Abdus Salim Khan

Abdus Salim Khan, also known as Khan Sahib (28 December 1907 – 12/13 July 1957) was an Indian Civil Servant who later joined Pakistani Civil Service to become a diplomat. He served as an ambassador to several countries representing Pakistan.

Background
Abdus Salim Khan was born on 18 December 1907, at Talokar (village), near Haripur, NWFP, British India, as the eldest son to Abdul Majid Khan Tarin, Khan-sahib, OBE. After completion of his early education at Aitchison College, Lahore, he went on to take higher degrees from the Government College Lahore. In 1934, he was married to Begum Mahmooda Salim Khan, the eldest daughter of then Punjab governor Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan. The Civil & Military Gazette, Lahore, 6 April 1934, news report. See the Begum Mahmooda Salim Khan Papers/Collection at the National Archives of Pakistan, Islamabad. This news report states inter alia-- 'A simple but dignified marriage ceremony took place yesterday between the eldest daughter of HE the Governor of the Punjab, Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan, KBE, and Mr Abdus Salim Khan, eldest son of Khan Sahib Abdul Majid Khan, Tarin, OBE, of Talokar, NWFP. Among the many notables, civil and military officers attending the auspicious occasion, the more prominent guests were the bride's uncle Sir Liaqat Hayat Khan and a contingent from Patiala State representing HH the Maharaja Sahib; Sardar Muzaffar Ali Khan, Sir Muhammad Habibullah, KB Mushtaq Ahmed Gurmani, Haji Rahim Baksh, Sheikh Muhammad Naqi, Mian Abdul Aziz, Sheikh Fayazuddin, Nawabzada Khurshid Ali Khan of Maler Kotla, Hakim Faqir Mohammad Chishti, Sajjada Nashins from the shrines of Pakpatan and Ajmair and the Hon'ble Sardar Ujjal Singh. Also present were Mr H.L.O Garrett the Principal of the Government College Lahore and Mr Malcolm Darling ICS. The bridegroom and his party had arrived in Lahore earlier from the Frontier by a morning train and had been accommodated at Faridkot House, where arrangements were in the charge of Khan Bahadur Mian Ahmad Yar Khan Daultana. The party then motored from Faridkot House to the Governor's bungalow at 7:30 pm, the procession being led by a car decorated with flowers which carried, besides the bridegroom, his father and Sir Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum, Minister in the Frontier Government. Other prominent members of the bridegroom's party included Capt Iskander Mirza Deputy Commissioner of Hazara, Lt Col Sir Hissamuddin Khan, Khan Bahadur Risaldar Moghal Baz Khan, Khan Bahadur Muhammad Quli Khan Khattak, Mr PN Thapur, Deputy Commissioner of Montgomery, Khan Bahadur Hamidullah Khan retired Superintendent of Police, Nawabzada Aslam Khan representing his uncle the Nawab of Amb, KB Raja Haider Zaman Khan CIE, of Khanpur in Hazara, Subedar (retd) and Hon Lt Muhammad Zaman Khan and Abdul Jabbar Khan, Numberdar of Rihanna in Haripur tehsil, Hazara. The bridegroom was received at the gate by HE Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan and Justice Sir Shadi Lal. After the Nikah ceremony over 700 men sat down to a sumptuous dinner to the accompaniment of music provided by the regimental band of the 1st Btn, the East Surrey Regiment. There was Purdah arrangement for lady guests.'

Career
Having joined the British Indian Civil Service in 1933, Khan served as a magistrate and a Political Officer in the North-West Frontier Province. During the Second World War he served as a director of the War Supply Department of the then Government of India.

After the establishment of Pakistan in 1947, he was inducted into the country's fledgling Foreign Service of Pakistan and sent first as the country's first Trade Commissioner to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and was thereafter appointed as Pakistan's formal representative (High Commissioner) there, a few months later. He was one of the members of Pakistani delegation at Commonwealth of Nations Conference at Colombo, 1950, which framed the Colombo Plan.

Between 1951 and 1953 he held diplomatic postings in Afghanistan and the United States; and in 1953, he was appointed as Pakistan's Chargé d'Affaires in Japan. and then ambassador, playing an instrumental role in firmly establishing positive Japan-Pakistan relations. In 1955, he was posted away as Pakistan Consul-General at San Francisco, USA. In May 1957, he was then posted as Pakistan's Deputy High Commissioner in London, Britain. He died there suddenly of heart failure between 12/13 July 1957 and his body was flown back and buried in his native village.