Shahryar Mohammad Khan ( ur, شہریار محمد خان; born 12 March 1934) is a former career Pakistan diplomat who became

Foreign Secretary of Pakistan The Foreign Secretary of Pakistan (Urdu: ) is the Federal Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Secretary, as in all other ministries of Government of Pakistan, is the bureaucratic head of the Ministry, who is a BPS-22 grade officer o ...

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

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

Special Representative of the Secretary-General A Special Representative of the Secretary-General is a highly respected expert who has been appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to represent them in meetings with heads of state on critical human rights issues. The representativ ...

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

Pakistan Cricket Board The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is a sports governing body for cricket in Pakistan responsible for controlling and organising all tours and matches undertaken by the Pakistan national cricket team. A member of the International Cricket Cou ...

, and also served as the president of

Asian Cricket Council The Asian Cricket Council also known as ACC is a cricket organisation which was established in 1983, to promote and develop the sport of cricket in Asia. Subordinate to the International Cricket Council, the council is the continent's regional ...

in 2016.

Early life and background

Shaharyar Muhammed Khan was born in the Qasr-e-Sultani Palace (now Saifia College), in the

Bhopal State Bhopal State (pronounced ) was an Islamic state, Islamic principality founded in the beginning of 18th-century India by the Afghanistan, Afghan Mughal Empire, Mughal noble Dost Mohammad of Bhopal, Dost Muhammad Khan. It was a tributary state du ...

(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 on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. He is 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 last ruling

Nawab of Bhopal The Nawabs of Bhopal were the Muslim rulers of Bhopal, now part of Madhya Pradesh, India. The nawabs first ruled under the Mughal Empire from 1707 to 1737, under the Maratha Empire from 1737 to 1818, then under British rule from 1818 to 1947, a ...

, Haji-Hafiz Sir Muhammad Nawab

Hamidullah Khan Hajji Nawab Hafiz Sir Hamidullah Khan (9 September 1894 – 4 February 1960) was the last ruling Nawab of the princely salute state of Bhopal. He ruled from 1926 when his mother, Begum Kaikhusrau Jahan Begum, abdicated in his favor, until 194 ...

, who reigned state of

Bhopal Bhopal (; ) is the 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 its various natural and artificial lakes. It ...

after a prolonged era of 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 kings/queens, emirs/emiras, sultans/ sultanas, or raja/ rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term p ...

of former princely state of

where his ancestors had emigrated to during first quarter of the eighteenth century from

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bord ...

. His mother was to succeed the titles and privileges associated with the ruling house of

, but she emigrated to the newly formed

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

after the

partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

, therefore her aunt, Sajida Sultan, was succeeded by her father and was recognized by the government of India as

Begum of Bhopal The Nawabs of Bhopal were the Muslim rulers of Bhopal, now part of Madhya Pradesh, India. The nawabs first ruled under the Mughal Empire from 1707 to 1737, under the Maratha Empire from 1737 to 1818, then under British rule from 1818 to 1947, a ...

in 1961. The Begum of Bhopal, Sultan Jahan, was his grandmother, and her mother and predecessor, Shah Jahan Begum, was his great-grandmother. The cricketer and the 8th

Nawab of Pataudi The term Nawab of Pataudi refers to the lineage of rulers of the former princely Pataudi State in Northern India. Pataudi was established in 1804 by the British East India Company, when Faiz Talab Khan, an Afghan Muslim Pashtun of the Barec ...

Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi Nawab Mohammad Iftikhar Ali Khan Siddiqui Pataudi, sometimes I. A. K. Pataudi (16 March 1910 – 5 January 1952), was an Indian prince and cricket player. He was the captain of the India's national cricket team during its tour of England in 19 ...

, is his uncle by marriage (Sajida's husband). Khan is the first cousin of the cricketer and the 9th Nawab of Pataudi,

Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi Nawab Mohammad Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi (also known as Mansur Ali Khan, or M. A. K. Pataudi; 5 January 1941 – 22 September 2011; nicknamed Tiger Pataudi) was an Indian cricketer and a former captain of the Indian cricket team. Pataudi was a ...

, and the titular Begum of Bhopal, Saleha Sultan. The actors

Saif Ali Khan Saif Ali Khan (; born Sajid Ali Khan Pataudi; 16 August 1970) is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Hindi films. Part of the Pataudi family, he is the son of actress Sharmila Tagore and cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi. Khan m ...

and

Soha Ali Khan Soha Ali Khan Pataudi Khemu (born 4 October 1978) is an Indian actress who has worked in Hindi, Bengali and English films. She is the daughter of veteran actress Sharmila Tagore and former Indian cricket captain Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, and t ...

, and the cricketer Saad Bin Jung are his nephews and niece. Khan studied at the following institutes: *

Daly College The Daly College is a co-educational residential and day boarding school located in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. It was founded by Sir Henry Daly of the British Indian Army during India's colonial British Raj, following an English public scho ...

Indore Indore () is the largest and most populous city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of both Indore District and Indore Division. It is also considered as an education hub of the state and is the only city to ...

* Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College,

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 ...

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

* The Fletcher School–

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learnin ...

Career, retirement and literary work

He worked for a year with

Burmah Shell Oil The Burmah Oil Company was a leading British oil company which was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. In 1966, Castrol was acquired by Burmah, which was renamed "Burmah-Castrol". BP Amoco (now BP) purchased the company in 2000. Histor ...

, 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 ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Ri ...

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

Lahore University of Management Sciences Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) () is a private research university, located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. In 1983, Syed Babar Ali, a renowned businessman in Pakistan, recognized the shortage of qualified managers in the countr ...

(LUMS) as part of the

Social Sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the o ...

faculty. He teaches a course titled "Pakistan's Foreign Relations" in Fall semester and a senior level course titled "Critical Issues in Pakistan's Foreign Relations" in Spring semester. At LUMS, he is 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 SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary- ...

Boutros Boutros-Ghali Boutros Boutros-Ghali (; , ar, بطرس بطرس غالي ', ; 14 November 1922 – 16 February 2016) was an Egyptian politician and diplomat who served as the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) from 1992 to 1996. An academic ...

's Special Representative to Rwanda, succeeding

Jacques-Roger Booh-Booh Jacques-Roger Booh-Booh (born February 5, 1938) is a Cameroonian politician and diplomat. He was the Minister of External Relations of Cameroon from 1988 to 1992

. 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 dangerous situations in the reception of large groups of Forced displacement, forcibly displaced persons. These could be either internally displaced person, internally displaced, refugees, asylum ...

. He also remained the chairman of the

from 10 December 2003 till he resigned on 7 October 2006. On 16 August 2014 he was again appointed as the chairman of the

. In 2005 he was made an honorary fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. In his retirement, Shaharyar Khan has written 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 what some might call genocide. ''Cricket – a Bridge of Peace'', about India-Pakistan relations, is his third book. His most personal book has been 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 has also co-authored a book titled as "Shadows across the playing field; 60 years of India-Pakistan cricket" with renowned Indian writer and politician

Shashi Tharoor Shashi Tharoor (; ; born 9 March 1956 in London, England ) is an Indian former international civil servant, diplomat, bureaucrat and politician, writer and public intellectual who has been serving as Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, ...

Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board

He has been appointed chairman after he was elected unanimously by the

board of governors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organi ...

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

Prime Minister of Pakistan The prime minister of Pakistan ( ur, , 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, despite the president of Pak ...

. Khan previously served as the PCB chief in 2003, taking over with 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 (projective geometry, technical drawing, etc.) it is given a more precise definition, which may include either one o ...

test after being penalised for ball tampering. He was once again appointed the chairman of the

on 18 August 2014. He served as one of the founders of the Pakistan Super League.As of May 2016, he is still the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board. In March 2016, Pakistan was eliminated from the

2016 ICC World Twenty20 The 2016 ICC World Twenty20 was the sixth edition of the ICC World Twenty20, the world championship of Twenty20 International cricket. It was held in India from 8 March to 3 April 2016, and was the first edition to be hosted by India. Seven ...

after losing 3 matches against India,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

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 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 Waqar Younis Maitla HI (Punjabi, ur, ; born 16 November 1971) is a Pakistani cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer who captained Pakistan national cricket team. A right-arm fast bowler, Waqar Younis is regarded as one of the gre ...

' coaching contract, which ends in June 2016, will 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 will not change Afridi's position because he has been 'serving Pakistan for the last 20 years'. Khan added that changes will happen after the tournament but also noted that the poor performance was from the whole team, except certain individuals.

Personal life

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

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1957, and married her in 1958 in

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former ...

References

External links