INA trial ke baad, Major Shah Nawaz Khan ne ek bada aur aham faisla liya. Unhon ne Mahatma Gandhi ke ahimsa (non-violence) ke raaste ko apnane ka ailaan kiya aur Congress party join ki.
1946 mein, Noakhali dango ke baad jab mulk ka mahaul intehayi pur-tension tha, Shah Nawaz Khan ne Mahatma Gandhi aur Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan ke saath milkar Noakhali ka daura kiya. Wahan unhon ne riot victims ko relief pahunchaya aur aman bahal karne ki koshish ki.
Shah Nawaz Khan, jo British Indian Army mein Captain ke rank tak pahunche the, 1942 mein Singapore ke fall ke baad Japanese fauj ke haathon prisoner of war ban gaye. Singapore ke POW camp mein unki zindagi ka sabse bada mod aaya, jab unhon ne Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose ke jazbati aur watan-parast speeches sune.
Shah Nawaz Khan baad mein likhte hain:
“Yeh kehna ghalat nahi hoga ke main Netaji ki shakhsiyat aur unki taqreeron se bilkul mutasir ho gaya tha. Pehli baar maine Hindustan ko ek Hindustani ki nazar se dekha.”
Netaji ke azadi ke paighaam se mutasir hokar, Shah Nawaz Khan ne 1943 mein Indian National Army (INA) join kar li. Netaji Bose ne jab Azad Hind ki Arzi Hukumat (Provisional Government of Free India) banayi, to Shah Nawaz Khan ko uske Cabinet ka member bhi banaya gaya.
Baad mein Netaji ne INA ke chune hue aur trained soldiers par mushtamil ek special regiment tayar ki, jiska maqsad Hindustan ki sarhad par seedha hamla karna tha.
Is regiment ki qiyadat Shah Nawaz Khan ke haath mein di gayi.
INA ne Burma aur North-Eastern front par jung ladi aur Japanese forces ke saath milkar Kohima aur Imphal par kabza bhi kiya — halaanki yeh kabza chand arsey ke liye hi raha.
December 1944 mein, Shah Nawaz Khan ko Mandalay mein INA ki First Division ka Commander muqarrar kiya gaya.
Azadi ke baad, Shah Nawaz Khan ka kirdar sirf fauj tak mehdood nahi raha. Unhon ne Congress Sewa Dal ki qiyadat sambhali aur apni zindagi ke aakhri din tak awaam aur mulk ki khidmat karte rahe.
1983 mein unka inteqal hua. Unhein Red Fort aur Jama Masjid ke qareeb ek bagh mein full state honours ke saath dafan kiya gaya — jo is baat ka saboot hai ke mulk ne unki qurbaniyon aur khidmaat ko kabhi faramosh nahi kiya.
Major Shah Nawaz Khan sirf ek fauji afsar nahi the, balki woh ek aise mujahīd-e-azadi the jinhon ne jung, qaid, qurbani aur phir aman aur sewa — har daur ko apni zindagi se jiya.