Sikandar Hayat Khan
At the time of his sudden death in December 1942, Sir Sikandar was honoured by the people of Lahore and granted burial outside the old Badshahi Mosque there, on the other side from Allama Muhammad Iqbal, the poet. Much of his work was left half done, in particular his plan to help the British war effort towards eventual Indian freedom, and his attempts to weld the Punjab together and save it from communal friction. Many historians have opined that Sir Sikandar's early demise at the age of 50 was, arguably, a major blow to the Indian freedom movements, especially to the Punjab. He wished to preserve this intact, within a larger Indian Confederation whereby his own Muslim community could enjoy full and maximum freedom and self-governance without truncating India or the Punjab region. He was too well aware of the potential bloodbath and conflict resulting from any such division or separation which, alas, was witnessed on such massive scale at the time of the August 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan. It would thus not be wrong to say that Sir Sikandar's presence would certainly have been a 'moderating influence—and his death must be reckoned a great misfortune [at the time]''.