Yusuf Khattak

Muhamad Yusuf Khan Khattak ( b. 18 November 1917 – 29 July 1991) was a Pakistani politician, left-wing intellectual, lawyer, and noted Pakistan Movement from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Although an early member of the Muslim League, he actively participated in politics through the left-oriented Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which he served as the minister of petroleum under the government of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. He was a highly respectable elder statesman and represented Pakistan at various international conferences during his political career. Yusuf Khattak was born into a prominent Pashtun Khattak family, in Karak, North-West Frontier Province now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. His father, Khan Bahadur Kuli Khan Khattak, was an influential figure in the nationalist politics of the then-North-West Frontier Province. His younger brother, Aslam Khattak also served as the Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Habibullah Khattak later enjoyed a distinguished career with the Pakistan Army. After initially studying at the private Aitchison College in Lahore, he made a transfer to the renowned Government College University (GCU) in Lahore. At GCU, he graduated with BA in comparative literature and poetry, and moved to the United Kingdom for higher studies. He attended the Oxford University where he earned a BA in history, followed by MA in modern history. At Oxford University, he passed the bar exam to practice law and was Lincoln's Inn. However, he returned to India to join the All India Muslim League and played a prominent role in the Pakistan Movement. In November 1946, he led a group of 100 volunteers of Frontier Muslim League to Bihar for relief work after the massacre of Muslims there. During the Civil disobedience movement in British India, Khattak was arrested and sent to jail along with other leaders of the Muslim League. ln spite of his release orders, he refused to come out of the jail and persistently defied the orders by remaining behind the bars till Muhammad Ali Jinnah gave clarion call to the Muslim League leaders to fight the battle for referendum in North West Frontier Province.