Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

A martyr

Sir, — The Hindu deserves to be congratulated for publishing Anil Nauriya's article on "Allah Baksh" ( May 14 ), reviving the memory of that martyr of Sind and Hind.

Allah Baksh, as Prime Minister of Sind, made waves by organising an Azad Muslim Conference in Delhi in 1940. He was not a formal Congressman, but he used to wear "khader" and used to carry "khader" on his shoulder and sell it in Karachi. When the "Quit India" movement started, he renounced his titles of `Khan Bahadur' and OBE. He said that if enough women offered satyagraha, he would requisition a bungalow on Clifton Beach — Karachi's posh area — and keep them there. The Britishers dismissed him and, soon after, he was mysteriously murdered. A couple of years back I was in Pakistan. Allah Baksh's nephew was the Speaker of the Pakistani National Assembly. I asked him who had got Allah Baksh killed. He said in one word, "Goras" (the whites i.e., the British).

Shahid Allah Baksh deserves to have a postage stamp in India — and a portrait in Parliament.

Nor may we forget the pre-Independence Prime Minister, Sikander Hayat Khan of Punjab and Prime Minister Fazl-ul-Huq of Bengal. They joined the Muslim League at the Viceroy's instance, but they were nationalists at heart.

K.R. Malkani,

Pondicherry

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