Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

Pakistan Movement The Pakistan Movement ( ur, , translit=Teḥrīk-e-Pākistān) was a political movement in the first half of the 20th century that aimed for the creation of Pakistan from the Muslim-majority areas of British India. It was connected to the per ...

Yusuf Haroon Muhammad Yusuf Abdullah Haroon (1916 – 12 February 2011) was a Pakistani businessman and politician who served as the 5th Governor of West Pakistan and 3rd Chief Minister of Sindh.Mahmoud Haroon, and Zeenat Haroon Rashid , parents = , awards = , footnotes = Sir Abdullah Haroon (1 January 1872 – 27 April 1942) ( ur, ) (also spelled Seth Haji Sir Abdoola Haroon) was an Indian

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

and

businessman A businessperson, businessman, or businesswoman is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) for the ...

who made major contributions towards developing and defining the role of Muslims in economic, educational, social and political fields in the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

.

Early life and political career

Abdullah Haroon was born into a Kutchi Memon family. He lost his father at an early age of four and was raised by his grandmother who was a deeply religious lady. Early in his life, he worked as an 'assistant bicycle repairman' for 4 annas (quarter of an Indian rupee). He deeply believed in the dignity of labor. Then in 1896, at the age of 24, he started his own business as a small merchant in Karachi. He soon became very successful and was called Sindh's 'Sugar King' by his contemporaries due to his business trades in sugar. In 1901, he developed an interest in politics. He first became a member of the Karachi Municipality from May 1913 to September 1916. Again he was a member of this body from 1 May 1921 to 21 August 1934. Abdullah Haroon first joined the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

party in 1917 and started to participate in the

Independence movement Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

of India. Soon he was disenchanted with the policies of the Congress party of India and joined the

All-India Muslim League The All-India Muslim League (AIML) was a political party established in Dhaka in 1906 when a group of prominent Muslim politicians met the Viceroy of British India, Lord Minto, with the goal of securing Muslim interests on the Indian subcont ...

party and remained its strong supporter till his death. In 1919, he became president of the Khilafat Committee of Sindh, a branch of the larger Khilafat Movement of India under the leadership of Muhammad Ali Jouhar. He also served as president of the Sindh Provincial

Muslim League Muslim League may refer to: Political parties Subcontinent ; British India *All-India Muslim League, Mohammed Ali Jinah, led the demand for the partition of India resulting in the creation of Pakistan. **Punjab Muslim League, a branch of the organ ...

from 1920 to 1930. In 1930, he attended the All-India Muslim Conference and in the same year, he formed the Sind United Party on the pattern of the

Unionist Party (Punjab) The National Unionist Party was a political party based in the Punjab Province during the period of British rule in India. The Unionist Party mainly represented the interests of the landed gentry and landlords of Punjab, which included Muslims ...

which called for the separation of Sindh from the Bombay Presidency, which then actually took place in April 1936 after the enactment of the Government of India Act, 1935. Abdullah Haroon joined the

All-India Muslim League The All-India Muslim League (AIML) was a political party established in Dhaka in 1906 when a group of prominent Muslim politicians met the Viceroy of British India, Lord Minto, with the goal of securing Muslim interests on the Indian subcont ...

in 1937. Although his party won a plurality of seats in the 1937 provincial elections, it was not able to form the government as its leaders like Haroon and Sir

Shah Nawaz Bhutto Shah Nawaz Bhutto ( sd, ; ur, ) (8 March 1888 – 19 November 1957), was a politician and a member of Bhutto family hailing from Larkana in the Sind region of the Bombay Presidency of British India, which is now Sindh, Pakistan. Early l ...

failed to be elected. He was knighted by King

George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of I ...

in the 1937 Coronation Honours list and came to be known as Sir Abdullah Haroon. Meanwhile the decline of the Sind United Party led him to organize the

Muslim League Muslim League may refer to: Political parties Subcontinent ; British India *All-India Muslim League, Mohammed Ali Jinah, led the demand for the partition of India resulting in the creation of Pakistan. **Punjab Muslim League, a branch of the organ ...

in Sindh in 1938 and he was elected its president in 1939. In October 1938, with the help of Shaikh Abdul Majeed Sindhi and Pir Ali Muhammad Rashidi, he organised the First Sind Provincial Muslim League Conference in Karachi, with Muhammad Ali Jinnah presiding. Participation in this conference was from all over India. Haroon headed the Reception Committee and his welcome address, which set the tone for the conference, was considered quite radical at the time. His warning was that, "We have nearly arrived at the parting of the ways and...it will be impossible to save India from being divided into Hindu India and Muslim India, both placed under separate federation". This also prepared the ground for adoption of the

Lahore Resolution The Lahore Resolution ( ur, , ''Qarardad-e-Lahore''; Bengali: লাহোর প্রস্তাব, ''Lahor Prostab''), also called Pakistan resolution, was written and prepared by Muhammad Zafarullah Khan and was presented by A. K. Fazlul ...

in March 1940. Later he also was a member of the Muslim League Working Committee that drafted and endorsed the ' Pakistan Resolution' on behalf of all Muslims of Sindh at the 27th Session of the Muslim League at

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

on 23 March 1940.

Death and legacy

Abdullah Haroon died on 27 April 1942 in

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

. He had donated ten thousand rupees to the Muslim League at Allahabad in 1942. He was a philanthropist and active in social welfare projects throughout his life and contributed to many charitable institutions. According to Nazaria-i-Pakistan Trust, ..."he had given away a princely sum of Rs 88,961 to charities, which would be equivalent to about Rs 10 million today". The Pakistan Post also had issued a commemorative postage stamp in his honour in its 'Pioneers of Freedom' series. Abdullah Haroon was widely considered to be so honest in his conduct with people that even

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

had remarked about him, "I will trust this man with a blank cheque". There is a major street named after him in

Saddar Saddar ( ur, ), also known as Saddar Bazaar, is a neighbourhood in Karachi, Pakistan. The locality was developed as the primary commercial district during the period of British-era rule in Karachi. As a result, Saddar contains the large concentr ...

, Karachi called Abdullah Haroon Road. Its former name was Victoria Road and an official residence of

Prime Minister of Pakistan The prime minister of Pakistan ( ur, , romanized: Wazīr ē Aʿẓam , ) is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen cabinet, despite the president of Pa ...

, 10 Victoria Road, was located there.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haroon, Abdullah 1872 births 1942 deaths Muslim League Leaders of the Pakistan Movement Members of the Central Legislative Assembly of India Knights Bachelor Indian Knights Bachelor Indian philanthropists Memon people

Abdullah Abdullah may refer to: * Abdullah (name), a list of people with the given name or surname * Abdullah, Kargı, Turkey, a village * ''Abdullah'' (film), a 1980 Bollywood film directed by Sanjay Khan * '' Abdullah: The Final Witness'', a 2015 Pakis ...