Dada Amir Haider Khan

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Dada Amir Haidar-c1965

Dada Amir Haider Khan (2 March 1900 – 27 December 1989) was a

communist activist of Pakistan, and revolutionary during the Indian independence movement.[1][2][3]

Biography

Dada Amir Haidar around 1980

Dada Amir Haider Khan was born in 1900 in a remote village called

Bombay as a coal-boy on a ship. He later transferred to the United States Merchant Marine in 1918. It became apparent later that he joined both institutions to be able to travel all over the world so he could do some practical learning and gain some first-hand experiences of the world on his own and judge the real-world circumstances for himself. Consequently, he worked at dockyards and storehouses and became very street-smart.[1]

At this time, he met Joseph Mulkane, an Irish nationalist who introduced him to anti-British political ideas.

During his stay in USA, he was subjected to racist harassment and segregation attitudes when attempting to learn how to fly a plane in Southern Illinois, according to his memoirs.[4]

In 1920, he met Indian nationalists and

Ghadar Party members in New York City
. He started distributing ‘Ghadar ki Goonj’ to Indians in sea ports around the world.

He was dismissed from the ship after the great post-war strike of

Bombay. He also started to organise the workers of the textile industry in Bombay.[1][3]

In March 1929, he escaped arrest in the Meerut Conspiracy Case[1] and made his way to Moscow to inform the Communist International (Comintern) on the situation in India and seek their assistance.

Dada attended the International Trade Union (Profintern) Congress as member of the presidium and also attended the 16th Congress of the CPSU in 1930. After his return to Bombay, he was sent to Madras to avoid arrest as still he was wanted in the Meerut Conspiracy Case. He carried on the political work all over South India under the pseudonym of Shankar. He also set up the

Young Workers League
.

In 1932, he was arrested by the British for bringing out a pamphlet praising the Bhagat Singh Trio and sent to Muzzafargarh jail, then transferred to Ambala jail. He had been labeled as the most dangerous individual by the British authorities.[1] When he was released in 1938, he started open public political activity in Bombay. The left wing of Congress elected him to the Indian National Congress (INC)'s Bombay Provincial Committee. He also attended the INC Annual General meeting in Ramgarh, Bihar.

He was re-arrested in 1939 as

Second World War broke out.[1] Later interned in Nashik jail where Dada wrote the first part of his memoirs. In 1942, he was the last of the Communists to be released after People’s War thesis. He worked for the Trade Union in Mumbai. He also attended the Natrakona (Mymansingh) All India Kisan Sabha
in 1944.

Dada arrived in Rawalpindi on the eve of the

Hindu families during the independence
riots in 1947.

In 1949, Dada was arrested from the Party office in Rawalpindi under the Communal Act and released after 15 months. He got re-arrested after a few months from Rawalpindi Kutchery (Rawalpindi court) for organizing the defense of

Pakistan Times and Daily Imroze
, but restricted to his village. He was shifted to Rawalpindi, when suspected influencing the military soldiers from his area.

In 1958, when General

Ayub Khan imposed martial law in Pakistan, Dada was arrested and interned in Rawalpindi jail with Afzal Bangash
, Kaka Sanober and other comrades.

Dada spent his twilight years in the 1970s and 1980s in Rawalpindi, but whenever he found the time, he used to visit Lahore to meet his intimate friend Hussain Baksh Malang. He donated his own land, and with his own labour, built a boys' high school in his village, then built a girls school together with a science laboratory. These schools were later approved by the government and placed under government control.

Death and legacy

Dada Amir Haider Khan died on 27 December 1989 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.[2]

There is hardly any book available that describes and records for the future generations the experiences of an Indian and events of his time (early 20th century) from a progressive viewpoint. Dada discusses

Madras, Cape Town, Buenos Aires, Baltimore, Naples, Trinidad, Port of Spain, Yokohama and Moscow of his youthful days in a candid manner in his memoirs.[3]

A seminar was held in Karachi, in December 2008, to eulogise the role of this revolutionary. The seminar highlighted how Dada Amir Haider Khan played a role in spreading communist revolution across the world even though he and other communists like him have been banned from the history books of Pakistan. This seminar was organised by the University of Karachi's 'Pakistan Studies Centre'.[2][5]

Bibliography

  • Chains to Lose: Life and Struggles of a Revolutionary : Memoirs of Dada Amir Haider Khan, Hassan Gardezi, Patriot Publishers, 1989.
    ISBN 81-7050-097-4.[2]
  • Chains to Lose: Dada Amir Haider. Edited by Hasan.N.Gardezi. Pakistan Study Centre, Karachi University, 2007. (Two Volumes).[1][3]
  • Bengali Harlem and the lost histories of South Asian America, Vivek Bald, Harvard University Press, 2013.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Sarwat Ali (9 March 2008). "Strands of freedom". The News International (newspaper). Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e KARACHI: Memoirs of a global revolutionary Dawn (newspaper), Published 6 December 2008, Retrieved 31 October 2020
  3. ^ a b c d e Muhammad Ali Siddiqui (4 January 2008). "BOOK REVIEW: A Revolutionary's Tale". Academy of the Punjab in North America (APNA) website. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  4. ^ a b Vivek Bald (2013). Bengali Harlem and the lost histories of South Asian America. Harvard University Press. p. 153.
  5. ^ Celebrating legendary revolutionaries: Activists vow to continue struggle The Express Tribune (newspaper), Published 1 May 2016, Retrieved 31 October 2020
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