Khan Bahadur Rana Talia Muhammad Khan, O.B.E. (14 December 1884 – 1959) was the first Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 Inspector-General of Police in British India, serving as Inspector-General of Police of Patiala State

Patiala State

Patiala State was a princely state in India.The history of Patiala state starts off with the ancestor of the Sikh Patiala Royal House, Mohan Singh being harassed by neighbouring Bhullars and Dhaliwals . They would not allow Mohan to settle there. He was a follower of Guru Hargobind and the Guru...

 and the Northwest Frontier Province and a former British Indian Army officer. He served famously as Superintendent of Police, Kohat and District Officer, Frontier Constabulary, Hangu and, during the Second World War, as a Major in the famous Queen Victoria

Victoria of the United Kingdom

Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....

's Own Corps of Guides

Corps of Guides (British India)

The Corps of Guides was a regiment of the British Indian Army which served in the North West Frontier and had a unique composition of being part infantry and part cavalry.-History:...

, British Indian Army

British Indian Army

The British Indian Army, officially simply the Indian Army, was the principal army of the British Raj in India before the partition of India in 1947...

 (now the Guides Cavalry in the Pakistan Army

Pakistan Army

The Pakistan Army is the branch of the Pakistani Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The Pakistan Army came into existence after the Partition of India and the resulting independence of Pakistan in 1947. It is currently headed by General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. The Pakistan...

).

Early life

Rana Talia Muhammad Khan was born on 14 December 1884 in a Muslim Naru

Naru

The Naru were actually poets in the princes court their ancestor wrote a poet which the prince liked and bestowed a title upon them.They are not of the original 36 royal clans.This is a fact but nowadays you can be what you want,if narus want to portray themselves as the original 36 then so be...

 Rajput

Rajput

A Rajput is a member of one of the patrilineal clans of western, central, northern India and in some parts of Pakistan. Rajputs are descendants of one of the major ruling warrior classes in the Indian subcontinent, particularly North India...

 family in Punjab

Punjab region

The Punjab , also spelled Panjab |water]]s"), is a geographical region straddling the border between Pakistan and India which includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi...

, British Indian Empire.

Police career

Rana Talia Muhammad Khan joined the Indian Civil Service (commonly known as the Imperial Civil Service (ICS) or British India Civil Service) as Deputy Superintendent of Police.

A famous incident in his life, whilst serving as Superintendent of Police, Kohat, became the basis of a story in M. M. Kaye

M. M. Kaye

Mary Margaret Kaye was a British writer. Her most famous book was The Far Pavilions .-Life:M. M. Kaye was born in Simla, India, and spent her early childhood and much of her early-married life there...

's novel, The Far Pavilions

The Far Pavilions

The Far Pavilions is an epic novel of British-Indian history by M. M. Kaye, first published in 1978, which tells the story of an English officer during the Great Game. The novel, rooted deeply in the romantic epics of the 19th century, has been hailed as a masterpiece of storytelling...

, which was also made into a movie. The incident is narrated in Victoria Schofield's book, "Afghan Frontier: Feuding and Fighting in Central Asia". Schofield writes:

"In February 1923 over forty rifles were stolen from the police station in Kohat. The leader of the gang was Ajab Khan, a known rifle thief and suspected murderer of a British couple three years previously. After careful negotiations and secret meetings on the part of the Superintendent of Police, Rana Talia Muhammad, some rifles were returned. But those remaining with Ajab and his brother Shahzada were not surrendered, so Rana arranged for a raid on Ajab's house. The two brothers were away, but in order to escape the wrath of the British the other men disguised themselves as women; they might have avoided detection but for their large feet which gave them away. The rifles were discovered and to make matters worse, their women jeered at them for having tried to escape the danger by posing as women. (p. 130)

He retired as Inspector-General of Police in 1937.

Military service

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Rana Talia Muhammad Khan was called out of retirement by the British Indian Government and made a Major in Queen Victoria

Victoria of the United Kingdom

Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....

's Own Corps of Guides

Corps of Guides (British India)

The Corps of Guides was a regiment of the British Indian Army which served in the North West Frontier and had a unique composition of being part infantry and part cavalry.-History:...

, British Indian Army

British Indian Army

The British Indian Army, officially simply the Indian Army, was the principal army of the British Raj in India before the partition of India in 1947...

.

Recognition

For his meritorious services, Rana Talia Muhammad Khan was conferred the medal and title of "Khan Sahib

Khan Sahib

Khan Sahib - a compound of khan and sahib - was a formal title of respect and honour, which was conferred exclusively on Muslim, Parsi and Jewish subjects of the British Indian Empire...

" and later "Khan Bahadur" by the British Indian Government.

On 1 January 1945, for his meritorious services, Rana Talia Muhammad Khan, was conferred the title of "Additional Officer of the Military Division" of the Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.) by King George VI.

Family

Rana Talia Muhammad Khan had three sons and three daughters. He was the father of Lieutenant General Bakhtiar Rana

Bakhtiar Rana

Lieutenant General Bakhtiar Rana, M.C., was a senior officer in the Pakistan Army. He was Chief Martial Law Administrator . As a Lieutenant General, he commanded one of Pakistan Army's strike corps, I Corps, as its Corps Commander from 1958 to 1966...

, Chief Martial Law Administrator (West Pakistan) and Commander, I Corps

I Corps (Pakistan)

The I Corps, also known as I Strike Corps, of the Pakistan Army headquartered in Mangla, Azad Kashimir Province of Pakistan. Known as I Strike Corps, it is one of two strike corps within its ten manouvre Army corps...

, Pakistan Army (1958–1966) and father-in-law of Amir Habibullah Khan Saadi

Amir Habibullah Khan Saadi

Rai Amir Habibullah Khan Saadi was a Manj Rajput ruler of Talwan in Jalandhar District, Punjab, British India and a military officer who became a freedom fighter in British India and a political leader in Pakistan...

, the pre-1947 Indian freedom fighter and post-1947 Pakistani political leader.

Sources

• Schofield, Victoria, "Afghan Frontier: Feuding and Fighting in Central Asia", London: Tauris Parke Paperbacks (2003)
• Schofield, Victoria, "Every Rock, Every Hill: The Plain Tale of the North-West Frontier and Afghanistan", London: Century Hutchinson (1987)
• http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/36866/supplements/12
• http://images.rgs.org/imageDetails.aspx?barcode=32915