G. M. Syed

Saeen
Ghulam Murtaza Syed
غلام مرتضي سيد‎
G.M Syed in ceremony program
Minister of Education of Sind
In office
18 March 1940 – 7 March 1941[1][2]
PremierMir Bandeh Ali Khan Talpur
GovernorLancelot Graham
Hugh Dow
Personal details
Born(1904-01-17)17 January 1904
Sann, Bombay Presidency, British India
(present-day Sindh, Pakistan)
Died(1995-04-25)25 April 1995 (age 91)
Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
Resting placeSann, Sindh
ChildrenSyed Amir Hyder Shah
Syed Imdad Muhammad Shah
Zarin Taj
Shama Aimen
Dr. Durreshahwar
ParentSyed Mohammed Shah Kazmi (father)
Known forFounder of Sindhi nationalism and Sindhudesh movement

Ghulam Murtaza Syed (Sindhi: غلام مرتضيٰ سيد‎, 17 January 1904 – 25 April 1995),[3] known as G. M. Syed was a prominent Sindhi politician, who is known for his scholarly work,[4] passing only constitutional resolution in favor of the establishment of Pakistan from British India's Sindh Assembly (which is now Sindh Assembly) in 1943.[5] Later proposing ideological groundwork for separate Sindhi identity and laying the foundations of Sindhudesh movement.[6] He is regarded as one of the founding fathers of modern Sindhi nationalism.[7]

He was known as "Saeen" by his supporters.[8]

G.M Syed started his political career at the age of 16, when he organised Khilafat Conference at his hometown, Sann, on 17 March 1920.[9] Syed was one of the earliest Sindhi politician who sought the creation of Islamic Pakistan, and became a vocal supporter of the Two-Nation Theory, advocated by the Muslim League leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah; Syed Sindhi's religious zeal for a purely Islamic state is witnessed after the Manzilgah incident, where he wanted to cleanse Sindh of its Hindus, stating: "all Hindus shall be driven out of Sindh like the Jews from Germany".[10] However, once the independent nation was formed, he became a political prisoner of the state in 1948, due to differences with the country's leadership.[11][2] He restated the political implementation of Sufi ideologies which advocated for Islamic principles, secularism, Sindhi nationalism and laid the basis for Sindhudesh Movement.[12] He spent approximately thirty years of his life in imprisonment and house arrests for his political views.[13] He was entitled as the prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International in 1995.[14] He died during his house arrest in Karachi on 26 April 1995.[15] Gm Syed after his father's death grew up with his father's best family friend Rais Faqir Bux Khan Kaachhi whom at that time was the chief of Kaachhi tribe, Rais Faqir Bux Khan Kaachhi was Gm Syed's Ustaad and a uncle like figure to him and protected him from the enemies of Gm Syed's father.

  1. ^ "Provinces of British India". worldstatesmen.org. WORLD STATESMEN.org. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  2. ^ a b KHADIM, SOOMRO (20 January 2009). "G.M. Syed remembered". dawn.com. dawn. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  3. ^ Zaffar, Junejo (19 January 2015). "G M Syed (Sindhi): Remembering a visionary". tribune.com.pk. The Express Tribune. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  4. ^ "author G.M Syed (Sindhi)". Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  5. ^ "KARACHI 1943: A PROCESSION IN TRIUMPH". dawn.com. Dawn. 24 June 2017. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  6. ^ "'No China, Go China' slogans reverberate at JSMM rally in Sindh". aninews.in. Asian News International. 19 January 2018. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  7. ^ Farhan Hanif Siddiqi (2012). The Politics of Ethnicity in Pakistan: The Baloch, Sindhi and Mohajir Ethnic Movements. Routledge. p. 76. ISBN 978-1-136-33697-3.
  8. ^ "Struggle for NEW SIND". Goodreads. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  9. ^ Rita Kothari (2007). The burden of refuge: the Sindhi Hindus of Gujarat. Orient Longman. p. 48. ISBN 978-81-250-3157-4.
  10. ^ Kothari, Rita (2007). The Burden of Refuge: The Sindhi Hindus of Gujarat. Orient Longman. ISBN 9788125031574.
  11. ^ World Sindh, congress. "Statement by Dr. Haleem Uddin Bhatti, Information Secretary, World Sindhi Congress". worldsindhicongress.org. World Sindhi Congress. Archived from the original on 7 July 2018. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  12. ^ Nadeem F. Paracha (10 September 2015). "Making of the Sindhi identity: From Shah Latif to GM Syed (Sindhi) to Bhutto". dawn.com. Dawn. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  13. ^ Naseer, Memon (17 January 2013). "Relevance of GM Syed today". tribune.com.pk. The Express Tribune. Retrieved 23 May 2018. he remained interned for over 30 years
  14. ^ Amnesty International (1995). Amnesty International: The 1995 Report on Human Rights Around the World. Hunter House. ISBN 978-0-89793-183-0.
  15. ^ Suranjan Das (2001). Kashmir and Sindh: Nation-building, Ethnicity and Regional Politics in South Asia. Anthem Press. p. 140. ISBN 978-1-898855-69-9.