Yusuf Haroon

Muhammad Yusuf Abdullah Haroon (Urdu: یوسف ہارون) ( 1916– 12 Feb 2011) was a politician from Sindh, Pakistan.

Early Life

He was the eldest son of Sir Haji Abdullah Haroon, he worked closely with Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah as his personal assistant and was active in the Pakistan Movement.^[1] Yusuf Haroon was a witness to All-India Muslim League’s 25th session in Allahabad in 1930.

Career

A seasoned politician, Yusuf’s involvement in politics spanned nearly seven decades. He served as mayor of Pre-independence Karachi (May 10, 1944, to May 8, 1945),^[2] Chief Minister of Sindh (1949–50), Governor of West Pakistan (1969) and a Federal minister. He was also a former high commissioner to Australia. In addition, he worked briefly as chief editor, Daily Dawn newspaper in 1966. After settling down in New York a long time ago, he served as an executive of the now defunct Pan Am Airlines before retiring.

As chief minister of Sindh, Yusuf Haroon piloted a bill for land reform to abolish large land holdings, although the move was thwarted by fellow politicians. When the bill failed to pass, he resigned from his position as chief minister. Among many other things, he will be remembered for releasing Masood Khadarposh’s dissenting note in the 'xHari Commission report.

Foundation of Newspaper

Yusuf Haroon was a founding member of the Dawn newspaper. In 1946, when Yusuf was in New Delhi to attend a constituent assembly session, Jinnah called him to his residence and asked him to discontinue the newspaper The Herald, then edited by Desmond Young, and instead start the publication of Dawn newspaper in Karachi, Pakistan, the soon-to-be independent nation, even though Dawn’s Delhi edition would continue to be published. Jinnah also asked him and his family to buy all the shares of the new newspaper company.

He became the chief editor of the Dawn newspaper in April, 1966^[3] after the long time editor Altaf Husain decided to join the cabinet of President of Pakistan, Field Marshal Ayub Khan in March 1965. Altaf Husain had been hand-picked by Jinnah to be the editor of Dawn, Delhi before 1947.^[3] He was also elected the president of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society of Pakistan for the term 1966–67.^[4] Yusuf Haroon's independent-looking outlook annoyed the next President of Pakistan General Yahya Khan and he had to leave Pakistan in a hurry to avoid arrest in 1969. He later decided to settle in New York, and remained there after the Yahya Khan government fell in December 1971.

Death

Yusuf Haroon died on February 12, 2011 at the age of 95 in New York. He is survived by only his wife Mulook Pasha Haroon and they had no kids.^[3][1][4]

References

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