Sardar Aurangzeb Khan was born in 1899 at Tehsil Kulachi Dera Ismail Khan. His father Mohammad Ayaz Khan was a leading landlord in the famous Pushtoon clan Gandapur. He got his early education at Mission High School Dera Ismail Khan and later went to Peshawar for his graduation. He achieved his degree of LLB from Aligarh College where he was the president of Muslim Students Union. He started his career as a lawyer at Peshawar. He attended the Round Table Conferences as personal secretary of Sir Sahibzada Abdul Qayum Khan.
Sardar Aurangzeb Khan was also one of those leaders who seconded the resolution that was passed on 23 March 1940. He was elected to the NWFP provincial assembly in 1937. He was a gifted orator and as Provincial Muslim League leader, he played a prominent role in the reorganization of Muslim League in NWFP that was at first launched in 1912 by Ghazi Ali Abbas Bukhari but did not take firm roots among the people. However, due to his tireless struggle, the League turned to be the popular political party in the Pushtoon majority province. In 1939, while Dr. Khan Sahib resigned from his ministry along with other Congress Governments, for some time thee was no popular government in the province. However on 25 May 1943, Sardar Aurangzeb Khan was able to form a ministry, with Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar as his Finance Minister. He campaigned door-to-door to convey message of the League and worked hard during NWFP referendum.
In the post partition period he served as a Pakistani Ambassador to Burma from 1949 to 1953.
This article was last updated on Monday, Jan 01, 2007
