Mian Iftikharuddin (
Punjabi, ur, میاں افتخارالدیں; 8 April 1907 – 6 June 1962) was a Pakistani politician, activist of 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 ...
, who later 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 ...
and worked for the cause 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 ...
under the leadership of
Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
[
]
Early life
Mian Muhammad Iftikharuddin was born on 8 April 1907 in 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 ...
(in modern-day Baghbanpura, 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 ...
, Punjab, Pakistan) to the wealthy Arain
Arain (also known as Raeen) are a large Punjabi agricultural tribe with strong political identity and organisation, found mainly in the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Sindh with a small population in parts of Indian Punjab, Uttar Pradesh ...
Mian family Mian may refer to:
People and languages
* Mian (surname), including a list of people with the surname
* Mian (given name), including a list of people with the given name
* Mian family of Baghbanpura, a noble Arain family of Lahore, Pakistan
*Mia ...
, the custodians of the Shalimar Gardens, Lahore.[ His relations included Sir Mian Muhammad Shafi and Sir Mian Abdul Rashid.][ Mian Iftikharuddin was educated at Aitchison College and the ]University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
.[
]
Political career
Indian National Congress
Mian Iftikharuddin joined the Congress Party in 1936. He was elected to the Punjab Provincial Assembly in 1937 and became the President of the Punjab Provincial Congress in 1940, serving in that position until 1945.[ He was a member of the ]All India Congress Committee
The All India Congress Committee (AICC) is the presidium or the central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress. It is composed of members elected from state-level Pradesh Congress Committees and can have as many as a thousan ...
from the 1930s to the mid 1940s. Iftikharuddin was very close to Jawaharlal Nehru
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat—
*
*
*
* and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...
.
In 1937, he was instrumental in introducing the Kashmir leader Sheikh Abdullah
Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah (5 December 1905 – 8 September 1982) was an Indian politician who played a central role in the politics of Jammu and Kashmir Abdullah was the founding leader of the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference (later re ...
to Nehru.
Iftikharuddin opposed the Muslim League's 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 ...
and declared that "any attempt at disrupting the unity of ndia'sspirit is a betrayal of the history of a thousand years.” However, by 1942, he was supporting C. Rajagopalachari
Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (10 December 1878 – 25 December 1972), popularly known as Rajaji or C.R., also known as Mootharignar Rajaji (Rajaji'', the Scholar Emeritus''), was an Indian statesman, writer, lawyer, and independence activis ...
's formula for granting the Pakistan demand, which was rejected by Congress Working Committee
The Congress Working Committee (CWC) is the executive committee of the Indian National Congress. It was formed in December 1920 at Nagpur session of INC which was headed by C. Vijayaraghavachariar. It typically consists of fifteen members electe ...
. In 1945, Iftikharuddin resigned from the Congress Party and joined the Muslim League.[ According to scholar Asdar Ali, he was persuaded to join the Muslim League by his colleagues in the Communist Party of India, which had by then decided to work for "Muslim self-determination".
]
Muslim League
Iftikharuddin joined the All India Muslim League in September 1945. His palatial ancestral home in Baghbanpura was used for training Muslim League National Guard
The Muslim League National Guard, also called Muslim National Guard, was a quasi-military organization, associated All-India Muslim League that took part in the Pakistan Movement. It actively took part in the violence that ensued during the Parti ...
s. He was elected to the Punjab Provincial Assembly in 1946 as a Muslim League member, and led the civil disobedience movement against the Unionist government of Khizar Hayat Tiwana
Sir Malik Khizar Hayat Tiwana KCSI, OBE ( pa, ; 7 August 1900 – 20 January 1975) was an Indian statesman, landowner, army officer, politician belonging to the Punjab Unionist Party. He served as the prime minister of the Punjab Province of ...
.[
After the 3 June plan for partition of India was announced, Jinnah looked increasingly towards young men like Iftikharuddin to help Pakistan stand on its own feet. Iftikharuddin was elected the first president of the Punjab Provincial Muslim League after the Independence of Pakistan in 1947. He was also appointed the Minister for rehabilitation of refugees in the Government of Punjab.][
]
Pakistan Times
Iftikharuddin was the founder-owner of the ''Pakistan Times
''Pakistan Times'' (1947–1996) was a Pakistani newspaper, originally established by the leftist Progressive Papers Limited based in Lahore, Pakistan.
Historical background
It was owned and operated by Mian Iftikharuddin, a Punjabi politic ...
'', a newspaper started by the leftists in the Muslim League to create a balance to the centrist Muslim League mouthpiece ''Dawn
Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's hori ...
'' newspaper as well as the Hindu press in pre-1947 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 ...
.[Remembering Mian Iftikharuddin]
Dawn (newspaper), Published 8 December 2012, Retrieved 25 July 2017
Kashmir conflict
In 1947, Iftikharuddin played a key role in the development of the Kashmir conflict
The Kashmir conflict is a territorial conflict over the Kashmir region, primarily between India and Pakistan, with China playing a third-party role. The conflict started after the partition of India in 1947 as both India and Pakistan claimed ...
. The Muslim Conference leader Sardar Ibrahim
Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan (22 April 1915 – 31 July 2003) was the key instigator of the 1947 Poonch Rebellion in the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir in British India and the later establishment of Azad Kashmir under Pakistani adminis ...
narrated that he went to Lahore on 28 August 1947 seeking Pakistan's help for the rebellion in Poonch. After a week's efforts, Ibrahim finally met Iftikharuddin, who lent a sympathetic ear. Then Iftikharuddin went to Srinagar to make his own enquiries. Sardar Ibrahim says that he came back convinced on all the points made by him.
According to General Akbar Khan's narrative, Iftikharuddin was asked to go to Srinagar to assess Pakistan's prospects in acquiring Kashmir's accession. On his way, he met General Akbar Khan vacationing in Murree
Murree (Punjabi, Urdu: مری) is a mountain resort city, located in the Galyat region of the Pir Panjal Range, within the Muree District of Punjab, Pakistan. It forms the outskirts of the Islamabad-Rawalpindi metropolitan area, and is about ...
and asked him to prepare a plan to help Kashmiri Muslims to take action against possible accession of Kashmir to India.[ He then speent a week in Srinagar, and came back convinced that the Maharaja was intending to accede to India and Pakistan needed to help the Muslims of Kashmir to fight for freedom.]
Meanwhile, Akbar Khan created a plan titled "''Armed Revolt inside Kashmir''", which was then passed on to the Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan
Liaquat Ali Khan ( ur, ; 1 October 1895 – 16 October 1951), also referred to in Pakistan as ''Quaid-e-Millat'' () or ''Shaheed-e-Millat'' ( ur, lit=Martyr of the Nation, label=none, ), was a Pakistani statesman, lawyer, political theoris ...
and other senior officials. A meeting was called under the leadership of the Prime Minister on 12 September 1947, where this plan as well as another plan prepared by Sardar Shaukat Hayat Khan
Major Shaukat Hayat Khan ( Punjabi, ; 24 September 1915 – 25 September 1998) was an influential politician, military officer, and Pakistan Movement activist who played a major role in the organising of the Muslim League in the British-controlle ...
for organising a tribal invasion of Kashmir were discussed and approved.
After Sheikh Abdullah was released from prison, at the beginning of October 1947, Iftikharuddin went to Srinagar again in order to persuade Abdullah regarding accession to Pakistan. Abdullah agreed to meet Pakistani leaders and accompanied him to Lahore. However, the Governor General Muhammad Ali Jinnah refused to meet Abdullah and the mission failed. Iftikharuddin was dejected and concluded, 'Kashmir is lost to us'.
Soon afterwards the tribal invasion was launched and Iftikharuddin played no more role in the Kashmir conflict.
Government of West Punjab
Iftikharuddin briefly served as ''Minister for Rehabiilitation of Refugees'' in the provincial government of Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...
in 1947. In 1949, as a minister, he proposed radical land reform
Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultural ...
s in the Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...
, however this led to a backlash from the land-owning feudal leadership of the Pakistan Muslim League
The Pakistan Muslim League ( ur, ; known as PML), is the name of several different Pakistani political parties that have dominated the right-wing platform in the country.
The Muslim League (a different party) was the party of Pakistan’ ...
under the leadership of Nawab Iftikhar Hussain Khan Mamdot, a big landowner himself. In frustration, Iftikharuddin resigned from his Ministry in 1949 and was formally expelled from the Muslim League in 1951.
Iftikharuddin was the only Muslim member in the parliament house who opposed the 'objectives resolution' as he felt that the resolution was vague. He further suggested that such a resolution should be the decision of the 70 million people of Pakistan. This resolution was also disapproved by minorities’ leaders Prem Hari, Chandra Mandal and Kumar Dutta. However, he chose to vote in favour of the resolution, because he was assured that minorities will have all the rights and privileges in an Islamic state.[Profile of Mian Iftikharuddin](_blank)
''The Express Tribune'', 15 May 2016
Political activism
Later he jumped off 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 ...
ship, and formed his own ‘Azad Pakistan Party
The Azad Pakistan Party was a leftist Pakistani party founded in November 1949 by Mian Iftikharuddin, an ex-Congressite and a member of the Muslim League who worked for the Pakistan Movement.
It was formed in 1949, becoming Pakistan's first oppos ...
’ committed to liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
secularism
Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on secular, naturalistic considerations.
Secularism is most commonly defined as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state, and may be broadened to a sim ...
in the country. Though big names like ''Dr. Khan Sahib
Dr. Khan Sahib ( ps, ډاکټر خان صیب ) (born 1883, Utmanzai, Charsadda – 9 May 1958, Lahore), mistakenly named as Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan (), was a pioneer in the Indian Independence Movement and a Pakistani politician. He was the eld ...
'' and the Khudai Khidmatgar
Khudai Khidmatgar ( ps, خداۍ خدمتګار; literally "servants of God") was a predominantly Pashtun nonviolent resistance movement known for its activism against the British Raj in colonial India; it was based in the country's North-West ...
s were attracted to it, Azad Pakistan Party soon faded away in history. He was also considered a leading light of the National Awami Party
The National Awami Party (NAP), translated from Urdu to English as National People's Party, was the major left-wing political party in East and West Pakistan. It was founded in 1957 in Dhaka, erstwhile East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh), by A ...
as well.
His Pakistan Times newspaper continued to promote social justice
Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, Equal opportunity, opportunities, and Social privilege, privileges within a society. In Western Civilization, Western and Culture of Asia, Asian cultures, the concept of social ...
and agrarian reforms in Pakistan, it attracted many well known leftists including its first editor Faiz Ahmad Faiz
Faiz Ahmad ''Faiz'' (13 February 1911 – 20 November 1984; Urdu, Punjabi:
فیض احمد فیض) was a Pakistani poet, and author of Urdu and Punjabi literature. Faiz was one of the most celebrated Pakistani Urdu writers of his time. Outsi ...
. However, in 1959, following the military takeover by Ayub Khan, the newspaper was taken over by the government and despite a legal challenge, he failed to obtain either compensation or the return of ownership of his newspaper.
Since he was an advocate of an independent foreign policy, free from demented generals and Pakistan's exit from The Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation
The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was an international organization for collective defense in Southeast Asia created by the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, or Manila Pact, signed in September 1954 in Manila, the Philipp ...
(SEATO), the Baghdad Pact
The Middle East Treaty Organization (METO), also known as the Baghdad Pact and subsequently known as the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO), was a military alliance of the Cold War. It was formed in 24 February 1955 by Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Tur ...
also called CENTO
The Middle East Treaty Organization (METO), also known as the Baghdad Pact and subsequently known as the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO), was a military alliance of the Cold War. It was formed in 24 February 1955 by Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Tur ...
and other defense treaties, it was expected from his opponents to label him as 'a stranger in the house'.
Life
Mian Iftikharuddin was married to Begum Ismat Iftikharuddin. According to Azad Kashmir civil servant and writer Abdul Haq Suharwardy, Begum Ismat and General Akbar Khan's wife, Nasim Shah Nawaz (later Nasim Jahan), were cousins. The couple lived in a mansion at 21 Aikman Road, which they bought from the Raja of Mandi.
They had three children: Sohail Iftikhar, Arif Iftikhar and Seema Iftikhar.[
Iftikharuddin died at the age of 54, after suffering a heart attack on 6 June 1962.][
Pakistan's famous poet ]Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Faiz Ahmad ''Faiz'' (13 February 1911 – 20 November 1984; Urdu, Punjabi:
فیض احمد فیض) was a Pakistani poet, and author of Urdu and Punjabi literature. Faiz was one of the most celebrated Pakistani Urdu writers of his time. Out ...
, Iftikharuddin's friend and ally, paid a tribute to him through his poetry:
"Jo rukey tu koh-e-garan thay hum, jo chalay tu jaan say guzar gaye,
Raah-e-yaar hum ne qadam qadam, tujhay yaadgaar banaa diya."
Translation:
"I was a mountain when I stopped
And when I moved I sacrificed my being
O path to my beloved, I have, step by step
Turned you into a memorial"
See also
*List of Pakistani journalists
This is a list of Pakistani journalists from print and electronic media.
A
*Amin Hafeez
* Ansar Abbasi
*Ayaz Amir
* Abdul Hameed Chapra
* Asma Chaudhry
*Ardeshir Cowasjee
*Altaf Husain
* Arshad Sharif
* Aasma Sherazi
*Abid Qaiyum Suleri
* ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
* Irfan Haidar
Mian Iftikharuddin: The stranger in the house
The Express Tribune blog, 15 May 2016.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iftikharuddin, Mian
1907 births
1962 deaths
Punjab, Pakistan MLAs 1947–1949
Pakistani male journalists
Pakistani newspaper chain founders
People from Lahore
Pakistan Movement activists from Punjab
People of the 1947 Kashmir conflict
Mian family
Punjabi people