Sardar Abdur Rashid Khan

Who was Sardar Abdur Rashid Khan?

Sardar Abdur Rashid Khan was a senior police officer from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province and cabinet minister in Pakistan.

Born in Dera Ismail Khan, Sardar Rashid was educated at Islamia College Peshawar. he then joined the Indian Police and was serving as the Deputy Superintendent of Police in Peshawar City when Pakistan became an independent country on August 14, 1947. He was one of the senior most police officers in the newly emergent country.

Sardar Rashid rose to become the Inspector General of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police, but resigned from the police service on April 23, 1953 when he was appointed as the 8th Chief Minister of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. His nomination was controversial in that he was handpicked by his predecessor Abdul Qayyum Khan. However, he proved to be a popular choice, and in November 1953 he was elected as the provincial president of the Muslim League despite the efforts of Abdul Qayyum Khan to retain the post for himself following his elevation to the Central Government.

He remained Chief Minister until July 18, 1955, when he was forced to resign because of his opposition to the ""One Unit Scheme"". He was succeeded by Sardar Bahadur Khan who secured approval from the provincial assembly for the controversial scheme.