Nawabzada A. M. Raza

Nawabzada Agha Mohammad Raza trained at Sandhurst after schooling at Bishop Cotton School in Simla and in England. Commissioned in 1927, he commanded a brigade in Burma during the Second World War and later worked on military personnel selection. At partition he helped divide the armed forces and became Pakistan's first adjutant general, with responsibility for reorganizing the new army. ¹

Raza's diplomatic career began with Pakistan's first ambassadorship in the People's Republic of China, from 1951 to 1954. Posts in Iran and France followed, including responsibility for the Holy See. He returned to Beijing in 1962, also representing Pakistan in Mongolia, and later served in Italy with accreditation to Malta and Albania. After leaving Rome in 1969, he became a director of the National Oil Company. ¹

He reached Washington late in 1971, as the South Asian crisis moved toward war. On December 8 he spoke with Henry Kissinger about Pakistan's requests for American help and the possibility of ammunition from Iran. Kissinger advised him to submit a formal request invoking the bilateral security relationship. No U.S.–Pakistan mutual security treaty of the kind mentioned in the call existed. ²

After the war, Raza transmitted President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's February 1972 appeal for American intervention to protect non-Bengali communities in Bangladesh, particularly Biharis. Bhutto alleged reprisals and asked Nixon to approach India and Bangladesh's leaders. Raza died while visiting Beijing in June 1984. ^{3, 4}