India, Balawalpur. Sadiq Muhammad Khan V Silver Jubilee Medal 1931

(Urdu: جنرل نواب صادق محمد خان عباسی). Instituted in 1931. In cupro-nickel, measuring 37 mm in diameter, spotting, original ribbon, near extremely fine.

Footnote: General Nawab Sir Sadiq Muhammad Khan V Abbasi GCSI GCIE KCVO was born September 29, 1904 in Derawar, was the Nawab, and later Amir, of Bahawalpur State from 1907 to 1966. He became the Nawab on the death of his father, when he was only three years old. A Council of Regency, with Sir Rahim Bakhsh as its President, ruled on his behalf until 1924. The Nawab served as an officer with the British Indian Army, fighting in the Third Afghan War (1919) and commanding forces in the Middle East during the Second World War. Under his rule, Bahawalpur State comprised an area larger than Denmark or Belgium. By 1947, its institutions consisted of departments run by trained civil servants; there was a Ministerial Cabinet headed by a Prime Minister; the State Bank was the Bank of Bahawalpur, with branches outside the State, including Karachi, Lahore; there was a high court and lower courts; a trained police force and an army commanded by officers trained at the Royal Indian Military Academy at Dehra Doon. The Nawab had a keen interest in education, which was free till A level and the State’s Government provided scholarships of merit for higher education. In 1951, the Nawab donated 500 acres in Bahawalpur for the construction of Sadiq Public School.

Nawab was known for his relationship with the Quaid-i-Azam (Muhammad Ali Jinnah), Founder of Pakistan. In August 1947, on the withdrawal of British forces from the subcontinent, the Nawab decided not to accede his State at once to the new Dominion of Pakistan. However, on October 3, 1947, after some delay, he relented, and became the first ruler of a princely state to accede successfully. As tens of thousands of Muslim refugees flooded into the state from the new India, he set up the Ameer of Bahawalpur Refugee Relief and Rehabilitation Fund to provide for their relief. In 1953, the Ameer represented Pakistan at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. In 1955 he signed an agreement with the Governor-General of Pakistan, Malik Ghulam Muhammad, under which Bahawalpur became part of the province of West Pakistan, with effect from October 14, 1955, and the Ameer received a yearly privy purse of 32 lakhs of rupees, keeping his titles. The same year, he was promoted to the rank of General in the Pakistan Army. He died on May 24, 1966 in London, England at the age of 62.