Quick Facts
Biography
Sir Mian Fazl-i-Husain, KCSI was one of the most Influential politicians in the United Punjab and a founding member of Unionist Party (Punjab). He is credited with having been the main engineer of the scheme to establish employment quotas for Muslims in the Indian civil service.
Early life
Hussian belonged to the Chohan Rajput tribe and was from Sialkot. His father Mian Husain Bakhsh was serving as Extra Assistant Commissioner in the British Raj in Peshawar.
Career
1901 Barrister, Gray's Inn; 1901-1905 practised at Sialkot; 1905-1920 practised at the bar of the Punjab Chief Court and Punjab High Court; 1921-1925 minister for education, health and local government, Punjab; 1925 temporary member for revenue and education of the governor-general's executive council; 1926-1930 revenue member, Punjab; 1927 substitute delegate for India to the assembly of the League of Nations; 1929 officiating member of the governor-general executive council, department of education, health and lands; 1929 KCIE; 1930-1935 member of the viceroy's executive council, Delhi; 1932 leader of the Indian delegation to the Indo-South African conference; 1932 KCSI.
Influence and ideology
Husain was one of the founders of the old Punjab Unionist Party, and was opposed to Jinnah's vision of an Independent Pakistan. In fact, when he was nominated to the central government of the British Raj, he allowed a Hindu, Chaudhry Sir Chhotu Ram, to take over the leadership of the Punjab Unionist Party to empasize the importance of communal harmony.
Husain was a member of the legislative assembly of Punjab prior to the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms. In 1930 he was appointed a member of the Viceroy's Council for India.
He was knighted in 1926 and appointed a KCSI in 1932. After his death, Husain's son Mian Azim Husain wrote a biography of him. One of his daughters married Manzur Qadir. His paternal half brother Mian Afzal Husain served as the Vice Chancellor of the University of the Punjab, Lahore for two terms, one term before (1938–44) and one term after (1954–65) the partition of British India into Pakistan and India.