Miangul Aurangzeb
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Miangul Aurangzeb, Gujar, the last Wali Ahad (Crown Prince) of the former Swat State, was born May 28, 1928 in Saidu Sharif. He served in the National Assembly of Pakistan and as Governor of Balochistan and subsequent as Governor of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Early life
He received his initial schooling at The Doon School in Dehradun.[1][2] He then attended St. Stephen's College, Delhi.
Army career
Following the independence of Pakistan, Miangul Aurangzeb enrolled at the Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul in 1948. he was commissioned into the Guides Cavalry (11 Cavalry FF) of the Frontier Force Regiment.
During his service in the Pakistan Army, he passed the Junior Officer's Course, the Advanced Infantry Course (Quetta) and the Junior Officer Leadership and Weapons Course (Nowshera). His achievements led to his selection as ADC (Aide de Camp) to the Army Commander in Chief General Ayub Khan.
In 1955, he married the daughter of General Ayub Khan and thereafter quite the army service to enter into politics.
Public life
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Miangul Aurangzeb represented Swat State in the West Pakistan Assembly from 1956 - May 1958, when he was nominated to the National Assembly of Pakistan.
After the imposition of Martial Law in 1958, all legislative bodies were dissolved, and civilian rule did not return until 1962. Miangul Aurangzeb was nominated to the National Assembly in 1962, and re-nominated in 1965.
After the resignation of President Ayub Khan in 1969, the Government of Pakistan under President Yahya Khan took over the administration of all the remaining princely states including Swat.
In 1970 the first ever one man one vote general elections were held in Pakistan, which marked a new chapter for the former ruling family of Swat. Miangul Aurangzeb was elected on a Muslim League platform, defeating a strong candidate of the National Awami Party.
He was reelected in the March 1977 general elections as a Pakistan National Alliance candidate (anti-Bhutto) despite suspected widespread rigging by the rival Pakistan Peoples Party candidate.
Due to his opposition to the government of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Miangul Aurangzeb supported the military government of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, and from 1981 served as a member of the nominated Majlis i Shoora (Federal Council).
In March 1985 general elections were held on a non-party basis, and Miangul Aurangzeb was again elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan.
Following the tumultuous events of 1988, party-based democracy returned to Pakistan and general elections were once again held in November 1988. Miangul Aurangzeb, contesting on from the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad platform was defeated by his cousin and son-in-law Shahzada Aman i Room, the candidate of the Pakistan Peoples Party.
Again in October 1990, Miangul Aurangzeb, contesting as an independent candidate faced defeat, this time at the hands of his former allies, the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad.
However, he bounced back in the October 1993 general elections to regain his seat, and continued to hold it at the February 1997 general elections.
In April 1997, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appointed him as Governor of Balochistan, and Miangul Aurangzeb resigned from the National Assembly. The subsequent by-election resulted in a victory for his son, Engineer Miangul Adnan Aurangzeb.
In August 1999, Miangul Aurangzeb was appointed as the Governor of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and served in that capacity until the military takeover by General Pervez Musharraf on October 24, 1999.
He did not contest the 2002 general elections and retired from electoral politics, passing the torch to the next generation of his family. He remains active in the leadership of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz.
As a result of death threats from and loss of security in Swat to the Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi under Maulana Fazlullah in 2009, Aurangzeb spent an extended period of time at his house in Islamabad. With the return of stability in the area Aurangzeb has resumed living at the family compound in Saidu Sharif.
References
External links
- Swat Royal Family the Miangul Family Tree
- Royal Ark Almanac - Swat Royal Family Tree
- Pakistan International News - Son reports Wali returns to Swat