Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan Kashmiri (Urdu: عبدالقیوم خان کشمیری) (16 July 1901 – 23 October 1981[1]) was a major figure in British Indian and later Pakistani politics, in particular in the North-West Frontier Province, where he served as the Chief Minister from 23 August 1947 to 23 April 1953.

[2] His father, Khan Abdul Hakim, was originally from the Wanigam village in the Baramulla district, Jammu and Kashmir,[3][4][5] but worked as a Tehsildar in the North-West Frontier Province (N.W.F.P., now called Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan in 2017) of British India.

[citation needed] Khan was educated at Aligarh Muslim University and the London School of Economics.

Abdul Qayum was also assisted in his chambers by Muhammad Nazirullah Khan advocate, who later served as a provincial secretary general and senior vice president of Pakistan Muslim League.

He authored a book, Gold and Guns on the Pathan Frontier,[8] in which he praised Ghaffar Khan and denounced Jinnah and the two-nation theory.

Abdul Qayyum Khan said that the North West Frontier Province would resist the partition of India with its blood.

Abdul Ghaffar Khan demanded a separate nation of 'Pakhtunistan' comprising both the North-West Frontier Province and Pashtun parts of Afghanistan.

Khan navigated through the troubled waters ably, winning the defection of enough Congress legislators to support his government.

[17] Qayyum Khan's administration was known for its development work in the province, including the construction of Peshawar University and the Warsak dam.

Arrested by the Ayub Khan regime, he was disqualified from politics and imprisoned for two years before finally being released.

Appointed federal interior minister by Zulfiqar Bhutto, he served in that post till the 1977 elections, when his party suffered a near total rout.

[citation needed] Under the orders of Abdul Qayyum Khan[20] the Babrra massacre occurred on 12 August 1948 in the Charsadda District of the North-West Frontier Province (now Khyber Pukhtunkhwa) of Pakistan, when workers of the Khudai Khidmatgar movement protesting the jailing of their leader, anti-colonial independence activist Abdul Ghaffar Khan were fired upon by the provincial government.

[22] In September 1948, then Chief Minister, Abdul Qayyum Khan gave a statement in the provincial assembly, "I had imposed section 144 at Babra.