A LOOK at Haji Sir Abdullah Haroon’s volume of correspondence is enough to give us a fair idea of his place among the front-line workers of the Pakistan Movement. The correspondence can form a book on its own. The letters were often lengthy, had the force of logic, were couched in the political idiom of the day and were written in excellent English. This needs to be highlighted to show the transformation into a mature parliamentarian of an eight-year-old selling haberdashery.
A letter addressed, for instance, to Sir Percy James Grigg, a member of the finance ministry at New Delhi, consisted of 3,000 words and dealt mostly with Sindh’s finances. Other letters, written to the All-India Muslim League (AIML) and Congress leaders, besides politicians, religious personalities and scholars at home and abroad, including quite often the Aga Khan, dwelt at length on the political tangle in India as war raged, independence neared and the Muslims seemed to lack unity.
A Portrait of Ruttie Jinnah That Doesnât Hold Up
There is much that is debatable and untenable in the new book on Jinnahâs wife.
Ruttie Jinnah. Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA
Who is worthy of a biography?
The shakers who change civilisation and our view of the world â the scientists, writers, painters and philosophers. And perhaps more than them, the movers, the captains and the kings and, if we believe Winston Churchillâs contention that behind every man who achieves anything there stands a woman, their consorts and their queens!
Nur Jahan for Jehangir, Josephine for Napoleon and now according to this multi-purpose, (letâs not call it âramblingâ, yet) biography (
Remembering G M Syed
January 17, 2021
Syed Ghulam Murtaza Shah Kazmi, commonly known as G M Syed, was a renowned Sindhi politician, born in British-occupied Sindh in 1905.
For many reasons, G M Syed is considered the father of the Sindh rights movement in Pakistan. And even after his death he continues to remain a towering figure, rallying his supporters, admirers and even opponents on his birthday every year. This year, his 117th birthday is being observed today in Sindh and other parts of the world to remember him, and understand why he remains relevant to political currents in Sindh.
One of the reasons G M Syed remains part of political discourse and movement in Sindh is because he belonged to a political generation which was not just into the business of politics. Like Jawahar Lal Nehru, Azad, Gandhi, Bacha Khan etc, Syed researched history, literature, and authored books on culture and history. Above all, he was seen as someone who inspired the working class and middle-cla