Faisal Khosa

Dr. Khosa is is the recipient of awards in USA, Canada, Europe, Middle East and South Asia:

Michael Smith Health Research BC Award (2023-2028)

Don Rix Leadership Lifetime Achievement Award

Vancouver Medical, Dental & Allied Staff Association – Excellence in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Award 

UBC Distinguished Achievement Award – Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

BC Achievement Foundation – Mitchell Award of Distinction

Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada – McLaughlin-Gallie Visiting Professor

Global Humanitarian Award – American College of Radiology

Outstanding Academic Performance Award – UBC

Dudley Pennell Award – Journal Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance

May Cohen Equity, Diversity & Gender Award – Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada

The Humanitarian Award – Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America

Rising Star Exchange Program Award – French Society of Radiology

Young Investigator Award – Canadian Association of Radiologists

Healthcare Hero Award – Vancouver Coastal Health

Education & Mentoring Award – Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America

People First Leadership Award – Vancouver Coastal Health

Leadership Scholarship – Canadian Radiology Foundation

American Roentgen Ray Society Scholarship

One in One Hundred Mentoring Award and the Outstanding Young Investigator Award – USA

Medal of Excellence – Government of Pakistan

Matthew A. Cook PhD

Professor of Postcolonial and South Asian Studies

Department of History

North Carolina Central University

North Carolina, USA

President American Institute of Pakistan Studies

Khosa’s book is well researched and lucidly written. It triangulates Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh and three key leaders of these countries: Z.A. Bhutto, Indira Gandhi, and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The book interweaves the stories of these three leaders to create a historical narrative that is “South Asian.” Not narrowly defined by the nationalist histories of Pakistan, India, or Bangladesh the book will appeal to the public in all three countries as well to specialists in South Asia and across the globe.

Ali Riaz PhD

Distinguished Professor of Political Science

President, American Institute of Bangladesh Studies

Illinois State University, USA

Faisal Khosa’s comparative analysis of three most important leaders of modern South Asian history – Indira Gandhi, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, not only shows their similarities and differences but also reveals how their policies have shaped the contemporary political milieu. He has weaved a story that is gripping and informative, at once. This book deserves attention of anyone interested in understanding South Asian politics.

Ian Talbot

Professor of Modern British History

University of Southampton

Dr Faisal Khosa has brought a fresh approach to the understanding of three populist leaders, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Their interactions and leaderships profoundly influenced the course of South Asian history in the third quarter of the twentieth century. The volume brings this drama to life whose legacy remains influential for the region.

Matthew McCartney PhD

Director of South Asian Studies

Associate Professor

Political Economy of South Asia

Oxford University

They were products of the same colonial experience which both nurtured and angered them, they inspired many and were hated by many more. They each rose to unmatched heights of political power, offered India, Pakistan and Bangladesh a vision for social and economic change and were each afterwards assassinated by political opponents. Their legacies remain intertwined with the contemporary realities of modern South Asia. They fell from power in the 1970s within a few months of each other; yet their stories are seldom told together. I am delighted that Dr Faisal Khosa has told the stories of Indira Gandhi, Zulfikar Bhutto, and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman together in this important and original book. This book will be an invaluable teaching resource for South Asian studies.

David Lewis

Professor of Social Policy and Development

London School of Economics & Political Science

Dr Faisal Khosa has written an original and thought provoking book that provides new insights and perspectives on three of South Asia’s most important twentieth century leaders.

Ayesha Jalal

Mary Richardson Professor of History

Director, Center for South Asian Studies

Tufts University

While South Asia’s triad of populist-martyrs – Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman – have attracted insightful scholarly analysis in the past, this is the first comprehensive comparative study of their politics and personalities. Engaging and accessible, this is a welcome addition to the field that will be read widely.

Golam M. Mathbor PhD

Professor Monmouth University

Former President, Canadian Association for the Study of International Development

The book is must reading for anyone who cares about governance and leadership pattern in the subcontinent, and therefore, more stable Subcontinent. Khosa brilliantly explores and explains the psyche of leadership styles the age-old conundrum-how leaders, subcontinent, and others, are influenced and changed. As an informed citizen and a reader, it is intriguing from the book that family dynasty in the Subcontinent is an impediment to flourishing democracy.

James Manor

This admirable book tackles a topic that has had far too little attention in studies of politics in and beyond South Asia – political assassinations and their impact. It also offers clear, enlightening accounts of lives and untimely ends of three crucial leaders. It deserves careful attention from specialists and non-specialists alike.

Shuja Nawaz

Faisal Khosa has produced a very timely and necessary historical re-examination of three major figures of South Asia, each doomed to die a violent death, and whose actions continue to reverberate in the history of the region to this day. Bhutto, Gandhi, and Sheikh Mujib were towering figures on their domestic landscape. By juxtaposing their stories Khosa has helped clarify lessons for scholars and politicians in South Asia today to avoid the pitfalls of Hubris and to place the needs of their people first. If this book produces introspection, then Khosa will have succeeded in his quest.

Brooke Allen

Faisal Khosa gives us the complex diplomatic history of the Indian subcontinent in a clear, coherent and fascinating form through the personalities of its three most remarkable politicians: Indira Gandhi, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Their conflicting agendas and political styles make for high drama, and the results of their interactions continue to reverberate in the twenty-first century.

Julian Schofield PhD

Making of Martyr’s in India, Pakistan & Bangladesh: Indira, Bhutto & Mujib not only presents a novel examination of the important developments of foundational South Asian history through the prism of three pivotal leaders, but is also an interesting personality study of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Indira Gandhi, and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in those great events.

Douglas T. McGetchin PhD

Insightful sketches of three charismatic South Asian leaders, all of whom met an untimely end. Particularly interesting are the parallels between the figures and the varying perspectives each figure had in various regions of the subcontinent and among different factions, whether constituents or opponents.

Sarah Ansari

At a time when populist politics are sweeping much of the world, Faisal Khosa explores the closely- connected careers of three earlier South Asian leaders – Indira Gandhi, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman – whose populist legacies still resonate across the region as a whole. His accessible, joined-up reassessment challenges the image of a deeply-divided sub-continent by drawing attention to what India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have in common as far as their respective political histories are concerned.

Christopher Candland

Faisal Khosa’s book is smartly written and makes for very enjoyable reading. The focus on assassinated leaders in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh turns out to be an ideal way to introduce the politics and cultures of South Asia. I foresee Making of Martyrs being widely read by those interested in South Asia and being widely adopted in comparative politics and South Asia courses (I will use Faisal Khosa’s book in my Politics of South Asia courses). Making of Martyrs is a highly significant work.

Jean-Luc Racine PhD

Three national leaders who redefined postcolonial South Asia. Three tragic figures, who met with unnatural death. Beyond the individual role and the intertwined destinies of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Faisal Khosa recaptures with talent and insight the tense times of the 70s and 80s, which saw not just the South Asia map redrawn, but also challenged the nature and continuity of democracy in the sub-continent.

Edmund Burke

I am sure it will win many classroom adoptions as a key text on an important subject.

Habibul Haque Khondker PhD

Lucidly written and well-documented, this book captures not only the political biographies of the three pivotal leaders of South Asia but also sheds valuable light on the politics of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh during the watershed period of the 1960s to the 1980s.

Sanjiv Chopra MD MACP

Kudos to Faisal Khosa for penning a remarkably well researched and illuminating book about three dynamic political leaders of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Their followers held them up on a pedestal and literally worshipped them. Their critics portrayed them as power hungry, ruthless and tyrannical. It’s a must read for anyone interested in historical facts and the indelible mark these three contemporaries left. The reader will be informed about the “truth” and find much to ponder over.” much to ponder over.