Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan

The Education Minister, Sir Sikander Hayat Khan, was devoted to Shri Nathji. He  frequently visiting Shri Nathji with great respect, with a bouquet of flowers in his hand, at Lahore. Mahamateshwari’s brother Bal Krishen wanted the recommendation of the minister for the sake of his career. He had made a humble request to Mateshwari to ask Shri Nathji to intercede on his behalf. It was against his nature to ask any favours from these influential men. But here was Mateshwari's elder brother praying for this favour from him. Therefore, for the sake of Mateshwari, Shri Nathji had agreed to broach the subject with the Education Minister. Shri Nathji had taken Bal Krishen with himself to the house of the Education Minister, and personally given his papers to the Minister. The Education Minister was ever too happy to acknowledge the credentials of Bal Krishen. As a consequence of this, Bal Krishen had secured the career of an engineer which he wanted in life, and he had remained ever grateful to Shri Nathji for it.

Sardar Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan KBE, KCSI, Doctor of Oriental Lit etc. was born in 5 June 1892 in Multan. He was a renowned Indian politician and statesman from the Punjab.

He was the son of late Nawab Muhammad Hayat Khan, CSI, of Wah] who was a close associate of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan.  He was educated at school in Aligarh and later at Aligarh University, and for a short while was sent to England for higher education but was recalled home by his family circa 1915. During the First World War, he initially worked as a War Recruitment Officer in his native Attock district and later served as one of the very first Indian officers to receive the King's Commission, with the 2/67th Punjabis (later the 1/2 Punjab Regiment). As a result of his distinguished services in the Great War and later, the Third Afghan War, he was awarded an MBE by the Government of British India. After 1920, Sir Sikandar turned his talents to business and by dint of his financial acumen and managerial skills, soon became a director or managing director of several companies, including the Wah Tea Estate, The Amritsar-Kasur Railway Company, The People's Bank of Northern India, The Sialkot-Narowal Railway, The ACC Wah Portland Cement Company, the Wah Stone and Lime Company, Messrs. Owen Roberts, the Punjab Sugar Corporation Ltd, Messrs. Walter Locke & Co, The Lahore Electricity Supply Co and many others. He also entered grassroots politics at this time, and remained an honorary magistrate and Chairman of the Attock District Board. Later, for a brief while he also remained the Acting Deputy-Governor of the newly-established Reserve Bank of India in 1935, prior to returning to take on party leadership in the Punjab in 1936.

In 1921, Sir Sikandar was elected to the Punjab Legislative Council and his effective political role now began, as he became one of the main leaders of the Punjab Unionist Party

 To explain and justify his non-communal and united Punjabi stand, Sikander Hayat Khan used to say, "I am Punjabi first then a Muslim"; and indeed, this was his essential conviction. After an outstanding period of political enterprise between 1924-1934, during the course of which he also received a Knightood[11] he in due course took over leadership of the Unionist Party from Sir Fazli Husein. Khan led his party to victory in the 1937 elections, held under the Government of India Act 1935 and then governed the Punjab as Premier in coalition with the Sikh Akali Dal and the Indian National Congress. This government carried out many reforms for the better of the Punjabi agrarian community.

Khan opposed the Quit India Movement of 1942, and supported the Allied powers during World War II. Khan believed in politically cooperating with the British for the independence of India and the unity of Punjab.

Khan died on the night between 25/26 December 1942, of a sudden heart failure, at his home. He is buried at the footsteps of the Badshahi Masjid in Lahore, commemorated for his contributions to Islam by having restored and revitalized the grand mosque