People

Lady Evelyn Cobbold

Lady Evelyn Cobbold, a Scottish convert to Islam, died in Inverness. Specifically, on her estate in Glencarron, Wester Ross, in...

Bengali Muslim migration had reached its peak during the 1970s with the influx of people coming from the Sylhet region...

Iqbal Geoffrey

Iqbal Geoffrey was a man of Pakistani origin who travelled to London after being accepted as a legal professional in...

Bahadur Sher

Bahadur Sher was born in Northern Pakistan in 1930 and arrived in the UK in 1961 with the aspiration to...

Gladys Milton Palmer

Gladys Milton Palmer was a well known and respected British socialite and heiress who converted to the religion of Islam...

Khurshid Ahmed

Khurshid Ahmed was a member of the Pakistan navy and in 1964, he arrived in the UK as part of...

Zia Mohyeddin

Zia was a British-Pakistani thespian and truly a jack of all trades as he juggled acting, direction and broadcasting. Having...

Abdal Hakim Murad

Abdal Hakim Murad is an English academic, theologian and Islamic scholar. His work includes publications on Islamic theology, modernity, and...

Samuel Fyzee-Rahamin

Born on 19th December 1880, in Poona, Samuel Rahamin's family were part of the Bene Israel, a cultivated Jewish community...

Atiya Fyzee-Rahamin

Author, social reformer, and patron of the arts, she was born in Constantinople on 1 August 1877 into the prominent...

Aisha Abdurrahman Bewley

Aisha Bewley has been – and continues to be – a world-renowned and accomplished translator of classical Islamic literature. After...

Dr Muhammad Isa Waley

Muhammad Isa Waley is a British editor, translator, and researcher specializing in the literature of Muslim spirituality in Arabic, Persian,...

Ziauddin Sardar

Ziauddin Sardar is a British-Pakistani scholar, award-winning writer, cultural critic and public intellectual who specialises in Muslim thought, the future...

Gai Eaton

Gai Eaton, born Charles Le Gai Eaton, also known as Hasan le Gai Eaton or Hassan Abdul Hakeem, was born...

Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Abdullah Yusuf Ali, born on April 14, 1872, in Bombay, British India (present-day Mumbai, India), was a renowned Islamic scholar,...

Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi born 2nd of October 1869, more commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was born in Porbandar, Kanthiawar, India....

Allama Iqbal

Allama Iqbal is widely considered one of the ideological founding figures of Pakistan and also holds the status of national...

Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876-1948), also revered as Quaid-i-Azam (Great Leader), was a barrister and politician who played a pivotal role...

Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406)

Abd Ar Rahman bin Muhammed ibn Khaldun (1332 – 1406) is considered the Muslim father of Sociology. His contributions to...

Azeezat Johnson

Dr Azeezat Johnson was a brilliant mind. She was a lecturer at Queen Mary University and a member of the...

Jack Ward

John Ward or Birdy, also known as Jack Ward or later as Yusuf Reis, was born in Faversham he originally...

Catalina Motril

Catalina of Motril was an enslaved servant to Queen Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s first wife. She might have held...

Asif Shakoor

Asif Shakoor is an independent researcher. He grew up in Manor Park and studied at the University of East London....

Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud

Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud was the ambassador to the court of Queen Elizabeth I and was responsible for establishing trade...

Fatima Manji

Fatima Manji is a British television journalist and newsreader who became Britain's first hijab-wearing TV newsreader in March 2016. Her...

Akbar The Great

Akbar the Great was the third and most powerful Mughal Emperor of India, ruling from 1556 to 1605. Queen Elizabeth...

Aura Sultana

Aura Sultana was a young Central Asian Slave girl of Tatar origin. She had been purchased by English explorer, Anthony...

Francis Levett

This portrait depicts Francis Levett a "Turkey Merchant", (Member of the Levant Company) of the city of London. In partnership...

Abdul Qayyum Sher

Abdul Qayyum Sher was born in Kohat in 1921. This city is now in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan,...

Colonel Mohammad Ghani

Colonel Mohammad Ghani joined the British Indian Army in 1940. He was in a Punjab Regiment and after finishing his...

Chanan and the Goat

Chanan was born in 1926 in a village near Hoshiarpur. His family owned and farmed the land. He was the...

Imam Al-Ghazali

Imam al-Ghazali (1057-1111), honoured with the title of "Hujjatul Islam" or "Proof of Islam," was a renowned Islamic scholar and...

Noor Inayat Khan GC

Noor served in the military during World War II who served as a wireless operator for the Special Operations Executive,...

1930 - 1932

Dr. Shafaat Ahmed Khan & The India Round Table Conference

Posted in:

People

Author:

EMHAI

The India Round Table Conferences were a series of 3 talks between 1930-1932. The purpose of these talks was to put forth proposals for the next stage of India’s constitutional development, and discuss the future of the British Empire’s most prized possession. 

Over 100 delegates came together, who, in official papers were broken down as the British Delegation, the Indian State Delegation and the British India Delegation.

Unfortunately, members of the Indian National Congress, including their leader Mahatma Gandhi, could not attend because of the Civil Disobedience Movement in India, which led to several members being incarcerated. 

 The first conference was not very successful, and the British Government saw it necessary to include the Indian National Congress. This in turn led to a second conference in 1931, which was also unsuccessful, and a third conference in 1932, which subsequently led to a similar failed conclusion. The conferences were widely recognised as a failure. However, the discussions and conclusions that took place did help lay the foundation of the Government of India Act (1935), which granted India partial autonomy from Britain.

Dr Shafaat Ahmed Khan (1893-1947) was an influential figure dedicated to advocating for the rights of the Muslim minority in British India. He received his education at prestigious institutions such as Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge, Trinity College in Dublin, and the University of London. He was a renowned Professor of Modern History at the University of Allahabad, and amongst his many publications, started the Journal of Indian History in 1924. He was an active participant in all three sessions of the Round Table Conferences.

During the third session (December 17th and 19th, 1932), Khan, alongside K.B Hafiz Hidayat Husain, submitted a memorandum emphasising the importance of incorporating fundamental rights for minorities within the Indian Constitution. 

Their memorandum stressed the right of the uninterrupted practice of Islam and equal treatment of Muslims in India. Khan also highlighted the significance of Muslim representation in public services to ensure the interests of the Muslim community were adequately considered. Khan firmly believed that Muslim representation in government was essential to restore the community's faith in the governance system. By having elected representatives who could advocate on their behalf, Muslims would feel that the government was working in their favour.

Khan was High Commissioner of South Africa between 1941-1944. In August 1946, he was stabbed seven times in the head, neck and chest in a politically motivated attack. He died in 1947, months before the partition of India. He left behind a wife and 3 daughters. His youngest daughter was only a few months old at the time of his passing, and currently lives in Redbridge, London. She did not get to know her father.

Place of Residence during the Conference: 

First Session: 8 Chesterfield Gardens, W1.

Third Session: St James’s Court, Buckingham Gate, SW1.

Tags

Sources and Attribution

Author: Sabrina Azim  

 

Spotted an issue Report this record

Loading please wait