M. K. Janjua

Air Commodore
M. K. Janjua
ایم کے جنجوعہ
District Manager
Pakistan International Airlines
(United Kingdom)
In office
February 1960 – February 1964
Director of Personnel
Royal Pakistan Air Force
In office
January 1951 – March 1951
Commanding Officer
No. 4 Squadron RIAF
In office
10 September 1942 – 23 March 1944
Personal details
BornMohammad Khan Janjua
(1914-05-19)19 May 1914
Jhelum District, British India
Died1 August 1982(1982-08-01) (aged 68)
United Kingdom
Children8
RelativesHaider Raza (brother-in-law)
EducationIndian Military Academy
Imperial Defence College
Military service
Branch/service British Indian Army (1935–1938)
 Royal Indian Air Force (1938–1947)
 Pakistan Air Force (1947–1951)
Years of service
1935-1951
Rank Air Commodore
CommandsNo. 4 Squadron RIAF
Battles/wars

Mohammad Khan Janjua[a] (19 May 1914 — 1 August 1982) was a one-star rank air officer of the Royal Pakistan Air Force and was its most senior officer. He was arrested for his alleged role in the 1951 Rawalpindi conspiracy coup that was allegedly orchestrated by Communists against Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan. The plot was exposed and Faiz Ahmad Faiz, one of those implicated, said that Janjua was not involved. According to Faiz, Janjua was neither a conspirator nor a Communist, but rather a victim of circumstances beyond his control.[1]

Early life

Mohammad Khan Janjua was born on 19 May 1914 in Motal, a remote village in the Salt Range of Jhelum District into a Muslim Rajput family. He was the eldest child of nine children,[2] four brothers and five sisters.[3] The family claimed descent from the Janjua King, Raja Ajmal Dev Janjua, who later converted to Islam and changed his name to Raja Mal Khan.[4]

Janjua joined the Indian Military Academy in February 1933.[2] He was the second cadet to receive a scholarship from the Indian Military Academy Scholarship Fund which was Rs. 750 per annum.[5]

Personal life

Janjua married twice and had eight children.[3] One of his wives, Tahira, was the sister of his colleague Haider Raza. They met after the Partition of British India in 1947, when Tahira traveled to Pakistan to visit her brother and his wife during a holiday.[6] They later had a daughter named Shahidah.[7]

Service years

British Indian Army (1934–1938)

Janjua was commissioned into the British Indian Army as a Second Lieutenant on 15 July 1935.[2][8] He was attached to the 2nd Battalion of the Highland Light Infantry on 10 August 1935[9] and transferred to the 7th Rajput Regiment on 2 December 1936.[10]

Royal Indian Air Force (1938–1947)

On 20 September 1938, three lieutenants from the British Indian Army transferred to the Royal Indian Air Force. They were Janjua, Diwan Atma Ram Nanda, and Burhan-ud-Din.[11] In December 1942, acting Flight Lieutenant Janjua was mentioned in despatches for distinguished service in Waziristan.[12]

Wing Commander Janjua was a member of the Air Force Sub-Committee set up to divide the assets of the Royal Indian Air Force.[13]

Royal Pakistan Air Force (1947–1951)

After the Partition of British India in August 1947, Janjua transferred his service to the Royal Pakistan Air Force (RPAF), was promoted to Group Captain,[14] and appointed Air Officer-in-Charge of Administration. He was promoted to the rank of Air Commodore in January 1948. Janjua was appointed Director of Training & Reserve in July 1949.[15]

Air Commodore Janjua played a key role in the RPAF's selection of the Hawker Tempest over the Supermarine Spitfire during the post-partition division of military assets. Although many within the Air Force favoured the Spitfire, Janjua singlehandedly changed the decision in favour of the Tempest. In the September 2023 edition of the PAF's Second to None magazine, Polish researcher Franciszek Grabowski wrote: "Although controversial, it seems it was a wise decision".[16]

In 1948, Janjua was among three officers invited to act as Judges in selecting the best entry in the 1946–1947 Gold Medal Essay Competition by the United Service Institution of India and Pakistan.[17]

On 13 April 1948, during his first visit to a unit of the RPAF, Governor-General Muhammad Ali Jinnah visited the Flying School at Risalpur—despite his deteriorating health. Accompanied by his sister, Fatima Jinnah, he was welcomed by Squadron Leader Asghar Khan and reviewed a ceremonial parade composed of Flight Cadets from the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th GD(P) courses.[18] Jinnah also renamed the school as the Royal Pakistan Air Force College.[19] Air Commodore Janjua and Asghar Khan designed the RPAF flag which Jinnah then presented to the Air Force.[20]

In early 1950, Janjua was selected for a staff course at the Imperial Defence College. On his return in January 1951, he was appointed Director of Personnel.[2][3]

Sometime in 1950, Commander-in-Chief Air Vice-Marshal Atcherley and Air Commodore Janjua, who was Officer-in-Charge of the RPAF, expressed their concerns regarding the training of officers. The outcome of these discussions led to the establishment of two feeder schools, one in Sargodha and the other in Lower Topa.[21][22]

Arrest

On 9 March 1951, Janjua was placed under house arrest for suspected complicity in the Rawalpindi conspiracy against the government of Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan.[23]

Civilian career

Pakistan International Airlines

Janjua succeeded R. H. Kazmi as the District Manager in the United Kingdom for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) in February 1960.[24]

He was succeeded by Q. Afzal Husain in February 1964 and returned to the head office of the PIA in Karachi.[25]

Political career

In April 1971, Janjua was a founding member of "West Pakistanis in Solidarity with Bengal", a London-based group of West Pakistani socialists who publicly supported the Bengali independence movement and condemned the Pakistan Army's operations in East Pakistan.[26]

Later life

In October 1974, a new English periodical called 'Democratic Pakistan' began publishing from London, representing the National Awami Party of Pakistan. Janjua was the editor.[27]

Awards and decorations

War Medal 1939–1945 (with MiD oak leaf)[28]

Published work

M. K. Janjua (12 February 1969). Open Letter to Those in Power and to the Aspirants to Power in Pakistan. Center for Research Libraries.

Notes

  1. ↑ Urdu: محمد خان جنجوعہ

References

  1. ↑ "Service Record for Air Commodore Mohammad Khan Janjua 1561 GD(P)". Bharat Rakshak. Retrieved 31 May 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Anchit Gupta (26 November 2023). "Mohammad Khan Janjua: A Debated Legacy". iafhistory.in.
  3. 1 2 3 M. K. Janjua (2013). Shahidah Janjua (ed.). Privileged Witness. Creepy Publishing. ISBN 9780992756420.
  4. ↑ Nabeel Anwar Dhakku (20 April 2014). "Chakwal's Malot Fort in a state of ruins". Dawn.
  5. ↑ "The Civil and Military Gazette". 17 November 1934. The restrictions which were imposed last year, were being rigidly applied. No scholarship for study abroad was granted from the Fund during 1933, as no candidate fulfilling the requi-site conditions was forthcoming. A scholarship of Rs. 750 per annum was granted to Gentleman Cadet Moham- mad Khan Janjua from the Punjab for training at the Indian Military Academy This was the second scho-larship granted from the Indian Mill- tary Academy Scholarship Fund.
  6. ↑ Juliet Rashida Raza (2019). Tears and Pearls. Christian Faith Publishing. ISBN 978-1-0980-0052-3. However, one piece of good news I want to give you is that your elder sister, Tahira, who always stayed home with me—because your sister the Rani refused to let her go to college, but instead kept her waiting for a marriageable suitor—went to Pakistan for a holiday to stay with her brother, Haider, and his wife, and met an excellent young man, Commodore M. K. Janjua, who is the most senior officer of the Pakistan air force and who is well-known as a loyal patriot of the country. However, although ideologies separate both countries, we hope our prayers will one day bring them together. Now let us go to sleep.
  7. ↑ Salima Hashmi with Maryam Hasan (2025). Waiting in the Wings: A Memoir. Penguin Random House India Private Limited. ISBN 978-93-6790-214-1.
  8. ↑ John Gaylor (1992). Sons of John Company: the Indian and Pakistan Armies 1903-91. Spellmount. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-946771-98-1.
  9. ↑ Quarterly Indian Army List. 1936. p. 248.
  10. ↑ "The Indian Army List For April". 1938. p. 244, 532.
  11. ↑ Anchit Gupta (4 October 2025). "Seconded to the Skies: The Army Officers Who Helped Build the Indian Air Force". iafhistory.in.
  12. ↑ "SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE" (PDF). 17 December 1942.
  13. ↑ Zaidi, Z.H., ed. (1994). "Jinnah Papers 02: Pakistan in the Making (3 June - 30 June 1947)". p. 287.
  14. ↑ "List of Pioneering Officers as on 15th August, 1947". Archived from the original on 16 March 2016.
  15. ↑ The Story Of The Pakistan Air Force: A Saga Of Courage And Honour. Shaheen Foundation, Pakistan. 1988. p. 671, 672.
  16. ↑ Franciszek Grabowski (7 September 2023). "Remembering PAF's First Fighter Tempest-II". secondtonone.com.pk.
  17. ↑ "The Secretary's Notes". United Service Institution of India and Pakistan. 1948. p. 128.
  18. ↑ S. M. Hali (25 December 2023). "Quaid-i-Azam and the inspirations Pakistan Air Force drew from him". Brecorder.
  19. ↑ Ata Rabbani (20 December 2008). "EXCERPT: Quaid-i-Azam And 9/11". Dawn.
  20. ↑ Museums Journal of Pakistan. Vol. 17. 1965. p. 64.
  21. ↑ "History". PAF College Sargodha. Archived from the original on 14 August 2024. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
  22. ↑ Parvez Mahmood (11 November 2025). "60 Years Of Comradeship: PAF College Sargodha's 16th Entry Celebrates Diamond Jubilee". The Friday Times.
  23. ↑ "From The Past Pages Of Dawn: 1951: Seventy-five years ago: Air commodore held". Dawn. 13 March 2026.
  24. ↑ "P.I.A. CHANGE". The Aeroplane. 15 February 1960.
  25. ↑ Modern Transport. Vol. 91. Modern Transport Pub. 1964. p. 31.
  26. ↑ "West Pakistanis in Solidarity with Bengal" (PDF). Intercontinental Press. 19 April 1971. p. 24.
  27. ↑ "Democratic Pakistan". Crescent. 15 January 1975.
  28. ↑ "Supplement Indian Army List For Jan". 1937. p. 179.
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