Khalifa Mohammad Asadullah (6 August 1890 – 23 November 1949)Syed Jalaluddin Haider, Pg 3, Online at
Pioneers of Library Movement in Pakistan
Retrieved 10 April 2018 was a

pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and de ...

of the

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

movement 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 ...

before 1947. He was also the first prominent librarian to opt for

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

at the time of independence in 1947.

Early life

He was born on 6 August 1890 in

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. ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

(now Pakistan) to Maulvi Mohammd Ziaullah and Alam Jan of

Simla Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared as the summer capital of British India. After independence, the ...

. He received his basic education in Lahore and graduated from

Forman Christian College Forman Christian College is an private liberal arts university in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. It was founded in 1864 and is administered by the Presbyterian Church. The university follows an American-style curriculum. Founded in 1864 by American ...

, Lahore in 1913.

Marriage and family

In 1908, he married Hameeda Begum in Lahore and fathered 14 children. His sons included Khalifa Mohd Iftikharullah TQA, Khalifa Mohd Naseemullah, Khalifa Mohd Hameedullah, Khalifa Mohd Ihsanullah, Khalifa Mohd Zafarullah (Commander Pak Navy), Khalifa Mohd Aminullah. His sons-in-law included AVM Saeedullah Khan and Pakistani

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

Enver Murad Enver Murad (1913–1999, Karachi) was a former Pakistani diplomat who served as ambassador to a number of countries including Austria, Ceylon and Zaire. Early life and family Murad married Jamila, the daughter of Khalifa Mohammad Asadullah, in ...

; his daughters-in-law included

Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah ( bn, জেবুন্নেসা হামিদুল্লাহ, ur, ; 25 December 1918 – 10 September 2000) was a Pakistani writer and journalist. She was a pioneer of Pakistani literature and journalism in ...

and his great granddaughters include the

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

Uzma Aslam Khan Uzma Aslam Khan is a Pakistani American writer. Her five novels include ''Trespassing'' (2003), ''The Geometry of God'' (2008), ''Thinner Than Skin'' (2012) and ''The Miraculous True History of Nomi Ali'' (2019). Personal life Khan was born in ...

Training

He studied under the American librarian Asa Don Dickinson in 1915 at the

University of the Punjab The University of the Punjab (Urdu, pnb, ), also referred to as Punjab University, is a public, research, coeducational higher education institution located in Lahore, Pakistan. Punjab University is the oldest public university in Pakistan. ...

.Libraries and Librarianship in India on GoogleBooks website
Retrieved 10 April 2018

Career

In 1916, he became the first qualified librarian of the Government College in Lahore.First Librarian at Government College University, Lahore in 1916 (Read about Mohammad Asadullah on website under Libraries)
Retrieved 10 April 2018 He then became the librarian of MAO College (now

Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Muslim University (abbreviated as AMU) is a Public University, public Central University (India), central university in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as the Muhammadan Anglo-Orie ...

) in 1919. In 1921, he joined the Imperial Secretariat Library in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

and

, a post he held for 8 years. In 1930, he was appointed the Librarian of the Imperial Library (now

National Library of India The National Library of India is a library located in Belvedere Estate, Alipore, Kolkata, India. It is India's largest library by volume and public record. The National Library is under Ministry of Culture, Government of India. Currently, Dr. ...

) in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

, a post which he held for about 17 years from 1930 – 1947. While there, he started the library training programme.

Pakistan

In 1947, after the

independence of Pakistan 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 ...

, he was made officer on special duty in the Ministry of Education.

Indian Library Association

In 1933, he was one of the founding members of

Indian Library Association The Indian Library Association (ILA) was established on September 13, 1933 Registered under the societies Registration Act (XXI of 1860), on the occasion of the First All India Library Conference held at Calcutta (now Kolkata). The ILA is the large ...

and was its first Secretary from 1933 to 1947. He had served as the Librarian and a Director from 1930 – 1947 of the ''Imperial Library of India'' in

.K. M. Asadullah listed as Director and Librarian of the Imperial Library of India (1930 – 1947)
National Library of India website (Historical Background), Retrieved 10 April 2018

Honours

He was honoured with the title of

Khan Bahadur Khan Bahadur – a compound of khan ('leader') and bahadur ('brave') – was a formal title of respect and honor, which was conferred exclusively on Muslim and other non-Hindu natives of British India. It was one degree higher than the title of K ...

in 1935.

Death

He died on 23 November 1949 due to a stroke at

, Pakistan. He was buried in his family section of the Ferozpur Road graveyard, Lahore.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asadullah, Khalifa Mohammad Pakistani librarians Indian librarians People from Lahore People from Shimla 1890 births 1949 deaths Academic staff of the Government College University, Lahore Forman Christian College alumni