Allah Bux Soomro

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Allah Bakhsh Soomro
)
Sir Ghulam Hussain Hidayat Ullah
Personal details
Born1900
Sind Ittehad Party
SpouseSahib Khatoon
ChildrenRahim Bux, Hyder Bux, Abdul Samad, Razia, Safia, Afroze, Qudsia and Saeeda
Professiongovernment contractor, politician

Allah Bux Muhammad Umar Soomro (

independent, united India.[1][2] He was referred to as Shaheed or "martyr
".

Allah Bux Soomro was born in 1900 in

All India Muslim League, in 1943.[3][4] Soomro had three sons and five daughters.[5]

Early life

Allah Bux Soomro was born in the family fief of Shikarpur in northern

matriculation examinations in 1918 and joined his father's contract business.[7] His father was famous contractor and businessman in the region.[5]

Career

Soomro joined politics at an early age and was elected to the Jacobabad municipality in 1923.[7] In 1928, he was elected as a member of local board at Sukkur district, and later became its president in 1930. In 1931, he was granted the title of 'little Khan Bahadur'.[5]

Tenure as premier

Soomro served as the

Chief Minister of Sindh
for two terms, starting from March 23, 1938, to April 18, 1940, and March 7, 1941, to October 14, 1942, and held the portfolios of finance, excise, and industries.

Allah Bux Soomro's Cabinet (March 23, 1938 – April 18, 1940)
Minister Portfolio
Allah Bux Soomro Home, Finance
Pir Ilahi Bux Revenue
Nichaldas C. Vazirani Public Works Department, Public Health, Medical
Allah Bux Soomro's Cabinet (March 7, 1941 – October 14, 1942)
Allah Bux Soomro Finance
Ghulam Hussain Hidayat Ullah
 Home, Parliamentary Affairs, Law
Pir Ilahi Bux Education, Industries, Labour, Excise, Forest and Rural Development
R. S. Gokaldas Mewaldas Local Government and Agriculture
Pirzada Abdul Sattar Public Works Department, Medical, Public Health

Soon after taking over as

Chief Minister of Sindh, Soomro overruled the banishment of Ubaidullah Sindhi, thereby allowing him to return to his homeland.[8] He reduced the salary of ministers to Rs.500 per month and prohibited the practice of nominating members to local bodies.[8]

Soomro also introduced reforms in religion. In 1938, he prohibited Ziwal-Haj.

Brahma Kumari organisation.[8]

Ziwal-Haj controversy

In 1934, a

Balochistan
.

The Manzilgah controversy

Bombay
and Sind comprising the northern division of Bombay and the Commissionerate of Sind

Manzilgah was the name of a couple of old buildings near the

M. A. Khuhro and Sir Abdullah Haroon forcibly occupied Manzilgah from October 3, 1939, to November 19, 1939.[8] The government, initially, tried to quell the movement through the use of force.[10] However, when the tactic proved unsuccessful, the government yielded and allowed Muslims to pray in Manzilgah.[10]

At about the same time, the Sufi poet, Bhagat Kanwar Ram was assassinated.[8] Communal riots broke out in Sukkur and there was a total strike which lasted 15 days.[8] In November 1939, the Sind Hindu Provincial Conference, presided over by Dr. Moonje of the Hindu Mahasabha threatened Muslims with retaliation if the mosque was not recovered by the government.[10] While some sources claim that 17 Muslims and 40 Hindus were killed in the riots[11] another claims that the toll of Hindus killed was over 60.[8]

A compromise was reached in February 1941, when Manzilgah was handed over to Muslims but not before the Muslims had agreed not to obstruct the playing of music in the nearby Saadha Belo temple. Leaders of the Muslim League later admitted "that the Manzilgah issue was a bogus (hathradoo) agitation, staged just to topple Allah Bux."[8]

Tenure as president of the All India Azad Muslim Conference

Soomro replying to Syed on Jinnah's ideology

"Mr. Jinnah's view that the country should be divided because the Muslims are a separate nation on the basis of religion is not acceptable to me because this ideology is Un-Islamic, archaic and against all modern principles of nationalism."

G. M. Syed, The case of Sindh, p. 203

Allah Baksh Soomro founded the

opposed the partition of India.[1][2]

Allah Baksh Soomro stated that “No power on earth can rob anyone of his faith and convictions, and no power on earth shall be permitted to rob Indian Muslims of their just rights as Indian nationals.”[12] He proclaimed that the very concept of "The Muslims as a separate nation in India on the basis of their religion, is un-Islamic."[13]

On 27 April 1940, over 1400 delegates participated in Delhi session of the All India Azad Muslim Conference, which Allah Bakhsh Soomro presided over.[1] The Canadian orientalist Wilfred Cantwell Smith remarked that those presented represented the ‘majority of India’s Muslims’.[2]

Later life

In 1940, a no-confidence motion was passed against Allah Bux Soomro.[8] The Indian National Congress joined hands with the Muslim League and voted against him.[8] Following the dismissal of his government, Soomro appointed member of the National Defence Council in which he served till 1942, when the Quit India Movement was started.[14] In September 1942, Soomro renounced his knighthood and the Khan Bahadur title which the British government had bestowed upon him.[8][15] He also resigned from the National Defence Council.[8]

Allah Bux Soomro was briefly elected back to power in March 1941 and served as Premier for about a year.[8] However, he was dismissed by the Governor due to his support for the Quit India Movement.[8]

Assassination

Allah Bux Soomro was assassinated on May 14, 1943, while he was travelling in a

All India Muslim League.[3][4]

Legacy and analysis

Political analysts, such as

united India.[17]

Shaheed Allah Bux Soomro University of Art, Design and Heritage in Jamshoro is named after Allah Bux Soomro.[18]

His son, Rahim Bux Soomro, was a politician in Pakistan. His nephew, Elahi Bux Soomro, was the speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan and a Veteran Politician. His grandson, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, served as member of senate and later as minister of finance in Pakistan.[19][20]

Notes

  1. ^
    ISBN 9788171004324
    . Within five weeks of the passage of the Pak resolution, an assembly of nationalist Muslims under the name of the Azad Muslim Conference was convened in Delhi. The Conference met under the presidentship of Khan Bahadur Allah Bakhsh, the then Chief Minister of Sind.
  2. ^ a b c Ahmed, Ishtiaq (27 May 2016). "The dissenters". The Friday Times. However, the book is a tribute to the role of one Muslim leader who steadfastly opposed the Partition of India: the Sindhi leader Allah Bakhsh Soomro. Allah Bakhsh belonged to a landed family. He founded the Sindh People's Party in 1934, which later came to be known as 'Ittehad' or 'Unity Party'. ... Allah Bakhsh was totally opposed to the Muslim League's demand for the creation of Pakistan through a division of India on a religious basis. Consequently, he established the Azad Muslim Conference. In its Delhi session held during April 27–30, 1940 some 1400 delegates took part. They belonged mainly to the lower castes and working class. The famous scholar of Indian Islam, Wilfred Cantwell Smith, feels that the delegates represented a 'majority of India's Muslims'. Among those who attended the conference were representatives of many Islamic theologians and women also took part in the deliberations.
  3. ^ a b Raj, Nishant (6 May 2016). "The Forgotten Story Of Allah Bux Soomro, India's Hero Who Strongly Opposed The '2 Nation' Theory". ScoopWhoop. On 14th May 1943, Allah Bux Soomro was assassinated by four men, while he was travelling in a tonga in Shaikarpur. 73 years later, his case still remains unsolved, but it's rumoured that his murder was carried out by members of the Muslim League.
  4. ^ a b Kidwai, Rasheed (7 March 2019). "The Bullies of Partition: How the Muslim League silenced the majority of Indian Muslims strongly opposed to the creation of Pakistan". DailyO. Retrieved 9 March 2019. However, by 1943, Bakhsh was killed — allegedly by League goons.
  5. ^ a b c d "75th death anniversary of Allah Bux Soomro observed". Daily Times. 16 May 2018.
  6. ^ Soomro, Khadim Husain (2001). Allah Bux Soomro: Apostle of Secular Harmony. p. 15. Allah Bux Soomro was a member of the Soomro (Jat) clan of Sindh. The clan held sway over Sindh for more than three centuries after the Ghaznavid period..
  7. ^
    ISBN 978-81-85131-15-3
    .
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t K. R. Malkani (1988). The Sindh Story, Chapter 11: Thrown to the wolves. Allied Publishers. Archived from the original on 2012-06-21. Retrieved 2009-03-12.
  9. ^ Chikmagalur, the more things change, Allah Bux Sumro and the Manzilgah Masjid riots in 1939
  10. ^
    ISBN 978-0-415-22077-4
    .
  11. ISBN 978-0-415-22077-4
    .
  12. ^ Ali, Afsar (17 July 2017). "Partition of India and Patriotism of Indian Muslims". The Milli Gazette.
  13. ^ Malkani, K. R. (1984). The Sindh Story. Allied Publishers. p. 121.
  14. ^ "India and the War". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). July 22, 1941.
  15. ^ Siba Pada Sen (1972). Dictionary of national biography. Institute of Historical Studies. pp. 347.
  16. ^ Anil Nauriya (May 14, 2003). "Allah Baksh versus Savarkar". The Hindu. Archived from the original on January 25, 2013.
  17. ISBN 9789351189497
    . Had Allah Baksh Soomro not been assassinated, the Sindh Assembly would not have supported the Pakistan resolution.
  18. ^ "Sindh Chief Minister Appoints Acting VC For Newly Established Arts University". Urdu Point. 8 September 2020.
  19. ^ "Paying tribute: Sindh remembers the man who fought for its freedom". Express Tribune. 15 May 2014.
  20. ^ "Dr Hafeez's mother laid to rest". Business Recorder. 24 January 2005.

Bibliography

  • Khadim Husain Soomro (2001). Allah Bux Soomro: Apostle of Secular Harmony. Sain Publishers.
  • Shamsul Islam (2015). Muslims Against Partition. Pharos Media & Publishing PvtLtd.

External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Sir Ghulam Hussain Hidayat Ullah
 Chief Minister of Sindh
23 March 1938 – 18 April 1940 		Succeeded by
Preceded by 2nd term
7 March 1941 – 14 October 1942 		Succeeded by
Sir Ghulam Hussain Hidayat Ullah
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