Archief G.M. Sayed
Period
1926-1992
(-1996)
Total size
0.48 m.
Consultation
Not restricted
Biography
Born in Sann, Sindh, British India (Pakistan) 1904, died in 1995; politician and author; at an early age, and already active in local politics, Sayed became president of the Karachi District Local Board in 1929; member of the Sindh Legislative Assembly in 1937; joined the All-India Muslim League in 1938; disassociated himself from the Muslim League in 1946; founder of the Progressive Muslim League and after the creation of Pakistan in 1947, of the Pakistan Peoples Party which was prohibited within three months; in the 1950s he was involved in the formation of the Pakistan National Party; disappointed in national politics at the end of the 1960s, he founded the Jiy-e-Sindh movement.
Content
Collection from Ahmad Saleem of the Gohar Research Institute of Pakistan (GRIP) in Lahore consisting of letters to Sayed by Qazi Faiz Muhammad 1946-1972 and some other correspondence 1949, 1957, n.d.; documents on politics in Sindh, including documents relating to the Sindh Muslim League 1926, 1936, 1938-1946, n.d.; documents concerning his temporary release from prison in 1959; manuscript of `The Case for Sindh. G.M. Sayed's Deposition for the Court' [1992].
Correspondence by Sayed and others 1928-1968; documents relating to the Sindh Legislative Assembly 1937, 1943, 1953-1954; the Sindh Assembly Coalition Party 1946; the National Awami Party 1955-1958 and other political organizations; documents on Hindu-Muslim relations in Sindh 1928-1940; documents concerning Sayed's detention 1970-1971 and on subsequent restrictions 1972-1985; copies of articles, some of them by Sayed 1929-1996.
Processing information
Preliminary list made by Ahmad Saleem, Tiny de Boer and Jaap Haag
INTRODUCTION
Ghulam Murtaza
Sayed
(also written as Syed) was born at Sann, a village in the Dadu
District of Sindh in former India, now Pakistan on 17. January 1904.
His
father was
Sayed Muhammad Shah Kazmi
, who died when Sayed
was little more than one year old. He didn't visit a school, but by
self-education he attained full mastery not only over Sindhi and English, but
also over Urdu. Moreover he mastered history, philosophy and political science.
At the early age of fourteen he went into politics and became President
of the Local Board of his own Thesil. Subsequently, he was elected Vice
President of the Karachi District Local Board and became its President in 1929.
The following year he organized the Hari Conference.
He was elected as a
member of the Sindh Legislative Assembly in 1937. In 1938 he joined the
All-India Muslim League
. In 1940 he became Minister of
Education in Sindh. In 1941 he became one of the members of the Central
Committee of the Muslim League and in 1943 he became President of the
Sindh Muslim League
.
He played a crucial role in 1944
when he succeeded in getting passed the resolution in the Sindh Assembly in
favour of Pakistan. This was the pioneer resolution of its kind in the
undivided India. When conditions compelled him to disassociate from the Muslim
League in 1946, he created a new party named
Progressive Muslim
League
. The same year he was elected as leader of the Coalition
Party in the Sindh Assembly.
After the separation from India and the
creation of Pakistan in 1947 he founded the
Pakistan Peoples
Party
in 1948, which however was declared unlawful within three
months. In 1954 he acted as Chairman of the Sindhi Abadi Board. The following
year he played an active part in the formation of the
Pakistan
National Party
.
In 1966 he founded the
Soofis
Society
in Sindh. In 1969 he formed the
Sindh United
Front
, but after being disappointed from national politics, he
founded the
Jiy-e-Sindh movement
which was known as the
movement to achieve Sindhu Desh. Sayed was the author of more than sixty books.
His books are dealing with numerous subjects, ranging from literature to
politics, religion and culture. For the bold assertion of his ideas, after the
creation of Pakistan, he has been kept either in jail or in solitary
confinement for the period of more than 30 years. He died in 1995 at the age of
91.
His papers were received by the IISH in 1997 and 1998 from
Ahmad Saleem
of the
Gohar Research Institute of
Pakistan (GRIP)
in Lahore, who did the description of the documents
in Urdu.