Mirza Hassan Khan (Urdu: مرزا حسن خان), of Majini Mohallah Gilgit, was a captain of the 6th Infantry of the Jammu and Kashmir State Forces.

[2] After leaving the army, he founded the Gilgit League to protest against the Pakistan's ad-hoc administration of Gilgit-Baltistan.

After studying at the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun in 1937–38, he joined the Jammu and Kashmir State Forces.

The group decided to act when the British handed power over to the Dominions of India and Pakistan, by simultaneously attacking and occupying the military cantonments in their respective areas.

[4] It has also been said that Major Aslam Khan, who was supposed to act in Jammu, left the service of State Forces and moved to the (undivided) British Indian Army.

Nevertheless Hassan Khan sided with Major William Brown of the Gilgit Scouts and later gave himself the full credit as the leader of the coup.

[13] Soon after the coup, William Brown telegraphed the Pakistan government in the North-West Frontier Province informing them of the developments and asking them to take over the administration of Gilgit.

Mirza Hassan Khan was appointed the military governor for the Bunji sector and asked to focus on that area only.

Mirza Hassan Khan was put in charge of the Tiger Force, which advanced on the Gilgit-Bunji-Kamri-Gurais-Bandipora axis.

[17][18] In 1957, Mirza Hassan Khan founded the Gilgit League, which is said to be the first political organisation formed to protest the Pakistan's ad hoc administration of Gilgit-Baltistan.

The party demanded political freedom and democratic rights, and an end to the Frontier Crimes Regulations.

[20] According to a report on Radio Pakistan, Khan was awarded a Military Cross for bravery by the British Indian Army in 1944, when he fought in Burma as part of the Jammu and Kashmir troops in the Second World War.