Forum Pakistan

Bhutto, Shahnawaz, Sir (1888-1957)
Statesman. Educated at Larkana and Karachi, he won the *Sindh seat of the Imperial Legislative Council in 1919. The same year he was made an OBE wa awarded KIH in 1924 and received a knighthood in 1930. In 1925 Sir Shahnawaz Bhutto became President of the Sindh National Mohammedan Association. Sir Shahnawaz, played host to M.A. Jinnah in 1928, and was a delegate to the *Round Table Conferences. He was a member of the Lord Russell Committee, which recommended the separation of Sindh from Bombay Presidency. This was considered the first constitutional victory for Muslims after the annulment of the *Bengal Partition (1911). From 1937 to 1946, Sir Shahnawaz was a member of the Bombay/Sindh Public Service Commission.

In 1946 he was appointed Dewan (Premier) of Junagarh state, and in this capacity advised Nawab Sir Mahabat Khanji, the Muslim ruler of the Hindu majority state, to accede to Pakistan at the time of Partition. At his invitation, Sir Zafrullah Khan arrived to draft the Instrument of Accession to Pakistan. He was followed soon by VP. Menon, who threatened dire consequences if Junagarh did not revoke its accession to Pakistan. Under mounting pressure Nawab Mahabat Khanji left Junagarh at the end of October 1947. Sir Shahnawaz stayed on till 8 November, when a Minister, Captain Harvey Jones, called in the Indian Army. Sir Shahnawaz Bhutto spent the last decade of his life in peaceful retirement. His son, Z.A. *Bhutto, became Prime Minister of Pakistan.

WORKS: Memoirs [Unpublished].
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Husain Shah Rashdi, 'Sir Shahnawaz Bhutto', Karachi, 1998; Muhammad Ali Shaikh, 'Luminaries of the Land', Karachi, 1999.