Liaquat Ali Khan (1 October 1895 – 16 October 1951) was a Pakistani lawyer, politician and statesman who served as the first prime minister of Pakistan from 1947 until his assassination in 1951. He played a key role in consolidating the state of Pakistan, much as Muhammad Ali Jinnah did in founding it. A leading figure in the Pakistan Movement, he is revered as Quaid-e-Millat ("Leader of the Nation") and Shaheed-e-Millat ("Martyr of the Nation").
Khan was born in Karnal, Haryana, to a wealthy family. His grandfather, Nawab Ahmad Ali, provided significant support to the British during the Mutiny uprising of 1857–1858, earning him substantial rewards in the form of prestigious honours and complete remission of rent. Khan was educated at the Aligarh Muslim University and the University of Oxford. After first being invited to the Indian National Congress, he later opted to join the All-India Muslim League led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, an Indian independence activist who later advocated for a separate Muslim nation-state out of Hindu-majority India. Khan assisted Jinnah in the campaign for what would become known as the Pakistan Movement and was known as his 'right hand'. He was a democratic political theorist who promoted parliamentarism in British India.