I. I. Chundrigar

Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar ابراہیم اسماعیل چندریگر
6th Prime Minister of Pakistan
In office 17 October 1957 – 16 December 1957
President	Iskander Mirza
Preceded by	Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy
Succeeded by	Feroz Khan Noon
3rd Governor of West Punjab
In office 24 November 1951 – 2 May 1953
Monarch	George VI Elizabeth II
Governor-General	Malik Ghulam Muhammad
Preceded by	Abdur Rab Nishtar
Succeeded by	Mian Aminuddin
4th Governor of North-West Frontier Province
In office 21 February 1950 – 23 November 1951
Monarch	George VI
Governor-General	Khawaja Nazimuddin Malik Ghulam Muhammad
Preceded by	Sahibzada Mohammad Khurshid
Succeeded by	Khwaja Shahabuddin
Personal details
Born	15 April 1898 Ahmedabad, Bombay Presidency, British India (now in Gujarat, India)
Died	26 September 1960 (aged 62) London, England, United Kingdom
Political party	Muslim League
Alma mater	University of Bombay

Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar (Urdu: ابراہیم اسماعیل چندریگر‎; commonly known as I. I. Chundrigar) was the sixth Prime Minister of Pakistan for approximately 2 months from October 17, 1957 to December 16, 1957.

Early life

I. I. Chundrigar belonged to the Muslim Chundrigar Gujjar community, and was born in 1897 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and educated at Bombay University.

Political career

I. I. Chundrigar first came to prominence when the Muslim League was to give its response to the Government of India Act 1935. He shifted to Bombay at the request of Muhammad Ali Jinnah and became President of the Bombay Provincial Muslim League in 1937. He was re-elected every year up to October 1946. That was when Muhammad Ali Jinnah, leader of the All-India Muslim League, was asked to nominate members of the Muslim League for the Interim Government of India at the time of the transfer of power from British rule to independence. He was one of the five men nominated on behalf of the League, the other four being Liaquat Ali Khan, Ghazanfar Ali Khan, Abdur Rab Nishtar, and Jogendra Nath Mandal. In the Interim Government, Chundrigar took the portfolio of Commerce.^[1]

Chundrigar was appointed Minister for Trade and Commerce in the first cabinet of independent Pakistan in 1947. He later served as ambassador to Afghanistan, governor of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, governor of West Punjab, and Minister for Law.

Prime minister

After merely a year, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy resigned from his Premiership in October 1957. His resignation came as a result of the President's refusal to convene a meeting of the Parliament to seek a vote of confidence. President Iskander Mirza appointed I. I. Chundrigar as the interim Prime Minister. Being a nominated Prime Minister, Chundrigar held a weak position from the very beginning. He headed a coalition government including the Krishak Sramik Party, Nizam-i-Islam Party, the Muslim League and the Republican Party. The Muslim League had agreed to form a coalition government with the Republican Party on the condition that by amending the Electoral Act, the principle of separate electorate would be implemented in the country. After the formation of the Cabinet, Ministers from East Pakistan and the Republican Party started opposing the proposed amendments. The Republican Party opposed the amendment as it wanted to gain advantage over its political opponent, the Muslim League.

Resignation

Iskander Mirza exploited the differences between the parties and thus made Chundrigar an easy victim as he remained Prime Minister for only two months and therefore could not give any practical shape to his program.

See also

Karachi's main business street, I I Chundrigar Road, has been named after him.

References

1. The Leader at pakistan.gov.pk

External links

• I. I. Chundrigar
• Chronicles Of Pakistan