Mir Ali Ahmed was only 16 years old when his father Mir Hajji Nabi Baksh Khan expired in 1931. He shouldered his responsibility as head of family against great odds and these struggles tempered him for the future political role he took on, making him the role model for his younger brother Mir Rasool Baksh Khan who in his own right had an immense impact on politics in Sindh.
The religious leaders of that time were of a different breed altogether
Mir Ali Ahmed joined the anti-colonial Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind in 1936 and was closely associated with the great Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi who was often his guest. Conferences were held at his residence in Hyderabad. The religious leaders of that time were of a different breed altogether. Mir Sahib told me that during his early Khaksar Tehreek days, he along with Syed Shah Mohammad Shah and Haji Maula Baksh Soomro, went to meet Maulana Hussain Ahmad Madni in Delhi and were shown into his simple hujra where he sat on a small rug. When he saw them he got up and offered them the rug to sit on. They naturally refused, but an aide of the Maulana said ‘al amar fawk ul adab’ meaning ‘order has precedence over respect’ so they had to sit on the rug while Maulana Sahib sat on the floor. As they prepared to leave Maulana Sahib himself set their shoes right for them to wear. Such grace and humility is not only unheard of but unimaginable in today’s leaders, secular or religious.
Mir sahib and ZA Bhutto 1968
Allama Mashriqui at Badshahi Mosque. Mir Ali Ahmed on the right with hand in coat pocket. 8-1-1943
Mir Sahib was hardly twenty when he became Chairman of “Tahreek-e-Ahiyae Millat” which had personages like Maulvi Fazal Ahmed Ghaznavi and Allah Baksh Ukaili Sahibs. When the Pirs of Luari (Badin Disttrict.) started a ritual which coincided with Hajj, Mir Sahib along with Maulvi Ahmad Mallah who versified the Holy Quran in Sindhi without using a word with a nukta in it, and Maulvi Khair Mohammad Nizamani one of the pioneers of Sindhi journalism, opposed and put a stop to it.
In 1939 he was unanimously elected unopposed to the Presidency of the Local Board in Hyderabad. Mir Sahib joined the Khaksar Tahreek around 1939 when Allama Inayatullah Mashriqi, the first Mathematics Wrangler in the sub-continent who opted for politics instead of the Physics lab, personally came to invite him. Mir Sahib was the Salar-e-Aala for Sindh, Bihar and Balochistan and was incarcerated a couple of times for his anti-British speeches.
GM Syed Sahib once talking about the Khaksar days narrated that at a 1943 meeting in Kotri, Mir Sahib while condemning the hanging of Pir Pagara made such an impassioned anti-British speech that the policemen there came and presented their caps and belts saying they would no longer serve the British. Mir Sahib often said that he was the only person who had arranged a meeting to condemn this injustice.
With Faiz and Faraz
When Allama Mashriqui was incarcerated in February 1941 Mir Ali Ahmed became the acting head of the Tehreek for the 22 months that Allama was in jail. In 1944 Allama in an open letter accused Mir Sahib of forming Fidayeen-e-Ameer and associating with subversive elements in Sindh which led to Mir Sahib’s gradual distancing from the Tehreek.
Mir Sahib then joined the Indian National Congress and agitated for an independent India. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Dr Zakir Hussain were among his friends and mentors, inspired by whom he contested the 1945 elections against Miran Mohammad Shah but lost.
1938 the Mir Baradari boycotted him because he fraternized with the masses, breaking established norms by seating haaris on chairs
Mir Sahib was a social rebel as well. In 1938 the Mir Baradari boycotted him because he fraternized with the masses, breaking established norms by seating haaris on chairs. The Mirs, initially at odds with him, later not only accepted his practice but also him as a leader. Mir Sahib had opposed Pakistan in favour of a united India. He could have chosen the easier and beneficial option of supporting the British but that was against his grain. Once Pakistan was formed Mir Sahib gave it his unstinted support. Mir Sahib was jailed by the Martial Law Court for six months in 1970 but remained Defence Minister of Pakistan from 1978 to 1985. He died in April 1987.
Rasool Bakhsh and Faiz Sahib 1955
Mir Sahib was not only a politician but an erudite person with a love for literature. Josh Malihabadi was among his friends and once after a domestic dispute he lived for some days at our Karachi house. Once when Josh Sahib and many of his friends were at our house, he asked all to recite their favorite couplets. When Mir Sahib recited his choice Josh Sahib highly impressed said, “Mir Sahib you are ‘Nabbad-e-Sukhun”. Upon this Mir Sahib requested him to put it in writing, giving him his autobiography on which Josh inscribed the same.
My uncle, Mir Rasool Baksh Khan entered politics before partition and as a true representative of the masses began his politics with support for Trade Unions and workers. He soon made enemies among the new ruling classes and was arrested in 1951 and again in 1953 for his support for the rights of the downtrodden. Mir Sahib was in Suhrawardy Sahib’s Awami League for some time. His friendship with Faiz Ahmed Faiz and others accused in the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case, including Major Atta and Zafarullah Poshni, dates from the time of their incarceration in Hyderabad. On his visit in 1982 Faiz Sahib was Mir Rasool Bakhsh Khan Sahib’s guest who was a Senior Minister of Sindh at the time. When Faiz Sahib was stopped from leaving Pakistan as his name was on the Exit Control List, Mir Sahib personally intervened with Zia ul Haq, allowing Faiz Sahib to leave. Mir Sahib died on May 1st the same year
Mir Rasool Bakhsh was intrepid in both politics and personal life. When three relatives of Nawab Nauroz Khan were hanged in Hyderabad Jail on July 15th, 1960, he received their bodies, had required rituals performed, and transported them to their ancestral place. People then in awe of Martial Law feared repercussions but Mir Sahib never gave these things a second thought.
In 1964 when Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah decided to be the opposition’s Presidential candidate and came to Hyderabad her welcome was arranged by Mir Rasool Bakhsh, and she stayed at their place, as did Maulana Bhashani and some other opposition leaders. Mir Sahib had an 18 feet tall replica of a lantern, the election symbol of Fatima Jinnah’s party atop his house which was visible from far.
After Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's estrangement with Ayub no one in Sindh was willing to play host to him
After Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s estrangement with Ayub no one in Sindh was willing to play host to him. He came to Hyderabad in November 1966 and wanted to stay in Hotel Orient but was told there was no vacancy; ironically he had inaugurated it a few years before. He then came to Mir Rasool Bakhsh to condole his mother’s death. Hearing that he had been refused by the hotel, Mir Sahib invited him to be their guest and he accepted. This angered Ayub Khan and Mir Sahib was jailed for six months.
The convention for the formation of the Pakistan People’s Party was held in Mir Sahib’s garden, however later there was a falling out between them. Mir Rasool Bakhsh resigned as Governor of Sindh on February 13th, 1973 when the Sindh ministers accused Mir Ali Ahmed of involvement in the Iraqi Embassy arms fund. Both Mir Sahibans were jailed by Bhutto in 1977.
