‘Dear Mr Jinnah’: Selected Correspondence and Speeches of Liaquat Ali Khan, 1937-1947

Liaquat Ali Khan is one of the unsung heroes of the Pakistan movement. He became Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s most trusted Lieutenant, and in 1943 Jinnah called him his ‘right hand’. Almost twenty years younger than Jinnah, Liaquat established a closer working relationship with Jinnah than anyone else. Their personal life shared a number of attributes and they both subscribed to modernist views. Jinnah was a Gladstonian liberal, and Liaquat was strongly influenced by the poetry and thoughts of Allama Iqbal. Both had been educated in law at Inns of court in London, and although Jinnah established fame and wealth at the Bar, Liaquat did not practice law. Jinnah chose Liaquat as the General Secretary of the All-India Muslim League in 1936, and over the next decade they worked to establish the League as the political voice of Muslims in South Asia and to create Pakistan. Liaquat’s work with the League and in the creation of Pakistan remains largely unappreciated. Liaquat’s dedication to the cause of Muslims in India, to serving Mohammad Ali Jinnah and the League are illustrated in the correspondence between these two men and in Liaquat’s speeches.