Abdus Sattar Khan Niazi (مولاناعبدالستارخان نیازی) (1 October 1915 – 2 May 2001) was a Pakistani religious and political leader.

Early life

He was born on 1 October 1915 at

Isakhel Isakhel ( ur, ) is a town of Mianwali District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The town is the headquarters of Isakhel Tehsil, an administrative subdivision of the district. Isakhel is an important town located in the west of Mianwali Dis ...

Mianwali District The Mianwali District ( ur, ), is a district located in Sargodha Division of Punjab province, Pakistan. It was separated from NWFP in 1901, and has a border with the Chakwal, Attock,Kohat, Karak, Lakki Marwat, Dera Ismail Khan, Bhakkar, a ...

Punjab, British India Punjab was a province of British India. Most of the Punjab region was annexed by the East India Company in 2 April 1849, and declared a province of British Rule, it was one of the last areas of the Indian subcontinent to fall under British ...

.Mashaheer (Pakistan Movement activists, click on his picture to read profile in Urdu language)
Nazaria-e-Pakistan Trust website, Retrieved 19 September 2021 After initial education, he gained religious education 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 ...

. He obtained his master's degree from Islamia College, Lahore in 1940, and later became its Dean of Islamic Studies. He remained Dean until 1947, after which he joined active politics. Niazi vigorously participated in the political struggle for the creation of Pakistan and the

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 ...

, and became the President of the Punjab Muslim Students Federation in 1938. He then served in the position of the President of the Provincial (Punjab)

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 ...

until the creation of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

in 1947. He was considered among the trusted companions of both

Muhammad Iqbal Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( ur, ; 9 November 187721 April 1938), was a South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philos ...

and Muhammad Ali Jinnah.Tribute paid to Sattar Niazi
The Nation (newspaper), Published 3 May 2017, Retrieved 19 September 2021 He was briefly arrested along with

Abul Ala Maududi Abul A'la al-Maududi ( ur, , translit=Abū al-Aʿlā al-Mawdūdī; – ) was an Islamic scholar, Islamist ideologue, Muslim philosopher, jurist, historian, journalist, activist and scholar active in British India and later, following the part ...

by the Pakistan Army for purportedly inciting the

Lahore riots of 1953 The Lahore riots of 1953 were a series of violent riots against the Ahmadiyya Movement, a faith marginalized in Pakistan, mainly in the city of Lahore, Pakistan as well as the rest of Punjab, which were eventually quelled by the Pakistan Army wh ...

against the

Ahmadiyya Ahmadiyya (, ), officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community or the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ, ar, الجماعة الإسلامية الأحمدية, al-Jamāʿah al-Islāmīyah al-Aḥmadīyah; ur, , translit=Jamā'at Aḥmadiyyah Musl ...

. Both Maududi and Abdul Sattar Niazi were then sentenced to death by a military court but later released. According to Dawn newspaper, "Capital punishment being irreversible, no remedy is available if a person's innocence is established after his execution. One shudders to imagine what might have happened if the sentence of death awarded to Maulana Maudoodi and Maulana Abdul Sattar Niazi by a military court in 1953 had been promptly carried out. Fears of miscarriage of justice have persuaded most sensible Muslim scholars to follow the dictum that it is better to let a culprit walk free than hang an innocent person". He worked as the Secretary General of the Central

Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP) ( ur, ) is a Islamist political party in Pakistan. It was founded in 1948 by leaders of All India Sunni Conference. JUP exercised considerable political influence in Pakistani politics during 1970s to 2003. Its stude ...

, a Sunni Barelvi political party from 1973 to 1989 and was elected as the President of the Central

in 1989. He was a beacon of light for his party's workers and a dominating political figure in Mianwali District for many years.No enthusiasm in Mianwali
Dawn (newspaper), Published 8 October 2002, Retrieved 18 September 2021

Political career

Abdul Sattar Khan Niazi served as a member of Provincial Assembly of the Punjab, Lahore from 1947 to 1949. He was elected member of the National Assembly of Pakistan twice, in 1988 and 1990. He was elected to the

Senate of Pakistan Senate of Pakistan or Aiwān-e-Bālā Pākistān ( ur, , , literally "Pakistan upper house"), is the upper house, upper legislative chamber of the bicameral legislature of Pakistan, and together with the National Assembly (Pakistan), National As ...

in 1994 for a six years term.

Death and legacy

Abdul Sattar Khan Niazi died in 2001. Niazi never married and had no children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Niazi, Maulana Abdul Sattar Khan 1915 births 2001 deaths Pakistani Sunni Muslims People from Mianwali District Government Islamia College alumni Pashtun people Politicians from Punjab, Pakistan Muslim reformers Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan politicians Barelvis Federal ministers of Pakistan Pakistani MNAs 1988–1990 Pakistani MNAs 1990–1993 Pakistan Movement activists Members of the Senate of Pakistan