Governor-General of Pakistan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Governor-General of Pakistan was the resident representative of King George VI in Pakistan from 1947 to 1952 and then Queen Elizabeth II ("Queen of Pakistan") from 1952 until 1956 when Pakistan was proclaimed a republic.
When Pakistan became an independent, self-governing nation in 1947, it, like post-independent India, provisionally continued to use the Government of India Act 1935, as its written constitution until a post-independence constitution could be drafted; by default this contemplated the continuation of the constitutional monarchy as a Commonwealth realm dominion.
The monarch appointed a Governor-General, upon the advice of the Prime Minister of Pakistan to serve as de facto Head of State.
Mohammed Ali Jinnah, considered Quaid-e-Azam ("Father of the Nation"), informed Lord Mountbatten: "when I am Governor-General the Prime Minister will do what I tell him to" -- however Jinnah's rapidly declining health made the issue moot.
After Jinnah's death the Governor-General of Pakistan had little practical power, and served in a mostly figurehead capacity.
The office of Governor-General was replaced by the office of President of Pakistan when Pakistan became a republic in 1956. The then Governor-General, Iskander Mirza, became Pakistan's first president.
[edit] Governors-General of Pakistan
- Mohammed Ali Jinnah (15 Aug 1947–11 Sep 1948)
- Khwaja Nazimuddin (14 Sep 1948–17 Oct 1951)
- Ghulam Mohammad (17 Oct 1951–6 Oct 1955)
- Iskander Mirza (6 Oct 1955–23 Mar 1956)
|
|||||||||
| Current: Antigua and Barbuda | Australia | The Bahamas | Barbados | Belize | Canada | Grenada | Jamaica | New Zealand | Papua New Guinea | Saint Kitts and Nevis | Saint Lucia | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Solomon Islands | Tuvalu | |||||||||
| Former: Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) | Fiji | The Gambia | Ghana | Guyana | India | Irish Free State (now Republic of Ireland) | Kenya | Malawi | Malta | Mauritius | Nigeria | Pakistan | Sierra Leone | South Africa | Tanganyika (now Tanzania) | Trinidad and Tobago | Uganda | |||||||||
| Former colonies: Rhodesia and Nyasaland | West Indies | |||||||||
