KARACHI – Various prominent personalities have expressed grief over the demise of Yusuf Haroon, former chief minister of Sindh and governor of West Pakistan, who died in the US on Sunday at the age of 94. According to a statement, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah expressed deep sorrow over the death of the senior politician.
He said that the services of Late Yusuf Haroon for the cause of democracy and his social work in the country would always be remembered. He prayed to God to rest the departed soul in eternal peace and grant courage and fortitude to his family to bear this irreparable loss.
Senior PPP leader Prof ND Khan also expressed similar sentiments over the veteran politician’s death and said that the country has lost a very senior political personality. He said that the deceased politician would always be remembered for his contributions in the realms of politics and social service. He said that Haroon played a role in shaping the new society that emerged in Pakistan after its creation in 1947 and represented the pre-partition political culture.
Yusuf Haroon was the eldest son of one of the pioneers of the All India Muslim League, Sir Abdullah Haroon. After death of his father in 1942, he became a close associate of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He entered in politics through the local bodies system and remained the mayor of Karachi from 1944 to 45. He was the youngest mayor in the sub-continent’s history. Haroon also became the youngest chief minister of Sindh and stayed in power from 1949 to 1950.
After Moosa Khan, Haroon became the governor of West Pakistan in 1969. He was governor for only three or four days when Yahya Khan took over in March 1969. He later moved abroad and stayed there for the last five decades, but remained engaged in various events in the country. This prominent scion of the Memon clan remained a strong believer that General Ziaul Haq had launched systematic discrimination against the business circles in Karachi and forced Memons to take their businesses abroad.
He also appointed the great poet and intellectual Faiz Ahmed Faiz as principal of the Haji Abdullah Haroon Association’s Educational Complex in the Lyari area of Karachi in 1967. His younger brother, Mahmood A Haroon served as the Sindh governor. Sir Abdullah Haroon, father of Yusaf and Mahmood, died in 1942, but before his demise, he devoted his residence for the Pakistan movement. Yusuf Haroon also served the country’s high commissioner to Australia.
Inputs from Associiated Press of Pakistan included in the report
