Chaudhri Mohammad Ali

Chaudhri Mohammad Ali (born July 1905, Jullundur [now Jalandhar], India—died December 1, 1980, Karachi, Pakistan) was a Pakistani politician who was the fourth prime minister of Pakistan, serving for 13 months in 1955–56. After the partition of British India into India and Pakistan in 1947, Mohammad Ali played an important role in determining how the new Pakistani state would be administered.

Mohammad Ali was educated at the University of the Punjab in Lahore, earning a master’s degree in chemistry and lecturing there before joining the civil service. He worked for a time in the accounts department of the British-run government of India and was appointed secretary to the minister of finance. In 1947 he became secretary-general to the government of Pakistan and was finance minister before he was appointed prime minister. During his time in that office, he oversaw the ratification of the constitution of 1956 and, by what came to be known as the “Mohammad Ali formula,” settled the division of powers between what were then West and East Pakistan. His solution, however, proved controversial, and the constitution was abrogated in 1958. During the subsequent military dictatorship of Mohammad Ayub Khan, Mohammad Ali led his Muslim League party in opposition to the regime. He also wrote The Emergence of Pakistan (1967), a key study of the country’s creation by one of its chief architects.