Mahmud Hussain

Mahmud Husain was born in Qaimganj, United Provinces, British India to Fida Husain Khan, a lawyer, and Naznin Begum.[4] The youngest of seven sons, he was the brother of Dr Zakir Husain, the third President of India, and scholar Yousuf Husain. He was also the father of Pakistan Television compere Anwar Husain, uncle of academic Masud Husain Khan, and the father-in-law of General Rahimuddin Khan, the Governor of Balochistan. Mahmud Husain's family were ethnic Kheshgi and Afridi Pashtuns whose roots were in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.[5] His ancestor Husain Khan migrated from Kohat to Qaimganj in 1715.[4]

Husain attended Islamia High School, Etawah and Aligarh Government High School. He was part of the first batch of students to be admitted into the newly established Jamia Milia Islamia, where he was heavily influenced by the ideas of Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar. He received his PhD from the University of Heidelberg in Germany in 1932.

Mahmud Husain started his career in academia as a reader of modern history at the University of Dhaka in 1933, where he became provost, Fazlul Haq Hall in 1944 and professor of international relations in 1948.

Unlike his brother Zakir Husain, Mahmud Husain had been a strong proponent of the Pakistan Movement, and catalysed support for Pakistan among students in East Bengal and at Dhaka University. On Direct Action Day in 1946, Husain was charged with leading the pro-Pakistan rally in Dhaka.[6]

He was elected Member of the first Constituent Assembly of Pakistan from East Bengal on the platform of Muslim League,[7] and also elected Secretary of the Muslim League's Parliamentary Group. He was appointed both Deputy Minister of Defense and Foreign Affairs in the cabinet of Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan in 1949, before becoming State Minister for State and Frontier Regions a year later.[3] In 1951, he was appointed Minister for Kashmir Affairs in Liaquat's cabinet, and then served as Minister for Education from 1952 to 1953.[3]

Following anti-Ahmadiyya riots in 1953, Governor-General Ghulam Muhammad imposed martial law in Lahore, and dismissed the government of Prime Minister Khawaja Nazimuddin soon after. Husain along with Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar refused to join the new cabinet constituted by Ghulam Muhammad.[8] He formally retired from politics in protest when the Constituent Assembly was dissolved in 1954.

After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, Mahmud Husain, inspired by the old Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India, played a key role in establishing an educational society Majlis-i-Taleem-i-Milli Pakistan in 1948 which served as the parent body of the Jamia Millia Educational Complex located in Malir, Karachi, Pakistan.[9] Later in the early 1950s, over a 27 acres of land, many educational institutions were built at this Malir educational complex.[9]

Mahmud Husain returned to academia in 1953, after the dismissal of National Assembly of Pakistan.[1] He joined Karachi University as its first professor of international relations and history. He also began the faculties of journalism and library science, the first in Pakistan, despite resistance.[10] Mahmud Husain also laid the foundation of the Library Association in 1957 and served as its president for fifteen years. He instituted the greater induction of social sciences into the national curriculum.

Mahmud Husain was a known supporter of greater rights for East Pakistan and was appointed vice-chancellor of the University of Dacca in 1960.[1] During his tenure until 1963, Mahmud Husain refused government requests to intervene in mass student protests against President Ayub Khan and martial law. During and after his tenure, he became a vocal critic of the government's handling of East Pakistan, and urged integration.

He also taught as visiting professor at his alma mater Heidelberg University (1963–64), Columbia University (1964–65) and University of Pennsylvania (1965–66).[3] In 1966, Mahmud Husain Khan went back to the University of Karachi as professor of history and worked there as the dean of its Faculty of Arts until 1971. He was appointed vice-chancellor of the University of Karachi from 1971 to 1975.[1][11]

He strongly and vocally opposed the army operation in East Pakistan in 1971 but to no avail. He died while serving as vice-chancellor on 12 April 1975.

Mahmud Hussin was fluent in Urdu, English, German, and Persian, writing primarily in the Urdu language. His best-known works are Urdu translations: Mahida-i-Imrani (1935) from Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Social Contract, and Badshah (1947), a translation of Machiavelli's The Prince. His other books include The Quest for an Empire (1937), and Fatah-i-Mujahideen (1950), an Urdu translation of Zainul Abideen Shustri's Persian treatise on Tipu Sultan.[1]

• Dr. Mahmud Husain Road, Jamshed Town, Karachi 24°52′21″N 67°3′54″E[12]
• Mahmud Husain Library: On 12 April 1976, a year after his death, the Karachi University Syndicate renamed the Karachi University Library as the Dr. Mahmud Husain Library by unanimous resolution.[13][14]

• List of vice-chancellors of Dhaka University