Dada Amir Haider
Encyclopedia
Dada Amir Haider Khan was a communist activist in India
and Pakistan
, and revolutionary during the Indian independence movement
district and orphaned at an early age. He was then put in a madrassah. In 1914 he joined British
merchant navy in Bombay transferring to the United States Merchant Marine
in 1918. At this time he met Joseph Mulkane, an Irish nationalist
who introduced him to anti-British political ideas.
In 1920, he met Indian nationalists and Ghadar Party
members in New York
. He Started distributing ‘Ghadar ki Goonj’ to Indians in sea ports around the world.
He was dismissed from ship after the great post war strike and worked and traveled inside the USA. He then became a political activist, works with Anti-Imperialist League and the Workers (Communist) Party of the USA who sent him to the Soviet Union
to study at the University of the Toilers of the East. In 1928 he completed the University course in Moscow and arrived in Bombay. He established contact with G.V. Ghate, S.A. Dange, Bradley, senior communists in Bombay.
In March 1929, he escaped arrest in the Meerut Conspiracy Case
and made his way to Moscow to inform the Communist International (Comintern) on the situation in India and seek their assistance.
Dada attended the International Trade Union (Profintern) Congress as member of the presidium and also attended the 16th Congress of the CPSU in 1930. After his return to Bombay he was sent to Madras to avoid arrest as still he was wanted in the Meerut Conspiracy case. He carried on the political work all over South India under the pseudonym of Shankar. He also set up the Young Workers League.
In 1932, he was arrested by the British for bringing out a pamphlet praising the Bhagat Singh Trio and sent to Muzzafargarh jail, then transferred to Ambala
jail. When he was released in 1938 he started open public political activity in Bombay. The left wing of Congress elected him to the Indian National Congress
(INC)'s Bombay Provincial Committee. He also attended the INC Annual General meeting in Ramgarh
, Bihar
.
He was rearrested in 1939 as Second World War broke out. Later interned in Nashik jail where Dada wrote the first part of his memoirs. In 1942 he was the last of the Communists to be released after People’s War thesis. He worked for the Trade Union in Mumbai. He also attended the Natrakona (Mymansingh) All India Kissan Sabah in 1944.
Dada arrived in Rawalpindi on the eve of Pakistan to look after local party work. He organized a network all over Pakistan to hide, when wanted by the Government. Lahore was the nucleus of his activities. In Lahore, he used to take refuge in the house of a Sufi saint named Hussain Baksh Malang. He safely repatriated Hindu families during the partition riots.
In 1949, Dada was arrested from the Party office Rawalpindi under the Communal Act and released after 15 months. He got re-arrested after a few months from Rawalpindi Kutchery for organizing the defense of Hassan Nasir
and Ali Imam
. When the Pakistani government launched operation as a result of the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case, Dada was moved to Lahore Fort and imprisoned with Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Fazal Din Qurban, Dada Feroz ud Din Mansur, Kaswar Gardezi, Hyder Bux Jatoi
, Sobo Gayan Chandani, Chaudhry Muhammad Afzal, Zaheer Kashmiri, Hameed Akhtar etc. He was released after campaign in The Pakistan Times and Imroze, but restricted to his village. He shifted to Rawalpindi when seen influencing the military soldiers from his area.
In 1958 when Ayub imposed martial law, Dada was arrested and interned in Rawalpindi jail with Afzal Bangash
, Kaka Sanober and other comrades.
Dada spent his twilight years in the 1970s and 1980s in Rawalpindi but, whenever founds time, use to visit Lahore to meet his intimate friend Hussain Baksh Malang. He donated his land and with his own labour built a boys' high school in his village, then built a girls school' together with a science laboratory. These schools were later approved by the government and placed under it.
Dada passed away on 26 December 1989 in Rawalpindi.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, and revolutionary during the Indian independence movement
Indian independence movement
The term Indian independence movement encompasses a wide area of political organisations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending first British East India Company rule, and then British imperial authority, in parts of South Asia...
Biography
Dada Amir Haider Khan was born in 1900 in a remote village called, Siahlian Umar Khan, in RawalpindiRawalpindi
Rawalpindi , locally known as Pindi, is a city in the Pothohar region of Pakistan near Pakistan's capital city of Islamabad, in the province of Punjab. Rawalpindi is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad...
district and orphaned at an early age. He was then put in a madrassah. In 1914 he joined British
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
merchant navy in Bombay transferring to the United States Merchant Marine
United States Merchant Marine
The United States Merchant Marine refers to the fleet of U.S. civilian-owned merchant vessels, operated by either the government or the private sector, that engage in commerce or transportation of goods and services in and out of the navigable waters of the United States. The Merchant Marine is...
in 1918. At this time he met Joseph Mulkane, an Irish nationalist
Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...
who introduced him to anti-British political ideas.
In 1920, he met Indian nationalists and Ghadar Party
Ghadar Party
The Ghadar Party was an organization founded by Punjabi Indians, in the United States and Canada with the aim to liberate India from British rule...
members in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. He Started distributing ‘Ghadar ki Goonj’ to Indians in sea ports around the world.
He was dismissed from ship after the great post war strike and worked and traveled inside the USA. He then became a political activist, works with Anti-Imperialist League and the Workers (Communist) Party of the USA who sent him to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
to study at the University of the Toilers of the East. In 1928 he completed the University course in Moscow and arrived in Bombay. He established contact with G.V. Ghate, S.A. Dange, Bradley, senior communists in Bombay.
In March 1929, he escaped arrest in the Meerut Conspiracy Case
Meerut Conspiracy Case
Meerut Conspiracy Case was a controversial court case, in which several trade unionists, including three Englishmen were arrested for organizing Indian-rail strike, this immediately caught attention back home in England, inspired the 1932 play titled Meerut, by Manchester street theatre group, the...
and made his way to Moscow to inform the Communist International (Comintern) on the situation in India and seek their assistance.
Dada attended the International Trade Union (Profintern) Congress as member of the presidium and also attended the 16th Congress of the CPSU in 1930. After his return to Bombay he was sent to Madras to avoid arrest as still he was wanted in the Meerut Conspiracy case. He carried on the political work all over South India under the pseudonym of Shankar. He also set up the Young Workers League.
In 1932, he was arrested by the British for bringing out a pamphlet praising the Bhagat Singh Trio and sent to Muzzafargarh jail, then transferred to Ambala
Ambala
Ambala is a city and a municipal corporation in Ambala district in the state of Haryana, India, located on the border of the states of Haryana and Punjab in India. Politically; Ambala has two sub-areas: Ambala Cantt and Ambala City, approximately 3 kilometers apart from each other...
jail. When he was released in 1938 he started open public political activity in Bombay. The left wing of Congress elected him to the Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
(INC)'s Bombay Provincial Committee. He also attended the INC Annual General meeting in Ramgarh
Ramgarh
Ramgarh Raj was a major Zamindari in the era of the British Raj.The areas that would later comprise the Ramgarh Raj had initially belonged to the Raja of Chhota Nagpur. Around the year AD 1368, the area witnessed unrest for reasons not now known. The Raja deputed two brothers by name Baghdeo and...
, Bihar
Bihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
.
He was rearrested in 1939 as Second World War broke out. Later interned in Nashik jail where Dada wrote the first part of his memoirs. In 1942 he was the last of the Communists to be released after People’s War thesis. He worked for the Trade Union in Mumbai. He also attended the Natrakona (Mymansingh) All India Kissan Sabah in 1944.
Dada arrived in Rawalpindi on the eve of Pakistan to look after local party work. He organized a network all over Pakistan to hide, when wanted by the Government. Lahore was the nucleus of his activities. In Lahore, he used to take refuge in the house of a Sufi saint named Hussain Baksh Malang. He safely repatriated Hindu families during the partition riots.
In 1949, Dada was arrested from the Party office Rawalpindi under the Communal Act and released after 15 months. He got re-arrested after a few months from Rawalpindi Kutchery for organizing the defense of Hassan Nasir
Hassan Nasir
Hassan Nasir was a Pakistani proletariat leader and Secretary General of the banned Communist Party of Pakistan . Hasan Nasir belonged to Hyderabad and had fought, along with Makhdoom Mohiuddin and others, in the Telangana armed struggle. He was a maternal grandson of Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk...
and Ali Imam
Ali Imam
-Works:Immam has written more than 200 books, translated nearly 40. Child psychology, humanism and adventure is found in his writing. A simple style is available. Adventures, science fictions, stories related with historic events are the categories....
. When the Pakistani government launched operation as a result of the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case, Dada was moved to Lahore Fort and imprisoned with Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Fazal Din Qurban, Dada Feroz ud Din Mansur, Kaswar Gardezi, Hyder Bux Jatoi
Hyder Bux Jatoi
Comrade Hyder Bux Jatoi was a revolutionary, leftist, peasant leader in Sindh, Pakistan. He is known by his supporters as "Baba-e-Sindh" . He was also a Sindhi writer and poet...
, Sobo Gayan Chandani, Chaudhry Muhammad Afzal, Zaheer Kashmiri, Hameed Akhtar etc. He was released after campaign in The Pakistan Times and Imroze, but restricted to his village. He shifted to Rawalpindi when seen influencing the military soldiers from his area.
In 1958 when Ayub imposed martial law, Dada was arrested and interned in Rawalpindi jail with Afzal Bangash
Afzal Bangash
Muhammad Afzal Bangash was born on April 16, 1924 in Kohat, Pakistan and died on October 28, 1986. Son of advocate Muhammad Akbar Khan Bangash, he was a Pashtun marxist political activist serving as the president of Pakistan Mazdoor Kisan Party, and also as an officebearer in the National Awami...
, Kaka Sanober and other comrades.
Dada spent his twilight years in the 1970s and 1980s in Rawalpindi but, whenever founds time, use to visit Lahore to meet his intimate friend Hussain Baksh Malang. He donated his land and with his own labour built a boys' high school in his village, then built a girls school' together with a science laboratory. These schools were later approved by the government and placed under it.
Dada passed away on 26 December 1989 in Rawalpindi.