Khizar Hayat Tiwana

In 1942 Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan unexpectedly died creating a vacancy as Premier. The position was eyed by the three dominant Muslim factions, the Noon-Tiwana, Daultanas and the Hayats.[10] Tiwana was unanimously selected as his successor on 23 January 1943.[10]

Tiwana assumed control during the height of the Second World War. Many Punjabi soldiers had been killed, others returned maimed, and demobilised soldiers were not being immediately allotted parcels of land in the canal colonies. To feed Bengalis suffering the Bengal famine of 1943, the central government in Delhi instructed Tiwana's government to introduce rationing in the Punjab and fix grain prices which in turn affected landowner's financially.[11] A war weariness descended over the Punjab, and food shortages, fixed prices, and their support for conscription, damaged attitudes towards Tiwana's government from rich and poor Muslim alike.[11]

Like Sikandar, Tiwana was staunchly opposed to the idea of Pakistan created by the Muslim League, yet unlike his predecessor was less willing to compromise or bow to the dictation of its leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah.[12] Jinnah increasingly sought to enforce the Sikandar-Jinnah pact and wield influence over the government claiming that as the Muslims of the Unionist party also belonged to the Muslim League, the Punjab government was a League government and should submit to directives of the Muslim League leadership.[12] In April 1944 Jinnah demanded that the name of the Unionist Party be changed to the Muslim League Coalition Party.[13] Tiwana rebuffed these demands asserting that his government was a coalition between Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs, rather than a Muslim League government[12] Tension with Jinnah simmered until Tiwana was expelled from the Muslim League later that year.[12] This opened a rift within the Unionist Party, with Muslim members now forced to choose between Tiwana and the Muslim League.[12] Following this clash, the Muslim League waged an increasing vitriolic campaign against him, denouncing him as a 'quisling' and 'kafir'. Mock funerals were held outside his official residence and he was greeted wherever he went with black flags of protest.[14]

Tiwana suffered a further blow in January 1945 with the death of Sir Chhottu Ram, the Unionist leader of the Hindu Jats in south eastern Punjab. Ram was a pillar of the Unionist Party and greatly respected by Muslims in the province.[12] Jinnah increased the pressure on Tiwana at the Simla Conference of 1945. Convened by the Viceroy of India Lord Wavell, the conference was to put together an interim government in India following the war. Jinnah insisted that any Muslim nominee to the government must be selected by the Muslim League, as only they spoke for the entirety of Muslims in India. This was seen as an attempt to undermine the influence of the Unionist Party, and its ability to represent its Muslim constituency.[12] In September 1945, Sir Feroz Khan Noon, a member of the Noon-Tiwana faction, resigned from the Unionist party and urged Tiwana and other Unionists to join the Muslim League.[10] Noon had previously been a key ally for Tiwana, assuring him that he would help heal his rift with Jinnah and urging him to not divide the Punjabi Muslims - the heart of Muslim India.[15] Noon's defection opened the gates for further defections from the party. Other defectors included Sikandar's son, Shaukat Hayat Khan and Mumtaz Daultana, who both realigned their families support towards the Muslim League.

At the Indian provincial elections of 1946, the Muslim League won seventy nine seats to the Punjab Assembly, and reduced the Unionists to just ten. Despite this crushing defeat for Tiwana and the Unionists, the Muslim League were unable to form a government as they lacked an absolute majority. Tiwana struck a deal with the Congress Party and Akali Dal and was invited to form a coalition government. His cabinet included Sir Muzaffar Ali Khan Qizilbash, Bhim Sen Sachar and Baldev Singh.[16] The coalition proved a disaster, as for the first time a predominately non-Muslim government held power. From the outset the Muslim League organised a programme of civil disobedience and disruption to the province.[17] The Muslim League argued it was an example of Hindu connivance to defeat the interests of the Muslim community.[18] Tiwana was portrayed as a traitor, clinging to power and office without regard for the interests of the Muslims.[18]

Tiwana remained opposed to the partition of India to the end.[19][20] He felt that Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus of the Punjab all had a common culture and was against dividing India to create a religious segregation between the same people.[21] Tiwana, himself a Muslim, remarked to the separatist leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah: "There are Hindu and Sikh Tiwanas who are my relatives. I go to their weddings and other ceremonies. How can I possibly regard them as coming from another nation?"[21] He refused to accept the two-nation theory, and believed that a Muslim majority government in the Punjab would be an important guarantee of the rights of Muslims in a minority province.[17] Tiwana advocated for amity between the religious communities of undivided India, proclaiming March 1 as Communal Harmony Day and aiding in the establishment of a Communal Harmony Committee in Lahore presided over by Raja Narendra Nath with its secretary being Maulvi Mahomed Ilyas of Bahawalpur.[21] As a last ditch attempt to avoid partition, Tiwana attempted to convince the British to accept his proposal for an independent Punjabi state, a separate entity to both India and Pakistan.[22]

He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India in the 1946 New Year Honours[23] and was a member of the Indian delegation to the Paris Peace Conference in the summer of 1946. Due to the boycotts engulfing the Punjab, he resigned as Premier on 2 March 1947. Sir Evan Jenkins, as Governor of the Punjab assumed direct control of the Punjab until the day of partition, 14 August 1947.[17]