Shahryar Mohammad Khan (; 29 March 1934 – 23 March 2024) was a Pakistani career diplomat who became

Foreign Secretary of Pakistan The Foreign Secretary of Pakistan (Urdu: ) is the Federal Secretary (Pakistan), Federal Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Pakistan), Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Secretary, as in all other ministries of Government of Pakistan, is ...

in 1990, and remained so until his retirement from service in 1994. He later served as

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Special Representative of the Secretary-General A special representative of the Secretary-General is a highly respected expert who has been appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General, Secretary-General of the United Nations to represent them in meetings with heads of state on critical huma ...

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

(1994–1996), and wrote the book ''Shallow Graves of Rwanda'' on his experiences on what Rwanda went through. From August 1999, he intermittently served as the chairman of the

Pakistan Cricket Board The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), formerly known as Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan (BCCP), is a sports governing body for cricket in Pakistan responsible for controlling and organising all tours and matches undertaken by the Pakistan ...

, and also served as the president of the Asian Cricket Council in 2016.

Early life and background

Shahryar Muhammed Khan was born on 29 March 1934 in the Qasr-e-Sultani Palace (now Saifia College), in Bhopal State (honoured with 19-gun salute until 1947) in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. He was the only son and male heir of both Nawab Muhammad Sarwar Ali Khan, the ruler of former princely state of Kurwai and Princess Begum Abida Sultan (Suraya Jah, and Nawab Gauhar-i-Taj), herself the Crown Princess and the eldest daughter of the last ruling Nawab of Bhopal, Haji-Hafiz Sir Muhammad Nawab Hamidullah Khan, who reigned over the state of

Bhopal Bhopal (; ISO 15919, ISO: Bhōpāl, ) is the capital (political), capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes,'' due to ...

after a prolonged era of the Begums regime (the queens), and his wife Begum Maimoona Sultan. Khan is descended from the

royal family A royal family is the immediate family of monarchs and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term papal family describes the family of a pope, while th ...

of former princely state of Bhopal where his settler colonialist ancestors had emigrated during first quarter of the eighteenth century from

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

Career, retirement and literary work

He worked for a year with Burmah Shell Oil, and in 1957, joined the Pakistani foreign service. In 1960, he was posted as a Third Secretary in the Pakistani High Commission in London, and was promoted to Second Secretary in the Tunis embassy from 1962 to 1966. In 1976, Shahryar Khan became Pakistan's ambassador to

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

(1976–1982) and the United Kingdom (1987–1990). He also stayed as Pakistan's Ambassador to France (1999–2001) and chairman, Committee on Foreign Service Reforms, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1997–1999). Khan was teaching Pakistan's Foreign Relations at the

Lahore University of Management Sciences Lahore University of Management Sciences, also known by its acronym LUMS, is a Private university, private research university in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan. Founded in 1985, it is ranked as one of the most prestigious modern Li ...

(LUMS) as part of the

Social Sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

faculty. He taught a course titled "Pakistan's Foreign Relations" in the Fall semester and a senior-level course titled "Critical Issues in Pakistan's Foreign Relations" in the Spring semester. At LUMS, he was also the patron of th
LUMS Model UN Society (LUMUN)
On 1 July 1994, he was appointed

United Nations Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...

Boutros Boutros-Ghali's Special Representative to

, succeeding Jacques-Roger Booh-Booh. As U.N. Special Representative, he represented the United Nations during the genocide and subsequent

refugee crisis A refugee crisis can refer to difficulties and/or dangerous situations in the reception of large groups of refugees. These could be Forced displacement, forcibly displaced persons, internally displaced persons, asylum seekers or any other huge ...

. In 2005, he was made an honorary fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. In his retirement, Shahryar Khan wrote a number of books. ''The Begums of Bhopal'' is a history of the princely state of Bhopal. ''The Shallow Graves of Rwanda'' is an eye-witness account of his two-year stay in a country ravaged by genocide. ''Cricket – a Bridge of Peace'', about India-Pakistan relations, is his third book. His most personal book was the biography of his mother Princess Abida Sultaan – ''Memoirs of a Rebel Princess'', which has been translated into Urdu. In 2013, with his son Ali Khan, he wrote ''Cricket Cauldron: The Turbulent Politics of Sport in Pakistan''. He also co-authored ''Shadows Across the Playing Field: 60 Years of India-Pakistan Cricket'' (2009) with Indian writer and politician Shashi Tharoor.

Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board

Khan served as the

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

of the

(PCB) from 10 December 2003 till he resigned on 7 October 2006. In 2003, took over the board in turmoil. His tenure is remembered more for Pakistan's 2006 forfeit of the

Oval An oval () is a closed curve in a plane which resembles the outline of an egg. The term is not very specific, but in some areas of mathematics (projective geometry, technical drawing, etc.), it is given a more precise definition, which may inc ...

test after being penalised for ball tampering. On 16 August 2014, he was again appointed the chairman of the PCB. Khan was appointed

after he was elected unanimously by the

board of governors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulations ...

of the

in the light of the new constitution of the PCB 2014 which was approved by 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 ...

. He was once again appointed the chairman of the

on 18 August 2014. In September 2015, he launched the Pakistan Super League. He retired from the position in 2017 after completing his term. In March 2016, Pakistan was eliminated from the 2016 ICC World Twenty20 after losing three matches against India, New Zealand and Australia and only winning against Bangladesh. This caused great controversy over whose 'fault' it was. Khan was amongst those blamed and there were talks about him retiring from the PCB after this. However, he later spoke out and said he would not resign. He also said it would be better to bring in a foreign coach, implying that Waqar Younis's coaching contract, which ended in June 2016, would not be renewed. Furthermore, Khan did not release any statements on who he thought was responsible for the loss, but instead, he said before the match that he would not change Afridi's position because he had been 'serving Pakistan for the last 20 years'. Khan added that changes would happen after the tournament but also noted that the poor performance was from the whole team, except certain individuals.

Personal life and death

Khan met Minoo Khan, a student at the Queen's College 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 ...

in 1957, and married her in 1958 in

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 ...

. Shahryar Khan died on 23 March 2024 in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

, at the age of 89. He was buried in Bhopal House in Malir,

References

External links