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Muhammad Ayoob
Khuhro: The
Iron man of Sindh
Part-XXI
Review
& Excerpted by Momin Bullo
This was of course Syed’s response
to Jinnah’s attempts to control his imposition of authority over
the Ministry. A similar situation had created differences between
Syed and Khuhro in 1944 and again when Jinnah had come firmly down
on the side of Hidayetullah, but interestingly it was also a
battle which would be continued by Khuhro against the Centre in
the post partition period.”
Syed also realised what had long
been obvious, that the Central organisation of Muslim League was
dominated by members from Muslim minority provinces and that their
interests did not necessarily reflect those of the Muslims of the
majority provinces. It appeared that a ’showdown’ between the
President of the Provincial Muslim League and the ’High Command’
was inevitable sooner rather than later.
On his release therefore Khuhro
came upon a Muslim League riven by a serious split within the
province and a looming confrontation with the Centre. At the same
time the fate of India was hanging in the balance, waiting upon
the settlement between Congress and Muslim League and the good
will of the retreating Imperial power. Wavell had summoned the
Simla conference in the June 1945 to discuss the formation of the
Viceroy’s Council which would include representatives of all the
major parties. In the end the conference could not succeed because
of Jinnah’s insistence that all Muslim members of the Council
should be nominees of Muslim League and although Lord Wavell was
willing to go along to some extent he insisted that a Unionist
Muslim from the Punjab be included which, in view of the
relationship of the Unionists with the British and the services
that the Unionist government had rendered in the war, was
understandable. This suggestion was turned down by Jinnah and the
Simla Conference was deemed to have failed. Events were rushing
towards a denouement however. Elections were due to be held in
early 1946 and this was the last chance for Muslim League to make
a showing if it wanted credibility and a say in the negotiations
for independence.
Jinnah arrived in Karachi on 28
August. Khuhro was at the airport along with other Muslim League
leaders to receive him. Jinnah warmly embraced him and remarked:
“Thank God you have been released
with honour to serve your people.”
Jinnah was well aware that Sindh
was at this time the only province in India with a Muslim League
government and was very anxious that Muslim League should win a
clear majority in the elections scheduled for early 1946 and form
a government in the province which would enable him to base his
demand for ’Pakistan’ on the cornerstone of Sindh. Khuhro’s
popularity was naturally a great asset for Muslim League
particularly with the elections in the offing and the split that
was threatening Muslim League unity and effectiveness in Sindh.
One of Jinnah’s the first tasks
was to see to it that some kind of compromise was achieved to
prevent the debilitating infighting. He proposed a Parliamentary
Board with representation from all groups. The anti Syed groups
were agitating for a parallel Muslim League to bypass the Syed
dominated body. Al Wahid, the influential Sindhi newspaper was
strongly advocating such a course. It was common knowledge that
Yusuf Haroon was a keen supporter of this idea. Haroon had been a
protege of Khuhro who had supported Haroori s candidature for the
post of General Secretary of Sindh Muslim League and also for
membership of the Central Legislature on his father’s death. The
Parliamentary Board was set up in September and consisted of
Hidayetullah, Mir Ghulam Ali Talpur, Pir Illahibux from the
Ministerial group and Syed Khairshah and Agha Ghulam Nabi Pathan
(General Secretary) and G. M. Syed himself (as President) from the
Syed group. On his release Khuhro had been immediately taken on to
the Parliamentary Board. Syed was not entirely happy with the
composition of this Board as his supporters would no longer be in
a majority but accepted it “for the sake of solidarity in Sindh
League” “It was however improbable that Syed would go along
quietly with the decisions of the Board.
Jinnah left Karachi to go to
Quetta for his holiday and on 1st October the
Parliamentary Board started its meetings in Karachi to award the
tickets. From the very start there were serious differences
between the other members and the Syed group. The candidates for
the districts in which Syed was not directly interested were
selected unanimously mostly at the suggestion of Khuhro, but when
it came to the central districts of Sindh there was a critical
situation. Seeing that he was being outvoted on certain seats,
Syed adjourned the meeting sine die although the other members
protested against this step. The members who did not agree with
Syed’s action then moved to Khuhro’s house two doors away and
discussed what was to be done next. A telegram was sent to Jinnah
jointly by Hidayetullah, Pir Illahibaksh and Mir Ghulam Ali as
well as Khuhro declaring the postponement “illegal,
unconstitutional and high-handed” and further that “he desired his
favourite Sayeds by allowing tickets in Tharparkar and Hyderabad
districts” to them rather than to candidates who had a reasonable
chance of winning. Failing to get his way in the Board, Syed was
planning to call the Muslim League Council meeting which was
packed with his own supporters. Syed sent his own telegram to
Jinnah demanding that the members opposed to him be removed and
other members be appointed as nominated by his Council. Reporting
to Jinnah on 3rd October Khuhro wrote:
“The work of the Parliamentary
Board was going on smoothly and Larkana, Jacobabad and Nawabshah
candidates were chosen unanimously. But the trouble arose over
Hyderabad and Tharparkar Districts candidates. The trouble
unfortunately is that all the candidates in these Districts were
either favourites of Mr. G. M. Syed, or K. B. Mir Ghulam Ali Khan
and Hon’ble Pir Illahibaksh. According to the convention agreed
upon by us we wanted to issue tickets either by unanimous votes or
by overwhelming majority. This convention was followed in the
above-mentioned Districts, i.e., Larkana, Jacobabad and Nawabshah
Districts. But it was not possible to do so in Hyderabad and
Tharparkar Districts as there were three Ministers on one side and
three including Mr. G. M. Syed on the other. It made no difference
which side I voted as the voting in all cases, so far as these
districts were concerned, would be 4 against 3 and in such cases,
and according to the convention the matter was to be placed before
the Central Parliamentary Board for decision. Mr. G. M. Syed,
however, suddenly adjourned the meeting inspite of the fact that 4
voted against the adjournment and 2 voted for the adjournment. It
was really unfortunate to have caused this trouble when it could
easily have been avoided by the Chairman by referring such
contentious matters to the Central Parliamentary Board for the
final decision. In any case the decision of the Central
Parliamentary Board would have prevailed. I am however glad to
learn from Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan in reply to my telegram that
the Central Parliamentary Board will be coming to Karachi on the
12th instant and that the Working Committee of All-India Muslim
League is to meet at Karachi on the 14th instant.”
Khuhro felt that Syed’s
intransigence was due to the influence of Gazdar who had his own
grievances and had so far been frustrated in finding a larger role
for himself, and also Rashdi who realising that Muslim League was
in the ascendant had decided to re-join it. He wanted to get the
Muslim League ticket for the Central Legislature while at the same
time keeping links with the Congress leadership in Sindh.16 Khuhro
gave his views on the subject to Jinnah:
“Mr. G. M. Syed has acted very
wrongly by causing the rift which could have easily been avoided
but Messrs. Ali Muhammad Rashdi and M. H. Gazdar are at the back
of it. Mr. Rashdi wanted to bring about the disruption in the
League circles at the instigation of the Hindus... He is their
hireling and agent who will utilize every opportunity to misguide
Mr. Syed and thus cause trouble in the League circles. But your
presence will help considerably in surmounting the difficulties
created by our enemies. The situation is such that only the
Central Parliamentary Board should deal with two districts
specially, Hyderabad and Tharparkar Districts after obtaining
advice from us here at Karachi and in important cases they could
consult you at each stage.” Jinnah wrote back with dire warnings:
“I do hope that the Central
Parliamentary Board will be able to successfully handle the
matter. All I can say is that the only issue before us is Pakistan
versus Akhand Hindustan and if Sindh fails, God help you”.
What he meant perhaps was “God
help Pakistan” because without Sindh lining up behind Muslim
League there was no hope at all of even beginning a case for
Pakistan.
Before Jinnah could arrive back
from Baluchistan or the Central Parliamentary Board could meet,
Syed had called a meeting of his Provincial Council. Here he
expressed his lack of confidence in the Sindh Parliamentary Board
and nominated a committee of five to advise the Central Board. The
League Parliamentary Board which consisted of Liaquat Ali Khan,
Nawab Ismail Khan and Mr. Hussain Imam announced three days later
that in view of the disagreement in the Provincial Parliamentary
Board it would allocate all the thirty five tickets for Muslim
seats in Sindh. In its first series of meetings the names of
twenty four candidates were decided. In Upper Sindh there was not
much difference of opinion and where there was any difficulty,
Khuhro’s advice prevailed. In Sukkur North West, Maulabaksh
Soomro, the ’Azad Muslim’ candidate was very strong and as the
local Muslim League candidates, Ghulam Nabi Pathan and Nabi Baksh
Mohammed Hussain were not considered strong enough to win against
him, it was proposed that Khuhro should contest from this
constituency. It was however eventually not possible to do this as
Khuhro was needed to canvass for candidates throughout the
province and could not afford to be tied down to one constituency.
His opponents, also fearing this, tried to pin him down in Larkana
as Dow noted:
“... still under Nihchaldas’
subtle advice, the idea is that Rashdi should join the Congress,
and should stand as an anti League candidate against Khan Bahadur
Khuhro who has a very safe seat in Larkana district. Nihchaldas
admitted to me that Rashdi had no chance, but the idea was to keep
Khuhro enclosed in Larkana, instead of having him free to stump
the country on behalf of more shaky League candidates.”
(Continued)
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Hamari
Manzil:
Walking
with History
(Part-VIII)
Review & Excerpted by Momin Bullo
The
Muslims claimed that it was a mosque, the Hindus asserted that it
was a place of amusement. The Muslim Deputy Collector incharge of
the area supported the stand of Hindus. Muslims and Hindus of
Sindh lived in amity for centuries. This was due to the preaching
of great poets like Shah Abdul Latif and Sachal Sarmast who had
catholic taste and a universal outlook on life. The Talpur rulers
had looked after the Hindus so well that they got the upper hand
in money matters, trade, commerce and industry. The lot of a
minority could not have been better than that of Hindus under the
rule of the Talpurs.
The Sindh Assembly comprised 60
members, 35 Muslims, 22 Hindus and 3 Europeans. Most of the Hindu
members belonged to the Congress Party and all the 22 Hindu
members voted in unison. The Muslims were divided into half a
dozen groups and the leaders of the groups became Ministers. The
Chief Minister was Khan Bahadur Allah Buksh, O.B.E., a very astute
politician who always received the solid support of the 22 Hindu
members of the Sindh Assembly, along with 8 to 10 members of his
own group.
In sympathy with the Congress
stand about War effort, Khan Bahadur Allah Buksh declined to serve
on the Viceroy’s Defence Council. The Speaker of the Sindh
Assembly, Miran Muhammad Shah, represented Sindh on the Viceroy’s
Defence Council in place of the Chief Minister. When the Congress
launched its ’Quit India’ campaign, Allah Buksh renounced his
titles - K.B. and O.B.E. Thereupon the Governor, Sir Hugh Dow,
dismissed him stating in a communique that the Chief Minister had
forfeited his confidence.
Although Allah Buksh never got to
a college, he could express himself in simple and effective
English. Once Sir Hugh Dow minuted on a file sent to him by the
Minister-in-charge of forests. “Does the Hon’ble Minister realise
the scandalous impropriety of his proposal?” The proposal, if
approved, would have entitled the Minister to get more forest land
on lease. The Minister protested at the Governor’s minute and
Allah Buksh supported his protests adding ’His Excellency should
not abuse his Ministers’, Sir Hugh Dow’s reply was that his
remarks were not abusive and he regretted that his Ministers did
not understand his English. Allah Buksh retorted “His Excellency
knows that our knowledge of English is poor. He should use such
English as we can easily follow.” The Governor withdrew his
minute.
The removal of Allah Buksh from
the political scene gave a fillip to the Muslim League and the
Pakistan Movement which gathered momentum rapidly. Eventually in
the general elections of 1945-46, the Muslim League captured all
the Muslim seats. Sindh was the only Province where two Provincial
elections were held. The prominent Muslim Leaguers were Sir Ghulam
Hussain Hidayatullah, Sir Abdullah Haroon, Khan Bahadur Muhammad
Ayub Khuhro, Kazi Fazlullah, Mr. Muhammad Hashim Gazdar, Mr. G.M.
Syed (till his revolt), Sheikh Abdul Majid Lilaram, Mir Bundeh Ali
Talpur, Mir Ghulam Ali Talpur and Pir Elahi Buksh.
The law and order situation in
Sindh was under control except when the Hurs revolted against the_
Government for arresting their Pir. He was the premier Pir of
Sindh, known as Pir Pagaro. The Hurs were not only willing but
eager to lay down their lives to uphold the honour of their Pir.
When he was hanged under the orders of the Martial Law
Administrator, General Richardson, for waging war against the King
Emperor, the Hurs committed several acts of violence and sabotage
and it took the Government a long time to bring them under
control. The Hurs are a bold and courageous people and gave a very
good account of themselves in the unfortunate and unnecessary Wars
between India and Pakistan in 1965 and 1971.
On 1st of September, 1941, I was
appointed Provincial Press Adviser for Sindh and Special Press
Advisor for Karachi city, in addition to my own duties. The system
of Press Advisor worked well in Sindh throughout the War. The
Chief Press Advisor for India was Desmond Young - former Editor of
the “Pioneer”. He was succeeded by Kichner of the Statesman. The
Press Instructions of War issued by the Government of India under
the Defence of India Rules were clear and concise. A Press
Advisory Committee of five editors was set up which was elected by
the editors themselves. Since the number of papers owned and
edited by the Hindus far outnumbered the Muslim papers or editors,
there was only one Muslim editor on the Advisory Committee, Haji
Naziruddin Babar, editor of an Urdu daily “Hayat”.
The Convener of the Advisory
Committee and its most vocal member was Punniah, Editor of the
“Sindh Observer”. He was an extremist in many ways but he did not
transgress the press instructions for War. We used to meet very
frequently and sometimes daily as the news from the War front
demanded. There was every effort to appreciate each other’s point
of view and, on the whole, we got on very well. Since the editors
worked on their desks at night, I could never sleep undisturbed as
they rang me up whenever they were in doubt about the publication
of a particular news item.
My reward was the generous terms
in which my services were appreciated in the editorials of the
Karachi dailies, dated May 14, 1943, the “Daily Gazette”, dated
May 29, 1943, the “Sindh Herald”, dated June 3, 1943, and the
“Muslim Voice” dated June 23, 1943. K. Punniah, Editor of “The
Sindh Observer” which had the largest circulation among the
English dailies, communicated to me the resolution passed by the
Sindh Advisory Committee at its meeting held on the 29th May 1943,
which read as follows:
The Sindh Provincial Press
Advisory Committee places on record its sense of appreciation of
the services rendered to the Newspaper Press of Sindh by its
Provincial Press Advisor, S.H. Raza, I.C.S., who, by his uniform
courtesy, willingness to be of help rather understanding strove to
bring about cordial relations between the Government of Sindh and
the Press of the Province. The Committee, in communicating this
Resolution to the Government, ventures to express the hope that
the excellent precedents set up by the Retiring Press Advisor will
continue to mark the relations between the Press and the
Government.
The Sindh Journalists’ Association
gave me a farewell address on May 9, 1943. “The Sindh Observer” in
its issue of May 30, 1943, reported the proceedings in full as in
Appendix I. Here is an extract:
A largely attended function came
off last evening when the Sindh Journalists’ Association
entertained S.H. Raza, the Provincial Home Secretary at the
Assembly Restaurant on the occasion of his transfer as Collector
of Larkana.
Sir Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah;
Premier, Gazdar; the Home Minister, K.B. Khuhro; Revenue Minister,
R.S. Gokaldas; P.W.D. Minister, Dr. Hemandas R. Wadhwani; Minister
for Health, Jamshed Nusserwanji; Seth Manoobhai Doongersee, R.B.
Shivratan Mohatta, Hatim Alavi, Dr. Rochiram Amesur, Hoshang N.E.
Dinshaw, J. Salden, Allahbux Ansari, B.R. Patel, Ishwaran, C. I.
Conrad of the United States Office of War Information, Yousuf
Haroon, Kazi and Feroze Nana were among those present at the
function.
Refreshments over, K. Punniah,
President of the Association, felicitating Raza, said:
I thank you on behalf of the Sindh
Journalists’ Association for giving us the pleasure of your
company this evening at this small social function. It is
arranged, as you know, to say good-bye to S.H. Raza, our
Provincial Press Advisor, on the occasion of his leaving Karachi
to take up the Collectorship of Larkana to enjoy what is said to
be in service circles a higher job, where he will be cock of his
own walk, and is not bothered by discussions in the Press Advisory
Committee nor has he to attend on the Ministers and the Chief
Secretary day in and day out. Although the heat may be
intolerable, the change of scene, let us hope, will be quite
welcome to him.
This is the first occasion when
the Sindh Journalists’ Association has thought it fit to honour an
Officer of the Government with whom it came in close contact
during nearly three years; and I don’t think it would have held
this function but for the high esteem in which it held Raza, and
it would have failed in its duty had it not expressed publicly its
sense of appreciation of the services rendered to Government and
the Press by the Provincial Press Advisor.
The “Muslim Voice”, dated June 12,
1943, published editorial comments reproduced below:
Mr. Syed Hashim Raza, the popular
Press Advisor of Sindh, has relinquished his charge. During the
last three years that he had been here, his connections with the
Fourth Estate had been very cordial. It was not very easy to
advise, guide, and, at times, control War-time journalism in a
province like Sindh, which enjoyed unenviable reputation for the
instability of its Governments and uncertainties of its official
policies. But Mr. Raza’s smiles had accomplished what all the
provisions of the Defence of India Act combined would not always
have achieved. He believed in appealing to all that was best in
the human nature and never for a moment relied on his powers.
Rarely, did there arise an occasion when he had to perform the
unpleasant task of taking legal action against a paper. But in
every case, it was the incorrigibility of the offending journal
that forced him to do so and not his own tendency to exert his
wide powers. In the other field of his activities, namely the
National War Front, also his career was equally glorious. He
himself was perhaps the best public speaker that the National War
Front in Sindh had. The cordiality of his relations with the Press
had secured to the War Front a measure of help from the Press
which it would not have been possible for it to get otherwise. It
was in Sindh, and on his account, that the papers allotted very
large space to the propaganda stuff. Even the hostile press could
not refuse or resist his persuasions. He has, beyond doubt,
established standards which it will not be possible for his
successor to reach without some substantial effort. We bid hearty
farewell to him and say with the poet:
Different are the tastes of
meetings and partings,
Let there be thousand meetings,
hundred thousand partings.
The Editor of the paper was Pir
Ali Muhammad Rashdi, an astute politician who rose to be the
Revenue Minister of Sindh and Central Minister for Information and
Broadcasting, and a facile writer who edited the “Sindh Observer”
in the post-Independence period.
(Continued)
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