Cecil Edward Gibbon

Cecil Edward Gibbon was a Pakistani politician who served as the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan from 1955 to 1958.

Early life and education Gibbon was born in 1906 in Allahabad, British India, to an Anglo-Indian family and received his education at St. Joseph's College, Nainital, and St. Edmund's College, Shillong.

In 1941, Gibbon worked in the Government of India's Food Department in Punjab and later became the president of the Anglo-Indian community's Punjab chapter. The main reason for Gibbon's support for Pakistan was the promise of separate electorates (see Communal Award) for Christians, thereby freeing the Anglo-Indians from the dominance of the Hindu majority.

Gibbon was a member of the first and second Punjab Assemblies and the National Assembly, participating in debates on various legislative matters. He was the lone non-Muslim representative from Punjab in the Second Constituent Assembly, and alongside Peter Paul Gomez of East Bengal, were the only Christian members in that body. He also served as the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan and advocated for separate electorates for minorities, especially displaced Christian families. However, Prime Minister Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy passed the Electoral Amendment Bill of 1957, formally abolishing separate electorates for non-Muslim minorities of the country. He remained as the Speaker of the National Assembly until 1958, when he retired from politics on being accused of corruption. Following the imposition of military rule under Ayub Khan, Gibbon emigrated out of the country.