Daily Times

The fifty-fifth death anniversary of the first President of Pakistan, Isikandar Mirza, is being observed on Wednesday. He was born in Murshidabad, Bengal, on November 13, 1899. He was educated at the University of Bombay before attending the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, after military service in the British Indian Army. He was appointed as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Defense in 1942, marking the beginning of his pivotal role in the nation’s defense administration. Following Pakistan’s independence in 1947, he was chosen to serve as the country’s first Secretary of Defense. He stepped in as Acting Governor General when Governor General Malik Ghulam Muhammad fell ill on August 6, 1955. He was being elected as the first President of Pakistan under the newly formed constitution on March 5, 1956. He died of a heart attack on 13 November 1969, his 70th birthday. Yahya Khan, the president of Pakistan, denied him a burial in East Pakistan.