Shahryar Mohammad Khan (Urdu: شہریار محمد خان; 29 March 1934 – 23 March 2024) was a Pakistani career diplomat who became Foreign Secretary of Pakistan in 1990, and remained so until his retirement from service in 1994. He later served as United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General to Rwanda (1994–1996), and wrote the book Shallow Graves of Rwanda on his experiences on what Rwanda went through. From August 1999, he intermittently served as the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, and also served as the president of the Asian Cricket Council in 2016.[1]
Shahryar Khan | |
|---|---|
شہریار محمد خان | |
 | |
| Chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board | |
| In office May 2014 – August 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Najam Sethi |
| Succeeded by | Najam Sethi |
| In office December 2003 – October 2006 | |
| Preceded by | Lieutenant general Tauqir Zia |
| Succeeded by | Nasim Ashraf |
| 20th Foreign Secretary of Pakistan | |
| In office 1990–1994 | |
| Preceded by | Tanvir Ahmad Khan |
| Succeeded by | Najmuddin Shaikh |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 29 March 1934 Bhopal, Bhopal State, British India |
| Died | 23 March 2024 (aged 89) Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan |
| Nationality | Pakistani |
| Spouse |
Minoo Khan (m. 1958) |
| Parent(s) | Sarwar Ali Khan Abida Sultan |
| Residence(s) | Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan |
| Alma mater | Daly College Oundle School The Fletcher School University of Cambridge |
| Occupation | Diplomat |
Early life and background
editShahryar Muhammed Khan was born on 29 March 1934 in the Qasr-e-Sultani Palace (now Saifia College), in Bhopal State (honoured with 19-gun salute until 1947) in British India.[2] He was the only son and male heir of both Nawab Muhammad Sarwar Ali Khan, the ruler of former princely state of Kurwai and Princess Begum Abida Sultan (Suraya Jah, and Nawab Gauhar-i-Taj), herself the Crown Princess and the eldest daughter of the last ruling Nawab of Bhopal, Haji-Hafiz Sir Muhammad Nawab Hamidullah Khan, who reigned over the state of Bhopal after a prolonged era of the Begums regime (the queens), and his wife Begum Maimoona Sultan. Khan is descended from the royal family of former princely state of Bhopal where his ancestors had emigrated during first quarter of the eighteenth century from Afghanistan.[3]
Career, retirement and literary work
edit
He worked for a year with Burmah Shell Oil, and in 1957, joined the Pakistani foreign service. In 1960, he was posted as a Third Secretary in the Pakistani High Commission in London, and was promoted to Second Secretary in the Tunis embassy from 1962 to 1966. In 1976, Shahryar Khan became Pakistan's ambassador to Jordan (1976–1982) and the United Kingdom (1987–1990).[4][5][6] He also stayed as Pakistan's Ambassador to France (1999–2001) and chairman, Committee on Foreign Service Reforms, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1997–1999).[7]
Khan was teaching Pakistan's Foreign Relations at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) as part of the Social Sciences faculty.[8][9] He taught a course titled "Pakistan's Foreign Relations" in the Fall semester and a senior-level course titled "Critical Issues in Pakistan's Foreign Relations" in the Spring semester.[10][11] At LUMS, he was also the patron of the LUMS Model UN Society (LUMUN).[12]
On 1 July 1994, he was appointed United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali's Special Representative to Rwanda, succeeding Jacques-Roger Booh-Booh. As U.N. Special Representative, he represented the United Nations during the genocide and subsequent refugee crisis.[13][14][15]
In 2005, he was made an honorary fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.[16]
In his retirement, Shahryar Khan wrote a number of books. The Begums of Bhopal is a history of the princely state of Bhopal.[17][18][19] The Shallow Graves of Rwanda[20] is an eye-witness account of his two-year stay in a country ravaged by genocide.[14][21][15] Cricket – a Bridge of Peace,[22] about India-Pakistan relations, is his third book. His most personal book was the biography of his mother Princess Abida Sultaan – Memoirs of a Rebel Princess,[23] which has been translated into Urdu.[24] In 2013, with his son Ali Khan, he wrote Cricket Cauldron: The Turbulent Politics of Sport in Pakistan.[25] He also co-authored Shadows Across the Playing Field: 60 Years of India-Pakistan Cricket (2009) with Indian writer and politician Shashi Tharoor.[26]
Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board
editKhan served as the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) from 10 December 2003 till he resigned on 7 October 2006.[27] In 2003, took over the board in turmoil. His tenure is remembered more for Pakistan's 2006 forfeit of the Oval test after being penalised for ball tampering.
On 16 August 2014, he was again appointed the chairman of the PCB.[28] Khan was appointed chairman after he was elected unanimously by the board of governors of the Pakistan Cricket Board[29] in the light of the new constitution of the PCB 2014 which was approved by the Prime Minister of Pakistan. He was once again appointed the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board on 18 August 2014. In September 2015, he launched the Pakistan Super League.[30] He retired from the position in 2017 after completing his term.[31][32]
In March 2016, Pakistan was eliminated from the 2016 ICC World Twenty20 after losing three matches against India, New Zealand and Australia and only winning against Bangladesh. This caused great controversy over whose 'fault' it was. Khan was amongst those blamed and there were talks about him retiring from the PCB after this. However, he later spoke out and said he would not resign.[33] He also said it would be better to bring in a foreign coach, implying that Waqar Younis's coaching contract, which ended in June 2016, would not be renewed. Furthermore, Khan did not release any statements on who he thought was responsible for the loss,[34] but instead, he said before the match that he would not change Afridi's position because he had been 'serving Pakistan for the last 20 years'. Khan added that changes would happen after the tournament but also noted that the poor performance was from the whole team, except certain individuals.[35]
Personal life and death
editKhan met Minoo Khan, a student at the Queen's College in London in 1957, and married her in 1958 in Karachi.[36][37]
Shahryar Khan died on 23 March 2024 in Lahore, at the age of 89.[38] He was buried in Bhopal House in Malir, Karachi.[39]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Shehreyar khan becomes President of Asian Cricket Council". Daily Pakistan. 20 August 2016. Archived from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
- ^ "Oral history with Shahryar Khan, 2016 May 31". Archived from the original on 22 December 2023. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
- ^ Mourad, Kenizé (2013). In the City of Gold and Silver : The Story of Begum Hazrat Mahal. Full Circle. ISBN 978-81-7621-237-3. Archived from the original on 24 March 2024. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
- ^ "Cricket – A Bridge of Peace". indiaclub.com. Archived from the original on 26 May 2011.
- ^ "Lecture by Ambassador Shaharyar M. Khan, UN special rep in Rwanda 1994-6". Archived from the original on 15 May 2011.
- ^ Khan, Shaharyar M (1991). "Pakistan's Foreign Policy Challenges". Pakistan Horizon. 44 (2): 9–24. ISSN 0030-980X. OCLC 6015378168.
- ^ "The prospects for Pakistan and its neighbourhood" Archived 26 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine The Ditchley Foundation, 5–7 October 2007
- ^ "Former PCB chairman and career diplomat Shaharyar Khan passes away". Arab News. 23 March 2024. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
- ^ "DRUMS Student Society Presents LUMS Quarterly Debates | Welcome to MGSHSS". mgshss.lums.edu.pk. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
- ^ "LUMS – Undergraduate Class Schedule (Fall)" (PDF).
- ^ "LUMS – Undergraduate Class Schedule (Sprint 2010–11)" (PDF).
- ^ "LUMUN: 'Stop blaming others for Pakistan's problems'". The Express Tribune. 23 December 2010. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
- ^ "Massacres, 'mindless violence and carnage' rage in Rwanda", UN Chronicle, September 1994
- ^ a b Khan, Shaharyar M; Straus, Scott (2002). "BOOK REVIEWS – POLITICS – The Shallow Graves of Rwanda". African Studies Review. 45 (3): 141. doi:10.2307/1515139. ISSN 0002-0206. JSTOR 1515139. OCLC 97793414. S2CID 221275139.
- ^ a b Khan, Shaharyar M (2004). "The United Nations dismissed the Warning Signs and failed to stop the Genocide". In Christina Fisanick (ed.). Rwanda Genocide. Greenhaven Press. pp. 58–67. ISBN 0737719869. OCLC 773806724.
- ^ Corpus Christi College honorary fellows Archived 27 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Khan, Shaharyar M (2001). Le royaume des bégums: une dynastie de femmes dans l'empire des Indes (in French). Paris: Fayard. ISBN 978-2-213-60964-5. OCLC 48530890.
- ^ Khan, Shaharyar M; Ansari, Sarah (2001). "Books Reviewed - The Begums of Bhopal: A Dynasty of Women Rulers in Raj India". The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History. 29 (2): 166. ISSN 0308-6534. OCLC 93448821.
- ^ Khan, Shaharyar M (2017). Bhopal connections: vignettes of royal rule. ISBN 978-93-5194-197-2. OCLC 1004751938.
- ^ Khan, Shaharyar M (2000). The shallow graves of Rwanda. London; New York: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-86064-616-4. OCLC 1048064343.
- ^ Khan, Shaharyar M; Forbes, Geraldine (2002). "Reviews of Books - ASIA - The Begums of Bhopal: A Dynasty of Women Rulers in Raj India". The American Historical Review. 107 (2). Washington, etc.: American Historical Association [etc.]: 528. doi:10.1086/532332. ISSN 0002-8762. JSTOR 10.1086/532332. OCLC 95463311.
- ^ Khan, Shaharyar M (2005). Cricket: a bridge of peace. Karachi: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195978360. OCLC 607570308. Archived from the original on 24 March 2024. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
- ^ Sultaan, Abida (2004). Memoirs of a rebel princess. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-579958-3. OCLC 857280302.
- ^ Sultaan, Abida (2007). ʻĀbidah Sult̤ān, ek inqilābī shahzādī kī k̲h̲vudnavisht (in Urdu). Karācī: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-597907-7. OCLC 217265251.
- ^ Khan, Shaharyar M; Khan, Ali (2013). Cricket cauldron: the turbulent politics of sport in Pakistan. London: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-78076-083-4. OCLC 1056951489.
- ^ Tharoor, Shashi; Khan, Shaharyar M (2009). Shadows across the playing field: 60 years of India-Pakistan cricket. New Delhi: Roli Books. ISBN 978-81-7436-718-1. OCLC 426032999.
- ^ "Shaharyar Khan resigns from PCB". ESPNcricinfo. 6 October 2006.
- ^ "PCB unanimously elects Shahryar Khan as chairman – Sport". Dawn.Com. 16 August 2014. Archived from the original on 17 August 2014. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
- ^ "Latest Sports News, Live Scores, Results Today's Sports Headlines Updates – NDTV Sports". NDTVSports.com. Archived from the original on 6 June 2020. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
- ^ "Pakistan Super League launched in star-studded event". The Express Tribune. 20 September 2015.
- ^ "PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan set to resign". ESPNcricinfo. 31 March 2017.
- ^ "Najam Sethi replaces Shaharyar Khan as Pakistan Cricket Board chairman". Khaleej Times. 9 August 2017.
- ^ "PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan says he is not stepping down". IBNLive. Archived from the original on 4 April 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
- ^ "A blow by blow account of Pakistan cricket". The Indian Express. 2 April 2016. Archived from the original on 5 April 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
- ^ "Shaharyar Khan unhappy with Pakistan's Asia Cup performance". Sky Sports. Archived from the original on 10 April 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
- ^ University, © Stanford; Stanford; California 94305. "Oral history with Shahryar Khan, 2016 May 31". The 1947 Partition Archive – Spotlight at Stanford. Archived from the original on 22 December 2023. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Puthran, Aayush (14 July 2022). Unveiling Jazbaa: A History of Pakistan Women's Cricket. Birlinn Ltd. ISBN 978-1-913538-81-1. Archived from the original on 24 March 2024. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
- ^ "Veteran diplomat and ex-PCB chief Shaharyar Khan dies at 89". DAWN. 23 March 2024.
- ^ "Shaharyar Khan laid to rest". DAWN. 25 March 2024.