Pashto
Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani ().
Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languag ...
: میاں گل اورنگزیب 28 May 1928 – 3 August 2014) was the last Wali Ahad (Crown Prince) of the former Swat State, the son of the last Wali of
Swat
In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...
president of Pakistan
The president of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=s̤adr-i Pākiṣṭān), officially the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is the ceremonial head of state of Pakistan and the commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Armed Forces.Muhammad Ayub Khan. He served in the National Assembly of Pakistan and as governor of Balochistan and subsequently as governor of the
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the northwestern region of the country, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ...
.
Early life
He was born on 28 May 1928 in
Saidu Sharif
Saidū Sharīf (Pashto/Urdu: ) is the capital of Swat District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The city also serves as the capital city of Malakand Division. It was named after Saidu Baba, a prominent leader of the former Yusuf ...
The Doon School
The Doon School (informally Doon School or Doon) is a selective all-boys boarding school in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India, which was established in 1935. It was envisioned by Satish Ranjan Das, a lawyer from Calcutta, who prevised a school mod ...
in
Dehradun
Dehradun () is the capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and is governed by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, with the Uttarakhand Legislativ ...
Following the independence of Pakistan, Aurangzeb enrolled at the
Pakistan Military Academy
Pakistan Military Academy ( ur, ), also referred to by its acronym PMA. PMA is an officers training school located near Kakul village in the city and district of Abbottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa established in 1947. It is the sole service academy ...
, Kakul in 1948. He was commissioned into the Guides Cavalry (FF) of the Pakistan Armoured Corps.
During his service in the
Pakistan Army
The Pakistan Army (, ) is the Army, land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the partition of India, Partition of British India, wh ...
, he passed the Junior Officer's Course, the Advanced Infantry Course (Quetta) and the Junior Officer Leadership and Weapons Course (Nowshera). His achievements led to his selection as ADC ( aide de camp) to the Army Commander in Chief General
Ayub Khan
Ayub Khan is a compound masculine name; Ayub is the Arabic version of the name of the Biblical figure Job, while Khan or Khaan is taken from the title used first by the Mongol rulers and then, in particular, their Islamic and Persian-influenced ...
.
In 1955, he married the daughter of General
Ayub Khan
Ayub Khan is a compound masculine name; Ayub is the Arabic version of the name of the Biblical figure Job, while Khan or Khaan is taken from the title used first by the Mongol rulers and then, in particular, their Islamic and Persian-influenced ...
and thereafter quit the army service to enter into politics.
Public life
Aurangzeb represented Swat State in the
West Pakistan
West Pakistan ( ur, , translit=Mag̱ẖribī Pākistān, ; bn, পশ্চিম পাকিস্তান, translit=Pôścim Pakistan) was one of the two Provincial exclaves created during the One Unit Scheme in 1955 in Pakistan. It was ...
Assembly from 1956 to May 1958, when he was nominated to the National Assembly of Pakistan.
After the imposition of martial law in 1958, all legislative bodies were dissolved, and civilian rule did not return until 1962. Aurangzeb was nominated to the National Assembly in 1962, and re-nominated in 1965.
After the resignation of President
Ayub Khan
Ayub Khan is a compound masculine name; Ayub is the Arabic version of the name of the Biblical figure Job, while Khan or Khaan is taken from the title used first by the Mongol rulers and then, in particular, their Islamic and Persian-influenced ...
in 1969, the Government of Pakistan under President
Yahya Khan
General Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan , (Urdu: ; 4 February 1917 – 10 August 1980); commonly known as Yahya Khan, was a Pakistani military general who served as the third President of Pakistan and Chief Martial Law Administrator following his p ...
took over the administration of all the remaining princely states including Swat.
In 1970 the first ever one-man one-vote general elections were held in Pakistan, which marked a new chapter for the former ruling family of Swat. Aurangzeb was elected on a Muslim League platform, defeating a strong candidate of the
National Awami Party
The National Awami Party (NAP), translated from Urdu to English as National People's Party, was the major left-wing political party in East and West Pakistan. It was founded in 1957 in Dhaka, erstwhile East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh), by ...
.
He was re-elected in the March 1977 general elections as a Pakistan National Alliance candidate (anti-Bhutto) despite suspected widespread rigging by the rival
Pakistan Peoples Party
The Pakistan People's Party ( ur, , ; PPP) is a centre-left, social-democratic political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third largest party in the National Assembly and second largest in the Senate of Pakistan. The party was founded ...
candidate.
Due to his opposition to the government of Prime Minister
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Zulfikar (or Zulfiqar) Ali Bhutto ( ur, , sd, ذوالفقار علي ڀٽو; 5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979), also known as Quaid-e-Awam ("the People's Leader"), was a Pakistani barrister, politician and statesman who served as the four ...
, Aurangzeb supported the military government of General
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq HI, GCSJ, ร.ม.ภ, (Urdu: ; 12 August 1924 – 17 August 1988) was a Pakistani four-star general and politician who became the sixth President of Pakistan following a coup and declaration of martial law i ...
, and from 1981 served as a member of the nominated Majlis i Shoora (Federal Council).
In March 1985 general elections were held on a non-party basis, and Aurangzeb was again elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan.
Following the tumultuous events of 1988, party-based democracy returned to Pakistan and general elections were once again held in November 1988. Aurangzeb, contesting on the
Islami Jamhoori Ittehad
The Islami Jamhoori Ittehad ( Islamic Democratic Alliance; acronym: IJI; ur, ) was a right-wing conservative alliance formed in September 1988 to oppose the democratic socialist Pakistan Peoples Party in elections that year. The alliance compri ...
platform was defeated by his cousin and son-in-law Shahzada Aman i Room, the candidate of the
Pakistan Peoples Party
The Pakistan People's Party ( ur, , ; PPP) is a centre-left, social-democratic political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third largest party in the National Assembly and second largest in the Senate of Pakistan. The party was founded ...
.
Again in October 1990, Aurangzeb, contesting as an independent candidate faced defeat, this time at the hands of his former allies, the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad.
However, he bounced back in the October 1993 general elections to regain his seat, and continued to hold it at the February 1997 general elections.
In April 1997, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appointed him as Governor of
Balochistan
Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastl ...
, and Aurangzeb resigned from the National Assembly. The subsequent by-election resulted in a victory for his son, engineer Miangul Adnan Aurangzeb.
In August 1999, Aurangzeb was appointed the Governor of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and served in that capacity until the military takeover by General
Pervez Musharraf
General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of t ...
on 24 October 1999.
He did not contest the 2002 general elections and retired from electoral politics, passing the torch to the next generation of his family. He remained active until his death in the leadership of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz.
As a result of death threats from and loss of security in Swat to the
Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi
Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM, ur, تحریک نفاذ شریعت محمدی, en, Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Law) is a Salafi Islamic extremist militant group in Pakistan whose objective is to enforce Sharia law in t ...
under Maulana Fazlullah in 2007, Aurangzeb spent an extended period of time at his house in Islamabad. With the return of stability in the area Aurangzeb resumed living at the family compound in Saidu Sharif. Due to prolonged illness, he set aside himself from politics and spent rest of his life at house in Islamabad till his death on 3 August 2014. He is buried in his ancestral graveyard at Aqba,
Saidu Sharif
Saidū Sharīf (Pashto/Urdu: ) is the capital of Swat District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The city also serves as the capital city of Malakand Division. It was named after Saidu Baba, a prominent leader of the former Yusuf ...
Swat (princely state)
State of Swat (Urdu, ps, ; locally called as Dera Swat) was a kingdom established in 1849 that was ruled by chiefs known as Akhunds. It was then recognized as a princely state in alliance with the British Indian Empire between 1926 and 19 ...