Forum Pakistan

Haroon, Abdullah, Sir (1872-1942) Statesman. Abdullah Haroon was orphaned at the age of four. He was admitted to a Gujarati vernacular school in Karachi but had to discontinue his studies. It was only after he had begun supporting his family financially that he took admission to the *Sindh Madrassatul-Islam in 1887 but again had to leave in 1888. Joining the office of his brother-in-law in 1887, by 1896, he was able to start his own business. By 1932 he was one of India's leading business magnates. The same year, he was nominated as a delegate to the Imperial Economic Conference at Ottawa and was knighted. Sir Abdullah Haroon entered public life in 1913, when he was elected to the Karachi Municipal Committee. In 1917, he joined both the Indian National Congress and the * All-India Muslim League, which were then allies. By 1918, he was in the thick of the Khilafat Movement, becoming in 1919 President of the Sindh Provincial *Kbilafat Committee. In 1920, he launched the Sindh journal Alwaheed. He remained President of the Sindh Khilafat Committee up until 1924. In 1927, he became President of the Central Khilafat Committee.

In 1923, Sir Abdullah Haroon was elected to the Bombay Legislative Council and in 1926 he was elected to the Indian Legislative Council. He took an active part in the All-India Muslim Conference, becoming its President in 1929 and in 1935. Sir Abdullah Haroon consistently advocated the separation of Sindh from Bombay. Sir Abdullah Haroon's most important political role came in October 1938, when he organized and presided over the Sindh Muslim League Conference at Karachi, at which the entire All-India Muslim League leadership, including M.A. *Jinnah, were present. Sir Abdullah proposed the division of India between Hindu and Muslim Federations. The Karachi Resolution formed the basis of the *Lahore Resolution. In 1939, Sir Abdullah Haroon became the President of the Sindh Muslim League and organized a large number of branches in the province.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Muhammad Ali Shaikh, 'Luminaries of the Land', Karachi, 1999.