Muhammad Zafrulla Khan was elected a member of the Punjab Legislative Council in 1926 and presided at the Delhi Meeting of the All-India Muslim League in 1931, where he advocated the cause of the Indian Muslims through his presidential address. He participated in the Round Table Conferences held in the years 1930, 1931, and 1932, and he was member of the Executive Council of the Viceroy of India during the years 1935 to 1941.
He became the Minister of Railways in May, 1935. In 1939, he represented India in the League of Nations. He was appointed the Agent General of India in China in the year 1942 and represented India as the Indian Government's nominee in the Commonwealth Relations Conference in 1945, where courageously spoke for the cause of India's freedom.
Thereafter, he was appointed Judge of the Federal Court of India in September 1941, which he held until June 1947. At the request of Mr. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, known by the title Quaid-e-Azam (Pakistan's founding father and first leader), he represented the Muslim League in July 1947 before the Radcliffe Boundary Commission and presented the case of the Muslims in a highly commendable manner. Zafrullah advised the Nawab of Junagadh that should he make the decision to join his state with Pakistan it would be both moral and legal. Nawab then proceeded to announce this decision.[2]
In October 1947, Zafrullah represented Pakistan in United Nations General Assembly as the head of the Pakistan delegation and advocated the stand of the Muslim world on the Palestinian issue. That year, he was appointed as Pakistan's (first) Foreign Minister, a post he held for 7 years.
In 1948 to 1954 he represented Pakistan at the Security Council (UN) and admirably advocated the case of liberation of the occupied Kashmir, Libya, Northern Ireland, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco, and Indonesia.
In 1954 he became Judge of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which he held until 1961. He became the Vice President of the International Court of Justice, the Hague, in 1958 and remained so until 1961. Then between 1961 to 1964, he was Pakistan's Permanent Representative at the UN, and in 1962 for 2 years was President of the UN General Assembly.
In March, 1958, he performed Umra and visited the shrine of Prophet Muhammad in Medina, Saudi Arabia. He also met Sultan Abdul Aziz Ibne Saud and stayed in the Royal Palace as the King's personal guest. He performed Hajj in the year 1967 and produced a new English translation of the Qur'an in 1970. The same year, he was elected President of the International Court of Justice, The Hague, a post he held until 1973. He lived in England for the period 1973 to 1983 and went back to Lahore, Pakistan in 1983 and died on September 1, 1985, after a protracted illness. He was buried in the city of Rabwah which was the world headquarters of the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community at that time with the current world headquarters being London, England.
