Altaf Husain (, ; 26 January 1900 – 25 May 1968) was an educationist, journalist, and

Pakistan Movement The Pakistan Movement was a religiopolitical and social movement that emerged in the early 20th century as part of a campaign that advocated the creation of an Islamic state in parts of what was then British Raj. It was rooted in the two-nation the ...

activist. He is noted as one of the pioneers of print journalism in Pakistan and was the founding editor and the first

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of English-language newspaper,

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the diffuse sky radiation, appearance of indirect sunlight being Rayleigh scattering, scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc ha ...

, which he edited for almost twenty years. In addition, he served as Industry Minister of Pakistan in the administration of President Ayub Khan from 1965 until resigning in 1968 for health reasons. He is widely regarded as one of the key activists in the Pakistan Movement and penned several critically important articles in support of the case of

Indian Muslim Islam is India's Religion in India, second-largest religion, with 14.2% of the country's population, or approximately 172.2 million people, identifying as adherents of Islam in a 2011 census. India also has the Islam by country, third-larg ...

s in

British Indian Empire The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

. He translated '' Shikwa and Jawab-e-Shikwa'' by the poet

Muhammad Iqbal Muhammad Iqbal (9 November 187721 April 1938) was a South Asian Islamic philosopher, poet and politician. Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philoso ...

from Urdu into rhymed English verse, in 1943.

Biography

Education and government work

Altaf Husain was born in

Sylhet Sylhet (; ) is a Metropolis, metropolitan city in the north eastern region of Bangladesh. It serves as the administrative center for both the Sylhet District and the Sylhet Division. The city is situated on the banks of the Surma River and, as o ...

, Sylhet District,

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

(now

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

) into a family of

Bengali Muslim Bengali Muslims (; ) 'Mussalman'' also used in this work./ref> are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising over 70% of the global Bengali population, they are the second-largest ...

zamindars, on 26 January 1900. His father was Ahmad Ullah. After receiving his education from Murari Chand College in Sylhet, Husain moved to

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

to attend the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

where he studied English language. He earned a BA in English from Calcutta University and moved to

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

. He then attended the Dhaka University where he studied

English Literature English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...

and subsequently earned an MA in

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

from University of Dhaka in 1923. Upon his graduation, he joined the Kolkata Municipal government where he became Director of Public Information from 1942 until 1943. He later proceeded to join the Indian Ministry of Information as press adviser. Although, he worked for the Indian government, he subsequently began to write political articles in the newspaper ''Statesman'', Calcutta penning the fortnightly column "''Through the Muslim Eyes''" under the pen name, ''Ain-el-Mulk'', which reflected the Muslim point of view.

Pakistan movement and Industry ministry

Shortly thereafter, he left the Indian Ministry of Information and started to write a

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

"''Dar-el-Islam''" (lit. "Door of Islam") for the ''Statesman'' but under the pen name, ''Shaheed'' (lit. Martyr). For a brief period of time, he also wrote columns for the Calcutta-based newspaper ''Star of India''. During this time, his incisive writing won recognition and attention from Muhammad Ali Jinnah ( founder of Pakistan) who had contacted him to meet him in his residency in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. Eventually, he was asked to take a position of editor-in-chief of the newspaper ''Dawn'', which was founded by Jinnah in 1945. Earlier, Altaf Husain had first taken over the office in Delhi in 1944 and had begun printing ''Dawn''. As an editor-in-chief of ''Dawn'', he came to public notice and prominence, and was admitted into Jinnah's close circle of advisers. In this capacity, he played a critically important role in the success of the

which led to the creation of a separate homeland for the Muslims of the South Asia. After the establishment of

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, he moved his senior staff from

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

while he continued his editorship of ''Dawn'' in Karachi and remained as editor from 1947 to 1965. His influence as the founding editor of the Dawn, his role in the Pakistan Movement and his extraordinary relationship with Jinnah meant that his was amongst the most influential voices outside the government. While defending

East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

's rights, he strongly assailed the idea of its separation from Pakistan. For some time, he joined the faculty of journalism at Karachi University to teach and instruct courses on journalism.

Awards and honours

In 1959, his services were recognised by the

Government of Pakistan The Government of Pakistan () (abbreviated as GoP), constitutionally known as the Federal Government, commonly known as the Centre, is the national authority of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, a federal republic located in South Asia, con ...

and he was conferred with the ''

Hilal-e-Pakistan Hilal-e-Pakistan () is the second-highest Civil decorations of Pakistan, civil award (in the hierarchy of "Hilale") of the Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The award seeks to recognize those people who have made "meritorious contribution ...

'' (Crescent of Pakistan) Award, in a public ceremony in 1959.

Industry minister

In 1965, he was invited by President Ayub Khan to join the government, which he surprised many by accepting. Ultimately, he was appointed Industry Minister of Pakistan and oversaw the rapid

industrialisation Industrialisation ( UK) or industrialization ( US) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive reorganisation of an economy for th ...

as well as the process of privatisation in Pakistan. He retained the ministry until 1968 when he resigned due to poor health.

Death and legacy

Altaf Husain resigned from the Industry ministry 10 days before his death. He died on 25 May 1968 and was buried with state honours in Model Colony

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

. The street in Karachi where Dawn was first published is today known as ''Altaf Husain Road''. Regarded as a model by young writers, he excelled in the role of the crusader. Dawn newspaper remarked eight years after his death:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Husain, Altaf 1900 births 1968 deaths People from Sylhet Politicians from Sylhet Division Academic staff of the University of Karachi Pakistani male journalists Bengali activists Bengali writers Bengali politicians Dawn (newspaper) editors Pakistan Movement activists from Bengal Pakistan Muslim League (N) politicians Pakistani people of Bengali descent University of Dhaka alumni University of Calcutta alumni Dawn (newspaper) people Journalists from Karachi Murari Chand College alumni 20th-century Bengalis Recipients of Hilal-i-Pakistan Muhajir people