By: Aftab Tariq Nahyoon
Ghulam Ali Allana known as G. Allana was one of the noted poets ofour country. He was also a friend and biographer of Quied-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan who entered politics at an early age and played an active part in the Pakistan movement.
Ghulam Ali Allana was born in 1906 to an Ismaili Khoja family in Karachi, British India. He received his basic education at Sindh Madressatul Islam in Karachi. Then he attended St. Patrick’s High School and D. J. Sindh Government Science College in Karachi.
After independence of Pakistan in 1947, he served as the second Mayor of Karachi after the partition. He served as founder President of the FPCCI until 1954.
After Partition, he was instrumental in forming the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry. He was a member of the West Pakistan Legislative Assembly, besides being the mayor of Karachi. Internationally, Allana represented Pakistan at over 100 conferences, served on the governing body of the International Labour Organization, and the president of the International Organization of Employers, Brussels. At the United Nations he led a number of peace and diplomatic initiatives/working groups and went on to become chairman of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in 1975. For his contributions he was awarded the United Nations peace medal and was also a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977. He was also an English-language Pakistani poet and a counselor and friend to Fatima Jinnah, Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s sister.
Allana died on 8 March 1985