The Reminiscences of Zafrulla Khan — Page 1
1 REMINISCENCES OF SIR MUHAMMAD ZAFRULLA KHAN INTERVIEW WITH SIR ZAFRULLA KHAN Prof. Wayne Wilcox New York City MARCH 31, 1962 Khan : I was born at Sialkot, which is now in Pakistan, and then, of course, was India, on February 6, 1893. My father was a lawyer in Sialkot. I went to school at Sialkot. My connection with America began long ago, as I matriculated in 1907 from the American United Presbyterian Mission High School at Sialkot. The family belongs to a place called Daska, about 16 miles from Sialkot. We are what are known in that part of the world as a landholding family, so that our roots are in the land. I come from a farming family that cultivated land. My grandfather and father did not cultivate it with their own hands, but our interest was in land - my grandfather's younger brother was a cultivator, so was my father's younger brother, my uncle - so it might be said that I have the background of a peasant. That is why, perhaps, whenever I am in a big town like London, and now in New York, towards the evening when the shades of night are falling, I long to be out in the open. From Sialkot, I went to college at Lahore Government College, where I graduated in 1911, in four years’ time from my matricu-lation, which was the normal period. My subjects for my degree examination were English, History, Economics and Arabic. I then proceeded for my law studies to England, where I joined King's College, London, for my Bachelor of Law’s degree from the University of London and was entered at Lincoln's Inn for being called to the Bar. I was called to the Bar in June, 1914, but had to stay on for my Bachelor of Law’s degree examination in October, 1914, which means that I was in England at the beginning of the First World War. My three years' stay in England, therefore, coincided with the three last peace years in Europe and in a sense, in the world. At that time, England was undoubtedly at the top of the world; America was coming