Sir Malik Khizar Hayat Tiwana (7 August 1900 – 20 January 1975)[a] was a British Indian statesman, landowner, army officer, and politician belonging to the Punjab Unionist Party.

He was eventually ousted from office by the Muslim League through a civil disobedience campaign, plunging Punjab into communal violence that led to the partition of the province between India and Pakistan.

His father Sir Umar Hayat Khan was also a wealthy landowner and soldier who was an elected member of the Council of the Secretary of State for India.

At the age of 16, Tiwana volunteered for war service, and on 17 April 1918 he was commissioned into the 17th Cavalry as a temporary honorary second lieutenant in the Indian Land Forces.

[8] Tiwana lacked public speaking skills and administrative experience and obtained the position largely through his father's reputation and the standing of his family.

[8] In 1940 he was responsible for handling the Unionist Party's dealings with the Allama Mashriqi and for arranging security at the All-India Muslim League sessions in Lahore.

In his native constituency, he engaged in political rivalry with Nawab Muhammad Hayat Qureshi, a prominent supporter of Jinnah and the incumbent President of the All India Muslim League for Shahpur District.

His achievements included overseeing reform of the panchayat system by extending their administrative, fiscal and judicial functions, and ensuring improvements to infrastructure and irrigation networks.

[11] A war weariness descended over the Punjab, and food shortages, fixed prices, and their support for conscription, damaged attitudes towards Tiwana's government from rich and poor Muslim alike.

[11] Like Sikandar, Tiwana was staunchly opposed to the idea of Pakistan created by the Muslim League, yet unlike his predecessor was less willing to compromise or bow to the dictation of its leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

[14] Tiwana suffered a further blow in January 1945 with the death of Sir Chhottu Ram, the Unionist leader of the Hindu Jats in south eastern Punjab.

Other defectors included Sikandar's son, Shaukat Hayat Khan and Mumtaz Daultana, who both realigned their families support towards the Muslim League.

At the Indian provincial elections of 1946, the Muslim League won seventy nine seats to the Punjab Assembly, and reduced the Unionists to just ten.

Despite this crushing defeat for Tiwana and the Unionists, the Muslim League were unable to form a government as they lacked an absolute majority.

[19][20] He felt that Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus of the Punjab all had a common culture and was against dividing India to create a religious segregation between the same people.

[22] He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India in the 1946 New Year Honours[23] and was a member of the Indian delegation to the Paris Peace Conference in the summer of 1946.

[24] In 1951, Mumtaz Daultana targeted those who were against the Pakistan movement by proposing a law confiscating without redress, all land grants issued during the premiership of Tiwana.