Karim Ghani
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Karim Ghani (
Activities in Burma
Karim Gani was the editor of Tamil and Burmese newspapers in Burma. He was the secretary of the Youth League of the Chulia Association and was elected to the legislative Assembly of Burma in 1932 and to the House of Representatives in 1936.[2] His name was included in the list of persons “to be arrested immediately” in the British Intelligence report.[3] Before the Second World War Karim Ghani was a parliamentary secretary in Burma under Dr. Ba Maw.
Activities in Malaya
During
Maria Hertogh Riots
The
After the riot, the police set up a special investigation unit which detained 778 people, among them Karim Ghani, who was arrested along with several members of the Nadra Action Committee and held at the detention camp on Saint John's Island for 15 months under Emergency Regulation 20 for his part in the riots before being released on grounds of poor health.
Maria was represented by David Marshal a prominent lawyer from Singapore who in his later years had to remark, " if this case would have been heard in any other circumstances the verdict would have been otherwise" He was referring to the last hurrah of the British who wanted to salvage their Christian pride by admonishing the weak Malay Muslim populace.[neutrality is disputed]
In the riots that followed many people were killed and many a Muslims who abetted the rioters were charged. Among them were many Tamil Muslim leaders who were sentenced to be hanged. These Tamil Muslim traders were the Islamic icons for the newly independent Malaya.
All of the convicted were released, but the British fearing Ghani's stature and activism in the Malayan community, wanted him out of the colonial territory. Being an Indian national, Ghani was offered to the Indian government by the British but they refused, noting his record and due to the ongoing election period. Bashir Mallal made contact with some of his associates in Pakistan after which Inamullah Khan, Secretary General of World Muslim Congress, formally invited him to Karachi. He restarted his career as a publisher in Karachi. His activism found few takers in the new country at that time. He continued to be critical of British and their policies. He is said to have died in Pakistan, not long after. Exact date is not known but according to Haji Maideen he died between the year 1952 and 1960.
References
- Malay press and Malay politics: The Hertogh Riots in Singapore.N Hussin - Asia Europe Journal, 2005.
- The End of Empire and the Making of Malaya By Timothy Norman Harper.
- Tangled Worlds: The Story of Maria Hertogh By Tom Eames Hughes.
- Unto Him a Witness: The Story of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in East Asia By S A Ayer.