Abdur Rashid Khan

Sardar Abdur Rashid Khan, HQA, OBE (1906 – 1995) was a senior police officer from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province and cabinet minister in Pakistan.

Early life

Born in Dera Ismail Khan, Sardar Rashid was educated at Islamia College Peshawar.

Professional life

He then joined the Indian Police Service (IP) and was serving as the Deputy Superintendent of Police in Peshawar City when Pakistan became an independent country on 14 August 1947. He was one of the senior most police officers in the newly-emergent country.

Sardar Rashid rose to become the Inspector General of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police, but resigned from the police service on April 23, 1953, when he was appointed as the 8th Chief Minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

On the resignation of Dr Khan Sahib in July 1957, Sardar Rashid was elected as the second Chief Minister of West Pakistan. He resigned from this position on 18 March 1958, and was succeeded by Nawab Muzaffar Ali Khan Qizilbash.

Sardar Rashid (Republican) served as Minister for Commerce and Industries in the cabinet of Prime Minister Sir Feroz Khan Noon (Republican) from 29 March 1958 - 7 October 1958, when the cabinet was dismissed on the declaration of Martial Law by President Iskander Mirza.

After the fall of the Ayub Khan government, Sardar Abdur Rashid served as Minister for Home Affairs (Interior), Kashmir Affairs, States, and Frontier Regions in the presidential cabinet of President and Chief Martial Law Administrator General Yahya Khan from 4 August 1969 - 22 February 1971.