

Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar, a

Muhajir Muhajir or Mohajir (, '; pl. , ') is an Arabic word meaning ''migrant'' (see immigration and emigration) which is also used in other languages spoken by Muslims, including English. In English, this term and its derivatives may refer in a general s ...

, was born in

Godhra Godhra () is a municipality in Panchmahal district in Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Panchmahal district. Originally the name came from ''gou'' which means "cow" and "dhara"- which have two meanings depend ...

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

, in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

on 15 September 1897. He was an only child. Chundrigar was initially schooled in

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

where he finished his

matriculation Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term ''matriculation'' is seldom used no ...

and moved to

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

for his higher studies. He attended the

where he earned a

BA degree A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

, and later the LLB degree in 1929. From 1929 till 1932, Chundrigar was a lawyer for the

Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation Amdavad Municipal Corporation (AMC) was established in July 1950 under the Bombay Provincial Corporation Act (1949), is responsible for the civic infrastructure and administration of the city of Ahmedabad. History On 21 April 1831, the collec ...

. From 1932 until 1937, Chundrigar practiced civil law, and moved to practice and read law at the

Bombay High Court The High Court of Bombay is the High courts of India, high court of the States and union territories of India, states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily ...

in 1937, where he established his reputation. During this time, he became acquainted with

Muhammad Ali Jinnah Muhammad Ali Jinnah (born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 187611 September 1948) was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the inception of Pa ...

, sharing similar ideology and political views. In 1935, Chundrigar was chosen by the

Muslim League Muslim League may refer to: Political parties British India *All-India Muslim League, led the demand for the partition of India resulting in the creation of Pakistan ** Punjab Muslim League, a branch of the organization above **Unionist Muslim L ...

to give a response to the

Government of India Act 1935 The Government of India Act 1935 (25 & 26 Geo. 5. c. 42) was an Act of Parliament (UK), act passed by the British Parliament that originally received royal assent in August 1935. It was the longest act that the British Parliament ever enact ...

introduced by the

British government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

. Notably, concerning the role of the Governor-General as head of state, Chundrigar denied that the Governor-General enjoyed the powers supposedly granted by the Act. From 1937 till 1946, Chundrigar practiced in the Bombay High Court.

Legislative career in India and Pakistan Movement

Chundrigar stood for the

Bombay Legislative Assembly Bombay Legislative Assembly came into existence in 1937, as the legislature of Bombay Presidency, a Provinces of India, province of India. It functioned until 1960, when separate states of Maharashtra and Gujarat were formed. History The first se ...

as a Muslim League candidate in the 1937 provincial elections, and was elected from the Ahmedabad district rural constituency. From 1940 to 1945, he was president of the Bombay provincial Muslim League. In 1946, he was elected to the assembly from a Muslim urban constituency in Ahmedabad. He was appointed

Commerce Minister A Commerce minister (sometimes business minister, industry minister, trade minister or international trade minister) is a position in many governments that is responsible for regulating external trade and promoting economic growth (commercial poli ...

under the presidential administrations of the

Viceroys of India The governor-general of India (1833 to 1950, from 1858 to 1947 the viceroy and governor-general of India, commonly shortened to viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom in their capacity as the emperor o ...

Archibald Wavell Field Marshal Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, (5 May 1883 – 24 May 1950) was a senior officer of the British Army. He served in the Second Boer War, the Bazar Valley Campaign and the First World War, during which he was wounded ...

(1946) and

Louis Mountbatten Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (born Prince Louis of Battenberg; 25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979), commonly known as Lord Mountbatten, was a British statesman, Royal Navy of ...

(1946-47). Peter Lyon, a reader emeritus in international relations, described Chundrigar as a "close supporter" of Mohammad Ali Jinnah in the

Pakistan Movement The Pakistan Movement was a religiopolitical and social movement that emerged in the early 20th century as part of a campaign that advocated the creation of an Islamic state in parts of what was then British Raj. It was rooted in the two-nation the ...

Public service in Pakistan

Diplomacy and governorships

After the

partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

by the act of the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

that established Pakistan, Chundrigar endorsed

Liaquat Ali Khan Liaquat Ali Khan (1 October 189516 October 1951) was a Pakistani lawyer, politician and statesman who served as the first prime minister of Pakistan The prime minister of Pakistan (, Roman Urdu, romanized: Wazīr ē Aʿẓam , ) is the he ...

's bid for the premiership and was retained as the

commerce minister A Commerce minister (sometimes business minister, industry minister, trade minister or international trade minister) is a position in many governments that is responsible for regulating external trade and promoting economic growth (commercial poli ...

in the administration of Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan on 15 August 1947. In May 1948, Chundrigar left the Commerce Ministry and was appointed Pakistan's Ambassador to Afghanistan. Although his appointment was favorably received in Afghanistan, Chundrigar was at odds with the

Afghan government The government of Afghanistan, officially called the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and informally known as the Taliban government, is the central government of Afghanistan, a unitary state. Under the leadership of the Taliban, the government is ...

(supported by India as early as 1949) over the issue of Pakistan's north-west border with Afghanistan. Chundrigar's tenure as ambassador was short. He was recalled to Pakistan by the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United ...

, which viewed his inability to understand the

Pashtun culture Pashtun culture () is based on Pashtunwali, as well as speaking of the Pashto language and wearing Pashtun dress. Pashtunwali and Islam are the two main factors which make the baseline for the social behavior in Pashtun society. Pashtuns are tr ...

as a possible factor in fracturing Afghan-Pakistan relations. In 1950, Chundrigar was appointed governor of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, a position he held until 1951. A

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

reshuffle in 1951 allowed him to be appointed the governor of Punjab but he resigned in 1953 due to differences with Governor-General M.G. Muhammad when he enforced

martial law Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...

at the request of Prime Minister K. Nazimuddin to control violent religious riots that occurred in Lahore, Pakistan.

Law ministry in coalition administration

In 1955, Chundrigar was invited to join the

central government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or deleg ...

of a three-party coalition: the

Awami League The Awami League, officially known as Bangladesh Awami League, is a major List of political parties in Bangladesh, political party in Bangladesh. The oldest existing political party in the country, the party played the leading role in achievin ...

, the

, and the Republican Party. He was appointed

minister of law and justice The minister of law and justice is the head of the Ministry of Law and Justice and one of the cabinet ministers of the Government of India. The first law and justice minister of independent India was B. R. Ambedkar, who served in first Neh ...

. During this time, he also acted as a

leader of the opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

. At the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

, he established his reputation as more of a constitutional lawyer than a politician, and gained a lot of prominence in public for his arguments in favour of

parliamentarianism A parliamentary system, or parliamentary democracy, is a form of government where the head of government (chief executive) derives their democratic legitimacy from their ability to command the support ("confidence") of a majority of the legisl ...

when he pleaded the case of "''Maulvi Tamizuddin vs. Federation of Pakistan''".

Prime Minister of Pakistan (1957)

Third shortest tenure

After the resignation of Prime Minister Suhrawardy in 1957, Chundrigar was nominated as the

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

and was supported by the Awami League, the

Krishak Sramik Party The Krishak Sramik Party (, ''Farmer Labourer Party'') was a major anti-feudal political party in the British Indian province of Bengal and later in the Dominion of Pakistan's East Bengal and East Pakistan provinces. It was founded in 1929 as th ...

, the Nizem-i-Islam Party, and the Republican Party. However, this coalition of mixed parties weakened Chundrigar's authority to run the

, and divisions within the coalition would soon hamper his efforts to amend the

Electoral College An electoral college is a body whose task is to elect a candidate to a particular office. It is mostly used in the political context for a constitutional body that appoints the head of state or government, and sometimes the upper parliament ...

. On 18 October 1957, Chundrigar became the

Prime Minister of Pakistan The prime minister of Pakistan (, Roman Urdu, romanized: Wazīr ē Aʿẓam , ) is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Cabinet of Pakistan, cabinet, desp ...

, receiving his

oath of office An oath of office is an oath or affirmation a person takes before assuming the duties of an office, usually a position in government or within a religious body, although such oaths are sometimes required of officers of other organizations. Suc ...

from Chief Justice M. Munir. At the first session of the

, Chundrigar presented his plan to reform the

which was met with great parliamentary opposition by even his Cabinet ministers from the Republican Party and the Awami League. With the Republican Party leadersparty president Feroz Khan and

President of Pakistan The president of Pakistan () is the head of state of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The president is the nominal head of the executive and the supreme commander of the Pakistan Armed Forces.

Iskander Mirza Iskander Ali Mirza (13 November 189913 November 1969) was a Bengali politician, statesman and military general who served as the Dominion of Pakistan's fourth and last governor-general of Pakistan from 1955 to 1956, and then as the Islamic Repub ...

exploiting and manipulating the opponents of the

, a successful vote of no-confidence in the National Assembly led by the Republicans and the Awami Party effectively ended Chundrigar's term. He resigned on 11 December 1957. Chundrigar served the third-shortest term of any Prime Minister in Pakistan: 17 October 195711 December 1957, 55 days into his term.

Death and reputation

In 1958, Chundrigar was appointed president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, a position he held until his death. In 1960, Chundrigar traveled to

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

where he addressed the International Law Conference and suffered a

hemorrhage Bleeding, hemorrhage, haemorrhage or blood loss, is blood escaping from the circulatory system from damaged blood vessels. Bleeding can occur internally, or externally either through a natural opening such as the mouth, nose, ear, urethra, ...

while visiting in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. For treatment, he was taken to the

Royal Northern Hospital The Royal Northern Hospital was a general hospital on Holloway Road, London N7, near Tollington Way. It had inpatient, outpatient, accident and emergency facilities and was also a centre for postgraduate medical education and nurse education. His ...

and suddenly died. His body was brought back to

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

, where he was buried in a local cemetery. In his honour, the

government of Pakistan The Government of Pakistan () (abbreviated as GoP), constitutionally known as the Federal Government, commonly known as the Centre, is the national authority of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, a federal republic located in South Asia, con ...

renamed McLeod Road in

after him.

Notes

References

External links

Chronicles of Pakistan
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Chundrigar, Ismail Ibrahim 1897 births 1960 deaths Pakistani MNAs 1955–1958 People from Panchmahal district Politicians from Ahmedabad University of Mumbai alumni 20th-century Indian philosophers 20th-century Indian lawyers All-India Muslim League politicians Leaders of the Pakistan Movement Pakistani people of Gujarati descent Pakistani people of Arab descent People from Karachi Muhajir people First Pakistani Cabinet Ambassadors of Pakistan to Afghanistan Governors of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governors of Punjab, Pakistan Ambassadors of Pakistan to Turkey Pakistan Muslim League politicians Pakistani legal scholars Lawyers from Karachi Law ministers of Pakistan Pakistani philosophers Prime ministers of Pakistan University of Karachi people Members of the Pakistan Philosophical Congress Deaths from bleeding Scholars from Ahmedabad Members of the Council of the Governor General of India Indian emigrants to Pakistan