Nawab Sir Sadiq Muhammad Khan Abbasi V

Nawab Sir Sadiq Muhammad Khan Abbasi V

                                                                                        General Nawab Sadiq Muhammad Khan Abbasi V GCSI GCIE KCVO (Urdu: جنرل نواب صادق محمد خان عباسی‎) (29 September 1904, in Derawar – 24 May 1966, in London) was the Nawab, and later Amir, of Bahawalpur State from 1907 to 1966. He became the Nawab on the death of his father, when he was only three years old. A Council of Regency, with Sir Rahim Bakhsh as its President, ruled on his behalf until 1924. The Nawab served as an officer with the Royal British Empire Army, fighting in the Third Afghan War (1919) and commanding forces in the Middle East during the Second World War. In August 1947, the Nawab received the title of Amir of Bahawalpur, acceding his State to the Dominion of Pakistan a month later. In 1955, the Amir was promoted to General in the Pakistan Army and merged his state into West Pakistan. He died in 1966, aged 61. Under his rule Bahawalpur State comprised an area larger than Denmark orBelgium, By 1947, Bahawalpur State’s institutions, largely set up by successive British advisors with support from the rulers, consisted of departments run by trained civil servants; there was a Ministerial Cabinet headed by a Prime Minister; the State Bank was the Bank of Bahawalpur with branches outside the State also, including Karachi; there was a high court and lower courts; a trained police force and an army commanded by officers trained at the Royal Indian Military Academy at Dehra Doon. Nawab had a keen interest in education, which was free till A level and the State’s Government provided scholarships of merit for higher education. In 1951, the Nawab donated 500 acres in Bahawalpurfor the construction of Sadiq Public School. Nawab was known for his relationship with the Quaid-i-Azam, Founder ofPakistan.

Sir Sadeq Muhammad Khan Abbasi was born at Derawar on 29 September 1904, the only son and heir of Haji Nawab Muhammad Bahawal Khan Abbasi V, Nawab of the state of Bahawalpur. 

BAHAWALPUR STATE (DARBAR MEHAL)

When only two and a half, his father fell ill and died while at sea off the Aden coast, on 15 February 1907, leaving Sadeq as ruler of Bahawalpur. He was educated atAitchison College, Lahore. At the age of 15, Sadeq fought in the Third Afghan War in 1919.