Nawab Mohammad Ismail Khan (1884–1958) was an eminent Muslim politician and a leading activist of the All-India Muslim League, who stood in the forefront of the Khilafat Movement and Pakistan Movement. Nawab Mohammad Ismail Khan is regarded as one of the founding fathers of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan due to the roles that he fulfilled for the cause of it. His position was described as only second to that of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. This is also evident through the letters that were actively exchanged between the leaders. After the creation of Pakistan, he decisively chose to remain in India. 'How can I leave my brethren here behind me?' –- he is reported to have told one of his close associates and admirers, Mr. Hassan Riaz, former editor, Manshoor, Delhi. Early life Mohammad Ismail Khan was born in August 1884 in Meerut, a part of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. He was born to Nawab Mohammad Ishak Khan of Jehangirabad and was the grandson of the Urdu and Persian poet, Nawab Mustafa Khan Shefta (sometimes spelled as 'Shaifta') –- 'Shaifta/Shefta' being his Urdu pen-name. Upon completing his early schooling in India, he proceeded to England, at the age of twelve to continue his studies as a full-time boarder at Tonbridge School in Tonbridge, Kent. He went on from there to attain his undergraduate credentials from St John's College, Cambridge to thereafter become a barrister of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple (Inns of Court School of Law). In those days travel to the Great Britain was by ship from Bombay and around the Cape of Good Hope, consuming in excess of a month to reach. He returned to India at the age of 24 in 1908 and opted for a career in law. His father, as a career ICS (Indian Civil Servant) officer had become a Judge in Allahabad and was a founding member of the Muslim League; in addition to being a close friend of Pundit Motilal Nehru's. During his job as District and Session Judge, he was greatly impressed by the eminence of Pundit Motilal Nehru as a lawyer. When M. Ismail Khan returned from England, after becoming a barrister at law, Nawab M. Ishak Khan arranged for him to commence his legal practice as assistant lawyer to Pundit Motilal Nehru -– who prevailed upon Nawab M. Ishak Khan to permit his son to stay