West Punjab was a province in the Dominion of Pakistan from 1947 to 1955. It was established from the western-half of British Punjab, following the independence of Pakistan. The province covered an area of , including much of the current Punjab province and the Islamabad Capital Territory, including the former Princely state of Bahawalpur, which was an autonomous region until 1955, though it remained subordinate to the province. Lahore, being the largest city and the cultural centre, served as the capital of the province. The province was composed of four divisions (Lahore, Sargodha, Multan and Rawalpindi) and was bordered by the state of Bahawalpur to the south-east, the province of Baluchistan to the south-west and Sind to the south, North-West Frontier Province to the north-west, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir to the north. It shared International border with Indian state of East Punjab to the east and Indian-administered Jammu & Kashmir to the north-east. It was dissolved and merged into West Pakistan upon creation of One Unit Scheme, in 1955.
History
The creation of Pakistan in 1947 led to the division of the Punjab Province of British India into two new provinces. The largely Sikh and Hindu East Punjab became part of the new nation of India while the largely Muslim West Punjab became part of the new nation of the Dominion of Pakistan. The name of the province was shortened to Punjab in 1950. West Punjab was merged into the province of West Pakistan in 1955 under the One Unit policy announced by Prime Minister Chaudhary Muhammad Ali. When that province was dissolved, the area of the former province of West Punjab was combined with the former state of Bahawalpur to form a new Punjab Province.
Bahawalpur State was the only state of the Punjab States Agency, which was subordinate to the Punjab Province, to accede to Pakistan.
Government
The offices of Governor of West Punjab and Chief Minister of West Punjab lasted from 15 August 1947, until 14 October 1955. The first Governor was Sir Francis Mudie with Iftikhar Hussain Khan as the first Chief Minister. Both offices were abolished in 1955, when the province of West Pakistan was created. The last Governor of West Punjab, Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani, became the first Governor of West Pakistan.
{|class="wikitable"
|-
!Tenure||Governor of West Punjab
|-
|15 August 1947 – 2 August 1949||Sir Francis Mudie
|-
|2 August 1949 – 24 November 1951||Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar
|-
|24 November 1951 – 2 May 1953||Ismail Ibrahim Chundrigar
|-
|2 May 1953 – 24 June 1954||Mian Aminuddin
|-
|26 September 1954 – 26 November 1954||Habib Ibrahim Rahmatullah
|-
|27 November 1954 – 14 October 1955||Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani
|-
|14 October 1955||Province of West Punjab dissolved
|}
{|class="wikitable"
|-
!Tenure||Chief Minister of West Punjab
|}