Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto CIE OBE (1888-1957)1 was a feudal lord hailing from Larkana in Sindh province of British India, which is now part of Pakistan. His father Ghulam Murtaza Bhutto was an influential fuedal lord of Sindh.
Early Life
Shah Nawaz was the eldest son of Ghulam Murtaza Bhutto.
Career
He had moved to Hyderabad from Thatta where he began career as a journalist. He rose to prominense as a secretary of the Khilafat Movement of Sindh.2
Shah Nawaz Bhutto started as a minor comprador official in the British colonial regime and steadily rose through the ranks. The British rewarded his "loyal" services with the title Khan Bahadur and later appointed him President of a District Board and still later elevated him to knighthood.
Sir Bhutto had became a member of the Governor's Executive Council in Bombay Presidency in 1925 and married Lakhi Bai in 1926 and Zulfi was born on Jan 5, 1928, the eldest of the three brothers.3
1937 Elections
In 1937 Shah Nawaz Bhutto lost the provincial elections. His opponent, Sheikh Abdul Majid Sindhi had employed Mullahs in an attempt to evoke sympathy by playing on Shah Nawaz Bhutto's conversion from Hinduism.4
Junagarh
Afterwards Shah Nawaz Bhutto joined the service of the Nawab of Junagadh, and he ultimately rose to become the Dewan (equivalent to Finance Minister) of Junagadh.
In 1934, with G. M. Sayed, Bhutto founded the Sindh Peoples Party.
At the time of the partition of British India in 1947, the princely states were left by the British to decide whether to accede to one of the newly independent states of India or Pakistan or to remain outside them. Bhutto, as Dewan of Junagadh, claimed to have persuaded the Nawab to decide in favour of his state's accession to India, but the Nawab decided in favour of Pakistan, although this decision was soon defeated by Indian intervention. However there is no documentary proof of Bhutto's advice. Some commentators suggest that he gave the opposite advice to the Nawab.
On 7 November 1947 Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto made a request to the Government of India to take over the administration of Junagarh. Prior to taking over the state of Junagarh, Indian Government cabled the Prime Minister of Pakistan to inform him that it was acceding the request of the Dewan Shah Nawaz Bhutto in order to avoid disorder in the state. Takeover of the state took place on 9 November 1947. However, it can be seen as a controversial statement as Junagarh State observes 9th November as Black day against the forcefully taking over of the state by India on Dewan Sir shah Nawaz Bhutto's5 request.
Later, in his capacity as diwan of Junagadh, Shahnawaz made the nawab of Junagadh sign the annexation of the state by India. After Junagadh, Shahnawaz moved with his family to Larkana District in Sindh Province, where land given to him for his services had made him one of the wealthiest and most influential landowners in Sindh.
Bhutto was a good friend of Governor General (later President) Iskander Mirza, who was a regular guest for the annual hunt in Larkana, staying at the Bhutto family home, Al-Murtaza. In the winter of 1955-1956, Mirza brought General Ayub Khan with him to Larkana for the hunt.
Family
Shah Nawaz Bhutto was married to Khursheed Begum, formerly Lakhi Bai, who was a Hindu dancing girl. She converted from Hinduism to Islam before her marriage. Her brothers remained Hindu and eventually migrated to India.
Their children included Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, and a daughter called Mumtaz, who married Brigadier Muhammad Mustafa Khan Bahadur of the Sidi clan. Their first child, Sikandar, died from pneumonia at the age of seven in 1914, and their second child, Imdad Ali, died of cirrhosis at the age of thirty-nine in 1953. Their son Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was born in his parents' residence near Larkana, and was their third child.
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