Forum Pakistan

Hidayatullah, Ghulam Husain, Sir (1879-1948)
Statesman. Sir Ghulam Husain was born in Shikarpur and had his early education from Shikarpur High School and then went on to the Sindh Madrasah. He graduated from D.J. College, Karachi in 1901and took his LLB from Government Law School, Bombay, in 1903. In 1904, He was elected Vice-President of the Hyderabad Municipality and was the first non-official President of the Hyderabad Local Board. As a member of the Bombay Legislative Council (1912-20), he gave evidence before the Royal Commission on Public Services.

Sir Ghulam Husain Hidayatullah was nominated to the Bombay Legislative Council in 1923 and was a member of the Governor's Executive Council from 1928, later its Vice-President. He was made Knight Commander of the Star of India in 1933. As a delegate to the *Round Table Conference, he strongly pleaded for the separation of *Sindh from Bombay. Sir Ghulam Husain was nominated member of the Council of State (June to December 1934) and in 1935 he became a member of the Independent Party led by M.A. *Jinnah, at which time he was a member of the Indian Legislative Council.

After the 1937 provincial elections, Sir Ghulam Husain became the first Chief Minister of Sindh but soon his government was defeated by a combination of G.M. *Syed, Khan Bahadur Allah Bux Soornro and Congress Legislators. Sir Ghulam Husain Hidayatullah rejoined the AIML in 1938 and attended the October 1938 Sindh Muslim League Session held at the Eidgah Maidan, Karachi.

After endorsing the Sindh Muslim League Resolution on the division of India, he left the AIML the next year to join the cabinet of Allah Bux Soornro and denounced the 23 March 1940 Resolution. Sir Ghulam Husain rejoined the AIML in 1942, forming a new cabinet on 22 October and in 1943, he supported the resolution tabled by G.M. Syed that upheld the principles of the *Lahore' Resolution. In 1945, he was a delegate to the Simla Conference.

At tbe advent of the 1945-46 elections, tbe differences between Sir Ghulam Husain Hidayatullah as Chief Minister of Sindh and G.M. Syed as President Sindh Muslim League ultimately led to the expulsion of tbe latter from the AIML. After the foundation of Pakistan, he was appointed Governor of Sindh. He was in office wben he died.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: D.A. Pirzada, 'Growth of Muslim Nationalism in Sindh. Interview Ghazanfar Hidayatullah', Quaid-i-Azam Papers, IsLamabad.