Page 161 - They Also Served

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Iskander Mirza 1920.
Syed Iskander Ali Mirza was born into
a wealthy family in Bengal, India, in
November 1899. After schooling in
Bombay, he was selected to attend the
Royal Military College Sandhurst, as
part of the policy of expanding the role
of native officers in the Indian Army.
Commissioned in July 1920, he was
one of the first ten King’s Commission
Indian Army officers. After a year
seconded to the Cameronians, a Scottish
infantry regiment, his early career was spent in the Indian military police and later the political service. Promoted to major in 1938, he spent the war in the Khyber Pass region and was again promoted in 1946. His skill in running various colonial offices brought him to the attention of the British-Indian government and he was made joint defence secretary, responsible for dividing land forces into the future armies of India and Pakistan. During this time, he became close to Liaquat Ali Khan, the future prime minister of Pakistan.
Made colonel upon Partition in 1947, Mirza became the defence secretary of Pakistan, overseeing the first Kashmir War with India. Promoted directly to major-general in 1950, he advised on the appointment of Pakistani heads of the armed forces, ending the appointment of British senior officers in the roles. Major-General Iftikhar Khan was promoted to four-star rank to head the army but was killed in a plane crash soon afterwards, and Mirza used his influence to lobby for the relatively junior Ayub Khan to be given the vacant post.
In 1954, with the situation in East Pakistan deteriorating, Mirza was made governor, ruling with an iron fist and imprisoning political activists. Although only in post for a year, his autocratic rule bred hatred of the central government, which would eventually lead to the breakaway and creation of the state of Bangladesh. After a brief spell as interior minister to Prime Minister Mohammad Ali Bogra, Mirza served as deputy governor-general of Pakistan, ousting his superior when he went to England to recuperate from illness. He then acted as kingmaker by appointing Bogra as ambassador to the USA, forcing him to resign as prime minister and inviting
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