Abdullah Haroon

Abdullah Haroon (1872 to 1942) (Urdu: عبداللہ ہارون‎) was a British Indian politician who contributed towards the role of Muslims in economic, educational, social and political fields in South Asia.

Biography

Haroon was a member of the Karachi Municipality from May 1913 to September 1916. He presided over the seventh Sindh Provincial Conference (1920) and remained the President of the Sindh Provincial Muslim League from 1920 to 1930.

In 1917 he joined the Congress and participated in the civil disobedience and Khilafat Movement. From 1919 to 1923, he was President of the Sindh provincial Khilafat Committee and he served as Secretary and Treasurer of the Hilal-e-Ahmar Sindh Society from 8 October 1911.

In 1920, Haroon started publishing Al Waheed, a newspaper promoting ideas of independence. The following year he encouraged Muhammad Wafai to publish Tawhid, a monthly journal which started a campaign against Syedism, Pirism and Mullaism and continued for next thirty years.

Haroon joined the Muslim League in 1918 and was elected the President of the Sindh Provincial Muslim League in 1920.

In 1921 he played host to Bi Amman, the mother of the Ali brothers, while they were being tried in Khaliq Deena Hall, Karachi.

Two years later he became a member of the Bombay Legislative Assembly. He demanded a separate provincial status for Sindh in the Muslim Conference at Aligarh (1925) and in the Leaders' Conference at Delhi (1926).

Between 1926 and 1942 he was elected thrice to the membership of the Central Legislative Assembly, gaining the second highest number of votes in all of Sindh, the highest number of votes being secured by Wahid Baksh Bhutto.

Haroon was president of the Khilafat Committee for 1927–28 and attended the 1928 All Parties Conference as a member.

In 1930, he attended the All-India Muslim Conference. In 1930 he formed the Sindh United Party on the pattern of the Unionist Party (Punjab) but his party could not win the 1936 elections; it succeeded, however, in 1938. In 1938 he organized the Muslim League in Sindh.

He piloted the independence of Pakistan resolution in the Sindh Provincial Muslim League Conference in October 1938 under the presidency of the Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.^[1] He also endorsed the 'Pakistan Resolution' on behalf of all Muslims of Sindh at the historic 27th Session of the Muslim League at Lahore on March 23, 1940.^[2]

He donated ten thousand rupees to the League at Allahabad in 1942. He was active in social welfare projects throughout his life.^[3]

Death

Abdullah Haroon died on April 27, 1942 in Karachi, Sindh. He was buried in mehwashah graveyard.

Links

• Sir Haji Abdullah Haroon

References