Yusuf Haroon

Muhammad Yusuf Abdullah Haroon (Urdu: یوسف ہارون) was a politician from Sindh, Pakistan.

The eldest of Sir Haji Abdullah Haroon’s sons, he worked closely with Quaid-e-Azam as his ADC and was active in the Pakistan Movement. Yusuf Haroon was a witness to All-India Muslim League’s 25th session in Allahabad in 1930.^[1]

A seasoned politician, Yusuf’s involvement in politics spanned nearly seven decades. He served as mayor of pre-partition Karachi (1944-45), chief minister of Sindh (1949-50), governor of West Pakistan (1969) and federal minister.^[2] He was also a former high commissioner to Australia. In addition, he worked as chief editor daily Dawn. After settling down in New York a long time ago, he served as an executive of the now defunct Pan Am before retiring.

Yusuf Haroon was a founding member of the newspaper Dawn.^[3] In 1946, when Yusuf was in New Delhi to attend a constituent assembly session, Jinnah called him to his residence and asked him to discontinue the newspaper The Herald, then edited by Desmond Young, and instead start the publication of Dawn in Karachi, even though Dawn’s Delhi edition would continue to be published. Jinnah also asked him and his family to buy all the shares of the newspaper.

As chief minister Yusuf Haroon piloted a bill for land reform, although the move was thwarted by certain quarters. When the bill failed to pass he relinquished duties as chief minister. Among many other things, he will be remembered for releasing Masood Khadarposh’s dissenting note in the Hari Commission report.

Yusuf Haroon died on February 12, 2011 at the age of 95 in New York.^[4]

References

1. ^ http://www.dawn.com/2011/02/17/veteran-politician-yusuf-haroon-dead.html
2. ^ http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=3992&Cat=13&dt=2/14/2011
3. ^ http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=31329&Cat=2&dt=2/15/2011
4. ^ http://allpakistannews.spot4blog.com/2011/02/veteran-politician-yusuf-haroon-dead-2/