Nawab Iftikhar Hussain Mamdot played very active role for the separate Muslim State and remained loyal both to the Muslim league and the Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in his entire life. Iftikhar Hussain Mamdot was also among those Punjabi feudals who resisted the movement of the Unionist Party in the Punjab headed by Sir Fazl-e- Hussain, Khizr Hayat Tiwana and Chotoo Ram.
Nawab Iftikhar Hussain was born at Lahore in 1906. His father Sir Shah Nawaz Khan Mamdot was a respectable landlord in the East Punjab who belonged to a Pashtoon family. He got his early education at Government College Lahore and after completing education he joined the police department of Hyderabad, Deccan but the feudal mind of the Nawab could not conform to the police set-up and soon he left the job. His father was a prominent political worker, who took active part in politics and remained loyal to the Muslim League although earlier he was the member of the Unionist Party. When Nawab Iftikhar Hussain wanted to enter politics it was the time when the Unionists were being supported by most of big Punjabi landlords. After the death of his father who was also the President of Punjab Muslim League in 1942, Nawab Mamdot realized the need to organize the Muslim League so that it could compete with the Unionists in Punjab. He informed the League leadership about the Pro-British attitude of the Unionist Party and if their intrigues and conspiracies, he argued, would weak the league message. He worked wholeheartedly for this cause and due to his ceaseless efforts many big landlords from Punjab became members of the Muslim League. When the unionist Government became harsh and began to use stick to beat the Muslim League workers, Mamdot led the Civil Disobedience Movement in Punjab against the Unionist so effectively that Chief Minister Khizar Hayat Tiwana came to a compromise. It was due to his efforts that Muslim League got 79 seats in the February 1946 Provincial elections in the Punjab Province.
After independence he was the first Chief Minister of Punjab from August15, 1947 to November 06, 1948 and than from November 15, 1948 to January 25, 1949 when his ministry was dismissed by the central Government. He was also the member of Pakistan Constituent Assembly till 1955 and served as the Governor of Sind during 1954-55. Nawab Mamdot found his rivals in independence Pakistan in the form of Mumtaz Daultana another Punjabi landlord and due to their tussle Muslim League suffered a great loss. It was due to his consistent tussle with Daultana that he was forced to join Republican Party in 1956. Under Prauda Act Ayub Khan bereaved him from taking part in politics.
Khan of Mamdot died on October 16, 1969.
This article was last updated on Friday, Jan 04, 2008
