Died 30 Jan 1995 at age 78 | Years active 1942–1977 | |
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Occupation politician, political officeholder | ||
Mian Mumtaz Daultana (Urdu: میاں ممتاز دولتانہ) (1916–1995) was a Pakistan Movement activist of "Tehreek-e-Azadi" during the pre-1947 period and one who worked with Quaid e Azam Ali Jinnah to help him gain local population's support in British Punjab for the eventual creation of Pakistan in 1947.
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Early life and career
Mumtaz Daultana graduated from Government College University (Lahore) (then simply called Government College, Lahore) and went on to England for higher education at Oxford University and received his degree of Bar at Law there in 1938. He was the son of Nawab Ahmad Yar Khan Daultana who had been a prominent agricultural landowner in the Southern Punjab area of British India.
Before 1947, his family was involved in the political activities of the Unionist Party (Punjab). Mumtaz Daultana joined Muslim League in 1942. "In 1946, Mumtaz Daultana was elected on the ticket of Muslim League, and in the newly created state of Pakistan, became the First Finance Minister of Punjab in 1947."
His uncle Chaudhry Sir Shahab-ud-Din was the speaker of Punjab assembly before independence of Pakistan. Mumtaz Daultana was the 2nd Chief Minister of Punjab from 1951 to 1953, when he was dismissed by the then Prime Minister Khwaja Nazimuddin following the Lahore riots in 1953.
He was also Defence Minister of Pakistan in the short-lived government of Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar in 1957. He belonged to the Daultana clan of the Johiya tribe, settled in Vehari District, Punjab, Pakistan. He was appointed High Commissioner to the United Kingdom by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Tehmina Daultana former minister and Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N) MNA (Member of National Assembly of Pakistan) is his niece.
Lahore Martial Law 1953
After the 1951 Punjab elections, Mumtaz Daulatana as chief minister from the Muslim League, called for legislation that would declare the Ahmadis non-Muslims for legal purposes. The plan was that violent street protesters would call for the resignation of Pakistan’s first Ahmadi Minister, Sir Zafarullah Khan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and eventually topple the federal government. Mumtaz Daultana had hoped to benefit from the fall of the central government and had expected to become the Prime Minister. The riots could not be controlled and were not well-managed, however, and law and order collapsed and the army was called in to control the situation through a declaration of martial law in Lahore, the capital of Punjab.
Later activities
Daultana was one of the people that signed from Pakistan's side when, after a long discussion, finally the Indus Waters Treaty was signed at Karachi in 1960 under Ayub Khan (general)'s regime to help resolve the 'sharing of waters dispute' over the common rivers flowing between India and Pakistan. Earlier, he was also a member of the delegation sent to Delhi for negotiating a solution to the above-mentioned dispute.