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Sayyid Akbar Babrak

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Sayyid Akbar Babrak
سید اکبر ببرک
Born1921 or 1922
Khost, Southern Province, Emirate of Afghanistan
Died16 October 1951 (aged 29)
Rawalpindi, West Punjab, Dominion of Pakistan
Cause of deathGunshot
Known forAssassinating Pakistani prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan
Criminal statusExecuted
SpouseMusammat Malmal Bibi (c. 1940s)
Children2, 4, 9 or 18
ParentBabrak Khan (father)
ConvictionMurder
Criminal penaltyDeath
Details
VictimsLiaquat Ali Khan
Date16 October 1951
Military career
AllegianceRebels of Mazrak Zadran
Battles / warsAfghan tribal revolts of 1944–1947

Sayyid Akbar Babrak[a] (1921 or 1922 – 16 October 1951) was an Afghan national who was the assassin of Liaquat Ali Khan, the first prime minister of Pakistan. He shot Khan twice in the chest at point blank range at a political gathering of around 100,000 people in the Company Bagh, Rawalpindi, on 16 October 1951.

Babrak was born in Khost, Afghanistan, to the Pashtun chieftain Babrak Khan. Akbar Babrak participated in the Afghan tribal revolts of 1944–1947 against the governments of both Afghanistan and British India, and around this time, sought refuge in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) of British India, which later became part of Pakistan in the wake of the partition of British India.

After Babrak assassinated Liaquat Ali Khan, a group of police officers instantly shot and killed him. As such, Babrak's motives for the assassinations remain unclear and various theories persist. Most of the Pakistani public had speculated him to be an agent of the Soviet Union, as Khan's foreign policy sided with the United States-led Western Bloc against the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc. Others assert him to be a Pashtun nationalist who supported the cause of Pashtunistan.

Early life and activities

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Sayyid Akbar Babrak was born in 1921 or 1922[1] in Khost, Afghanistan.[2] He was the son of Babrak Khan, a Zadran chieftain.[3] When his father died, Said's brother, Mazrak became the new chief.[3] Mazrak would fight against the Afghan government during the Afghan tribal revolts of 1944–1947 to support the restoration of King Amanullah Khan. Sayyid participated in these revolts, fighting for Mazrak.[4]

Assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan

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On October 16, 1951,[1] during a public meeting, Sayyid Akbar Khan shot the Prime Minister of Pakistan Liaquat Ali Khan twice in a park in Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan. The assassin was fatally shot by police officers seconds later. Liaquat was rushed to a hospital, where he died after a blood transfusion.[5]

Motives

[edit]

Babrak's motives for the assassination have not been resolved, as he was shot dead by police shortly after attacking Khan.

The lack of evidence has led to the rise of many conspiracy theories regarding Khan's assassination,[6] particularly theories that put forward the idea that he was killed at the behest of foreign powers. There was speculation among the Pakistani public that Babrak had been enlisted as an agent of the Soviet Union to kill Khan, who had been steering Pakistan towards the United States in the ongoing Cold War. However, others theories have instead alleged that the assassination was orchestrated by the United States.[5] The assassination had come seven months after the Rawalpindi conspiracy, a failed coup d'état by the Pakistan Army against Khan and his government.

The Afghan government has denied any role in Khan's assassination and stated that Babrak was acting independently.[7]

In a 1972 interview, Babrak's brother, Mazrak Zadran, denied that his brother killed the prime minister.[8]

Family

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Sayyid had two sons,[9] or possibly more, including Dilawar Khan.[10] His wife was Musammat Malmal Bibi.[11]

Mazar Khan[12]
fl. late 19th century
Babrak Khan
d. 1924 or 1925		Khan Muhammad[13]
Mazrak Zadran
fl. 1900s – 1972		Sayyid Akbar Babrak[14]
b. 1921 or 1922
d. 16 Oct 1951		Sher Muhd Khan[15]
fl. 1925 – 1947		Izmair[16]
fl. 1925 – 1945		5 or 14 others[note 1]
Dilawar Khan[20]
b. 1939 or 1940		Muhammad Umar Babrakzai[note 2]
fl. 1980
  1. ^ Sources disagree how many sons Babrak had - Jamna Das Akhtar states that Babrak had 18 sons,[17] while a Pakistani government inquiry titled The Assassination of Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan states that Babrak had 9 sons.[18] David B. Edwards states that Babrak had 2 sons,[19] but this appears to be false, as at least 4 of his son's names are known.
  2. ^ Muhammad Umar Babrakzai was Babrak Khan's grandchild[21] although it's unclear through what father.

Notes

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  1. ^ Pashto: سید اکبر ببرک
[edit]

References

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  1. ^ a b Muñoz, Heraldo (2014). Getting Away with Murder: Benazir Bhutto's Assassination and the Politics of Pakistan. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-393-06291-5. The killer was a twenty-nine-year-old Afghan by the name of Said Akbar
  2. ^ Collier's ... Year Book Covering the Year ... P.F. Collier & Son. 1952. p. 4. the Pakistan government declared officially that the assassin had been identified as a national of Afghanistan named Said Akbar from the village of Khost.
  3. ^ a b Fetherling, George (2011-11-16). "AKBAR, Said". The Book of Assassins. Random House of Canada. ISBN 978-0-307-36909-3.
  4. ^ State, United States Department of (1977). Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 1995.
  5. ^ a b Khuro, Zarrar (December 27, 2010). "Unexplained assassinations". Tribune Pakistan. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
  6. ^ "A tale of 'political martyrs' in Pakistan". Pakistan Today. 15 August 2018.
  7. ^ "Breaking the myths of Pakistan ruining Afghanistan". Pakistan Today. 12 August 2016.
  8. ^ "Memoir: The last speech of the first Prime Minister by Nazar Abbas". The Friday Times. 2012-11-15. Archived from the original on 15 November 2012. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
  9. ^ The Assassination of Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan: Report of the Commission of Enquiry. Manager of Publications. 1952. p. 34. Said Akbar had come from the frontier Hotel and that he had with him his wife and two children
  10. ^ The Assassination of Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan: Report of the Commission of Enquiry. Manager of Publications. 1952. p. 21. Said Akbar's son Dilawar Khan admits that his mother occasionally used to go to the pictures with his father.
  11. ^ Pakistan Affairs. Information Division, Embassy of Pakistan. 1951. p. 3.
  12. ^ "ببرک خان ځدراڼ/صفيه حليم". dawatmedia24. 18 August 2019. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  13. ^ Adamec, Ludwig W. (1975). Historical and Political Who's who of Afghanistan (PDF). Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt. p. 130. ISBN 978-3-201-00921-8.
  14. ^ Fetherling, George (2011-11-16). "AKBAR, Said". The Book of Assassins. Random House of Canada. ISBN 978-0-307-36909-3.
  15. ^ Yapp, Malcolm (2001). British documents on foreign affairs: reports and papers from the foreign office confidential print. From 1946 through 1950. Near and Middle-East 1947. Afghanistan, Persia and Turkey, january 1947-december 1947. University Publications of America. p. 109. ISBN 978-1-55655-765-1.
  16. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20041217215440/http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/pakistan/pakintrigue.htm
  17. ^ Akhtar, Jamna Das (1969). Political conspiracies in Pakistan: Liaquat Ali's murder to Ayub Khan's exit. Punjabi Pustak Bhandar. p. 224.
  18. ^ The Assassination of Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan: Report of the Commission of Enquiry. Manager of Publications. 1952. p. 11.
  19. ^ Edwards, David B. (2002-04-02). Before Taliban: Genealogies of the Afghan Jihad. University of California Press. p. 329. ISBN 978-0-520-22861-0.
  20. ^ Zaidi, Syed (2010). "The Assassination of the Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan: The Fateful Journey" (PDF). nihcr.edu.pk. p. 81. Dilawar Khan was eleven years old boy. He was the son of Said Akbar, the alleged assassin
  21. ^ Brown, Vahid; Rassler, Don (2013). Fountainhead of Jihad: The Haqqani Nexus, 1973-2012. Oxford University Press. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-19-932798-0.
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