What happened to Iskander Mirza?

Excerpt: The post contains answer to questions “What happened to Iskander Mirza? Where did Iskander Mirza went after coup? What happened to President Iskander Mirza after military takeover?”

Pakistan unfortunately has a long history of military coups. The frequent interventions and takeovers by the military have deeply affected the country, weakening its democratic infrastructure. As a result, democratic norms have struggled to take root and flourish as they should. It also led to the development of many tragedies and imperfect foreign policies that has left its mark on the country for decades.

What happened to Iskander Mirza?

After complete takeover by Ayub Khan in October 1958, he deported Iskander Mirza. He was sent by plane to England where he spent the rest of his life.

He died of cardiac arrest on 13^th November 1969, the day of his 70^th birthday. His burial was planned in East Pakistan but Yahya Khan, the then president of Pakistan, denied him a burial in any part of Pakistan. Subsequently the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, brought the body of President Iskander Mirza from England through his personal plane to Tehran, where he was given a state funeral.

Who was Iskander Mirza?

Born in November 1899, Iskander Mirza had the honor of becoming the last Governor General and first President of Pakistan. After serving in the British Indian Army for many years, Iskander Mirza joined Indian Political Service where he served as the Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Defense in 1946.

After independence, Iskander Mirza remained on many important positions such as;

• Interior Minister
• Minister of States and Frontier Regions
• Governor of East Bengal
• Secretary of Defence
• Vice President of Republican Party
• Minister of Defense

Among all these important posts the two most important and notable positions were;

1. The 4^th and last Governor General and
2. The 1^st President of Pakistan 

Which events led to his exile?

When Pakistan adopted its first constitution in 1956, the then political parties unanimously elected Iskander Mirza as the first President of the country. Since day one, he had ideological differences with the political leaders of that time. He had his own design of political structure for the newly born country.

Iskander Mirza had disclosed his desired constitutional structure for the country in one of his speeches. Broadcasted on the National Radio in the morning of 8 October 1958, President Iskander Mirza during his speech said that he is planning to introduce new constitution that is “more suited to the genius of the Pakistan nation”. He believed democracy unsuited to the country especially “with its 15% literacy rate”.

He imposed Martial Law and appointed Genral Ayub Khan as the chief martial law administrator. His two-man rule design for the statesmanship couldn’t last long because the two men had very different views and political ideologies. Subsequently Ayub Khan took over control of the state and sent Iskander Mirza in airplane to England, where remained till his last breath.

Exile  

After military took over complete control of the country, Iskander Mirza was sent in exile. He was sent to England on midnight of 26–27 October 1958, where he lived the rest of his life.

Source: The above answer is based on information from

• Britannica
• The Mirage of Power by Hassan Mubashir
• Wikipedia

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