Researching Sadeq Khan

The Nawab served as an officer with the British Indian Army, fighting in the Third Afghan War (1919) and commanding forces in the Middle East during the Second World War. By 1947, its institutions consisted of departments run by trained civil servants; there was a Ministerial Cabinet headed by a Prime Minister; the State Bank was the Bank of Bahawalpur, with branches outside the State, including Karachi, Lahore ; there was a high court and lower courts; a trained police force and an army commanded by officers trained at the Royal Indian Military Academy at Dehra Doon. The Nawab had a keen interest in education, which was free till A level and the State’s Government provided scholarships of merit for higher education. In 1951, the Nawab donated 500 acres in Bahawalpur for the construction of Sadiq Public School. Nawab was known for his relationship with the Quaid-i-Azam (Muhammad Ali Jinnah), Founder of Pakistan.

In August 1947, on the withdrawal of British forces from the subcontinent, the Nawab decided not to accede his State at once to the new Dominion of Pakistan. However, on 3 October 1947, after some delay, he relented and became the first ruler of a princely state (Bahawalpur) to accede successfully. As tens of thousands of Muslim refugees flooded into the state from the new India, he set up the Ameer of Bahawalpur Refugee Relief and Rehabilitation Fund to provide for their relief. In 1953, the Ameer represented Pakistan at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. In 1955 he signed an agreement with the Governor-General of Pakistan, Malik Ghulam Muhammad, under which Bahawalpur became part of the province of West Pakistan, with effect from 14 October 1955, and the Amir received a yearly privy purse of 32 lakhs of rupees, keeping his titles. The same year, he was promoted to the rank of General in the Pakistan Army.

He died in 1966, aged 61.