Shahnawaz Khan Mamdot

Nawab Sir Shahnawaz Khan Mamdot (17 December 1883 - 28 March 1942) was a Punjabi landowner and politician of British India. He was a key supporter of the Pakistan movement and for a time the largest landowner in undivided Punjab.[1]

Biography

He was born in Mamdot, Punjab in 1883. In 1907 he left the Punjab and settled in Hyderabad State where he joined the state police. In 1928, Nawab Ghulam Qutbuddin Khan died without issue, and the Court of Law awarded Shahnawaz the jagirs and title of Nawab of Mamdot. In doing so, he became one of the largest landowners in the Punjab.[2] He returned to his ancestral land in 1934 and joined the Unionist Party. Following the Jinnah-Sikandar Pact in 1937, Mamdot joined the All-India Muslim League and became President of the Punjab Muslim League. He was knighted in the King's New Year's Honour List at the start of 1939.[3] Later that year he funded publication of a book by Mian Kifait Ali named "Pakistan", which caused Mohammad Ali Jinnah to intervene and insist on a name change before publication for risk of antagonising non-Muslims.[4] Mamdot was a staunch supporter of a separate Muslim nation, and held the belief that Muslims could never tolerate subjugation to a community with which they shared no common ground in religion, culture and civlisation.[5] At the Lahore Resolution in 1940 he gave the welcome address as Chairman of the Local Reception Committee.[6] He died of a heart attack in Lahore on 28 March 1942.[7] He was succeeded as the Nawab of Mamdot, and President of the Punjab Muslim League by his son Iftikhar Hussain Khan Mamdot.

References
  1. Amarjit Singh, Punjab divided: politics of the Muslim League and partition, 1935-1947, Kanishka Publishers, Distributors., 1 Jan 2001
  2. Griffin Lepel. H Sir, Chiefs And Families Of Note In The Punjab Vol-i, 1940
  3. The London Gazette, 30 December 1938, Supplement:34585, p.3
  4. Dr. Nitin Prasad, Contemporary Pakistan: Political System, Military and Changing Scenario, Vij Books India Pvt Ltd, 20 Feb 2016,
  5. Ayesha Jalal, Self and Sovereignty: Individual and Community in South Asian Islam Since 1850, Routledge, 4 Jan 2002, p.398
  6. Venkat Dhulipala, Creating a New Medina, Cambridge University Press, 9 Feb 2015, p.255
  7. Mahomed Ali Jinnah, The Nation's Voice, Towards Consolidation: United we win : annotated speeches and statements April 1940-April 1942, Quaid-i-Azam Academy, 1996
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