Sikandar Hayat Khan

The history of the Hayats is buried in many tales, aptly set against the backdrop of the historical Wah village, from where the family originates. The Hayats are descended from Khattar Khan, about whom little is known. Legend however suggests the clan took root in the Attock district of the Punjab after its descendants arrived with the vanquishing forces of Mahmud Ghaznavi in the eleventh century.

Wah itself was created much later when the Mughul Emperor Shah Jehan in 1645 was marching towards Kabul. Tradition holds that the name of the village, "Wah', originates in the Emperor's spontaneous word of praise as he spotted the humble setting then known as Jalalsar.

The political history of the Hayat clan begins with Nawab Muhammad Hayat Khan, from whom the family takes its name. Hayat's father, Karam Khan, allied with the British during the Sikh uprising in the Punjab. Not long afterwards, a divide set in within the family when the unfortunate Karam was killed by his brother. Karam's widow swiftly smuggled her five young sons out of the village, fearing for their lives, and sought British protection. The oldest of the boys, Muhammad Hayat, was educated under British supervision and was later appointed as an officer under John Nicholson.

As the 1857 War of Independence broke out in Delhi, Nicholson, then the Deputy Commissioner of Peshawar, found himself struggling to cope with Pakhtoon chiefs who saw this as an opportunity to rid themselves of the British. Muhammad Khan played a significant part in helping Nicholson overcome the situation, by raising a strong group of Afridis. For these services, Hayat was appointed ADC to Nicholson, and served with him in the battles that broke out across the Punjab as the efforts for freedom intensified.

In the years ahead, Hayat continued to rise through the ranks, being appointed an Assistant Commissioner and later a Divisional Judge. Various awards also came his way, and in 1899, two years before his death, he was given the title of 'Nawab'. This tradition of service to the British, common to many feudal families of the Punjab, was followed by Muhammad Hayat's descendants. But it was one of his six sons, Sikander Hayat Khan, who emerged as the most significant political player in the family's history. Indeed, whatever political claims the Hayats may still make stem from the role in history of Sikander Hayat.

Born in 1892, Sikander was by the early 1920s making a mark on local administration, and had established strong links with the Unionist Party, founded in 1920. The party, essentially a coalition between Hindu farmers in the eastern Punjab and feudal Muslim landlords in the west, attempted to represent both peasants and land owners. It strongly opposed any division of the Punjab, and dominated the province for its first two decades of limited democracy under the British.

Sikander Hayat, appointed a Revenue Member of the Punjab Government in 1929, became the Deputy Governor of the State Bank of India in 1935. In 1936, he succeeded Sir Fazle Husain as the leader of the Unionist Party. The party swept the first election to the Punjab Legislative Assembly in 1937, and Sikander Hayat became the premier of the Punjab - a post he held until his death due to a sudden heart attack in 1942. He was aged 49, and had barely a day earlier organized the last of the marriage functions of three of his ten children, who were wed on successive dates.

Sikander Hayat had acted for some months as Governor of the Punjab in 1932, while the British Governor was on leave, becoming the first Indian to hold the post. He served in a similar capacity again in 1934. Sikander Hayat, who had also served in the military, received a series of titles and awards from the British, and was knighted in 1933.

But Sir Sikander's main political contribution revolves around the strong Unionist Party opposition to a divided Punjab - a political philosophy that is still poorly understood - and his innovative legislation during his tenure as premier. This included a number of taxation measures, which met initially with fierce hostility. Other measures proved more successful. They included a waiving of debts owed by Muslims to moneylenders and the collection of a one-paisa tax from all Muslims to renovate the then deteriorating Badshahi Masjid. Sikander Hayat is buried within the compound of the mosque as a tribute to his efforts to save it from ruin.

Sikander Hayat's elder brother, Liaquat Hayat, served as the premier of the then princely state of Patiala in East Punjab till shortly before Partition, at a time when the state was at the height of its colourful glory. The rest of the family remained well represented in government departments. In a curious twist of fate, some of its members found themselves pitted directly against each other. Mazhar Ali Khan and Mahmud Ali Khan, the sons of Sikander Hayat's paternal cousin, emerged as pro-Independence student leaders in the late 1930s, as the struggle to end imperial rule began in earnest. At one point, to the fury of their mother, also a close relative, Sikander Hayat found himself forced to order the arrest of his young nephews.

In yet another ironic turn of events, Mazhar was later to wed one of Sikander's daughters, Tahira. The couple continued to play a role in leftist political activism after Partition, with Mazhar, who died in 1993, becoming a leading editor and columnist.

The generations that followed Sikander Hayat struggled to match his achievements. His eldest son, Shaukat Hayat, joined his father's Unionist Party. Following an invitation from Mohammad Ali Jinnah, he, like most other Muslim members of the Unionist Party joined the Muslim League soon before Partition. Shaukat continued to play a role in Muslim League politics in the years after Independence, until his death two years ago. His son, Sikander, named after his grandfather, remains politically active.

But the Hayats, as a political family, can now claim only limited influence in their native Attock district. In the politics of post-Independence Pakistan, they have faded away from the spotlight, with Sir Sikander Hayat still retaining his position as the figure around whom the family's political fame revolves.

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