Student Politics in Pakistan: A Profile

Re: # 118

beenasarwar

Thanks for the valuable information about Zuhair.

You say:

"Zuhair Naqvi died very young, in Moscow -- he was drowned in the Danube, according to Dr Mohammad Sarwar (my father) who knew him."

So kind of you dear Beena! This is the first time some body talked about Zuhair, who was my dear friend and a fellow-traveller. We were together when the so called security forces separated us. Soon afterwards I learnt that Zuhair had died due to illness during his imprisonment. But now you tell me that he was drowned in Danube. Could you please provide me with direct contact with your father or brother of Zuhair or any body remembering him?

Btw, how your father knew Zuhair?

NFP, If you want to know more about DSF please get in touch with Jam saqi, Afrasiab, Nadeem Akhtar and Zahida Hina on the subject!

One more person Zafar Mohiuddin(he writes for Jang sometimes) or even Shahid Hussain of News and financial times besides Zahid Hussain whose younger brother Hidayat was very active with DSF! (both Shahid and Hidayat were arrested in 1971)

Nadeem and Hina share an office in Karachi, Jam is in Hyd and afrasiab somewhere in Isloo or Peshawar!

I guess this many leads are enough for info on DSF!

"something about the DSF, which was not, as he writes, the student wing of the Communist Party of Pakistan,"

Beena,
I beg to differ. As Dr. Sarwar would know, the CPP revived the DSF in the sixties as an umbrella body for four more student organizations. I think the first president was Afrasiab Khattak or Jam saqi.

Anyway, the DSF never influenced the Pak or the student politics in any meaningful way!

Hello beena,
Without having any intention of contradicting the great Dr. Sarwar, my research regarding DSF included talking (via e-mail), to various DSF members of the 50s and an article by Aasim Sajjad Akhtar in The News International in which he writes: *the biggest student organisation in Pakistan through much of the 1970s, the National Student Federation (NSF), had explicit links with Maoist politics, while the only slightly less organized and popular Democratic Student Federation (DSF) was affiliated with the Communist Party of Pakistan.*

The truth is, finding info on DSF turned out to be quite a task for me as no two former DSF members had similar ideas about the history of the organization.

Much of my info on DSF is based on what I heard from senior NSF member when I joined the NSF in 1987 at the Karachi University.

NfP

Re: # 117
For the record - the ‘Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case’ was in 1951. Hassan Nasir and Zuhair Naqvi were two separate people. Zuhair Naqvi’s brother of Zoheb Naqvi, a retired businessman, lives in Karachi. Hassan Nasir came to Pakistan from Hyderabad, India. DSF in Lahore did not last long.

Zuhair Naqvi died very young, in Moscow -- he was drowned in the Danube, according to Dr Mohammad Sarwar (my father) who knew him.

I wish NFP had also written something about the DSF, which was not, as he writes, the student wing of the Communist Party of Pakistan, but was definitely a left-wing, progressive organisation says Dr Sarwar.

Sarwar was elected as DSF's first Secretary General in Karachi 1951 (he was then President of the Dow Medical Union President), and the following year he was elected President of the DSF. In December 1953, the All Pakistan Students Organisation (APSO) was formed, of which Dr Sarwar was elected Secretary General. Soon afterwards, APSO was banned, and my father along with other student leaders, were arrested. NSF was formed after that.

Re: #112
Hassan Nasir's mother was a remarkable woman, says Dr Sarwar. She came from Hyderabad to identify his body. She refused to accept the body she was shown as that of her son, and moved Lahore High Court for the production of her son's body. She eventually went back to India without ever being shown his body.

Re: # 112

baaghiraja

I am surprised that no body knows about Zuhair Naqvi, President, DSF, who was arrested from Main Hostel of KE College in 1950 as a part, probably, of crack down as a follow-up of the so called Pindi Conspiracy case. I wonder if his real name was Hassan Nasir, as most CP members were working then under fake names. If not, what happened to Zuhair who is also stated to have died during his imprisonment?

I might not have been there. I may have access to classified files of Establishment division.

Danish et. al. were holed up in student union center while both Boro and Shireen were on roof top of Cafeteria of Allama Iqbal hostel. There was another post in new hostel against Jamiete but it was not in the firing field of view. During this gunfire exchange Danish who was firing from union building got hit. He allegedly received 18 - 22 blood transfusions but could not survive. Yes Boro et. al. were later killed in tribal duel not related to IJT.

Its good to read something about the commies of Pakistan even though it relates to somebodies ill fate. These facts need to be highlighted, repeated again and again in a society that has become extremely monolithic in all aspects.

If only we could have had some commies to provide that intellectual discourse absent from our national debate where everthing is Islamicized, things could have been very different. Take India for example, they have their fair share of ultra right wing saffrons, yet they have political and intellectual diversity through their communist parties.

#112
You are right HP. Just recieved an e-mail from a former DSF member. He writes: "Hassan Nasir, Secretary General of the Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP), was tortured to death in a decrepit Pakistani prison in 1959, his mangled body hastily buried."

#112
You are right HP. Just recieved an e-mail from a former DSF member. He writes: "Hassan Nasir, Secretary General of the Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP), was tortured to death in a decrepit Pakistani prison in 1959, his mangled body hastily buried."

#110 Posted by pavocavalry

Hey Agha,
Take my word for it! it was 1958-59!

Hassan Nasir was definitely murdered by the dubious and notorious law enforcement agencies of pakistan.this incident is discussed in Tariq Ali's famous book Pakistan-Peoples Rule or Military Power-1970

I am not sure about the year though.

Zeemax,

Going by the math you proposed, 4% becoming poorer does not mean their lives will be miserable. I do not know if your model takes substitution of goods onto account. The size (quantity and quality) of the basket might have increased when the rural economic growth was good and when the economic growth hits a flat curve, the size of the baskets will remain constant. OTOH when the economic growth falters, it will obviously reflect in the size of the baskets and result in substitution of goods. Yes, a guy who has had rice for the past 5 years would feel bad when he has to switch over to millets, which he used to eat 5 years back.

This can be construed as rural people becoming relatively poor wrt to the rest of the population, but that does not mean they are going to wallow in poverty. It will result in a change in spending patterns and life style and yes, they will look at the rest of the population gawk eyed.

I am yet to arrive at the authenticity of the data we have in our hands. I came across an article that tries to dispel some myths about the rural economy. It primarily says that all of the rural population do not depend on agri and there is a increasing percentage of population, which is into manufacturing and services and also a huge population % that migrates every year towards urban centers. The article says that the rural economic growth is bigger than the urban one. Let me know if you need the link.

I just did a ball park analysis on the IT employees background. I can confidently say that more than 50% of the employees come from rural areas. For egs, at times I cross subsidize our horti spendings from my salary. Most of the guys, every month, send a major % of the salary to their parents. Money ploughed in rural areas, will be ultimately spent there. The money is used to buy new farm lands, build houses, vehicles and other comforts. This indirectly causes job creation, isn't it? I assume, You should have lot more knowledge than I have and proly not comparable at all.

To be frank it has become an uphill task to find/retain labourers these days and this has resulted in mechanizing most of our farm activities (we are not too huge). My dad says that migration of labours from poorer states need to be encouraged.

Afterall this, I still believe India has a huge percentage of people whose lives are miserable and are poverty stricken. For us, the future looks optimistic; you should also remember that we are fatalists.

And once, I get all the data myself, I intend to continue this discussion (also I have to learn more on this subject). Anyways thanks for making me realise the importance of knowledge in economics :-).

nedian
Before BBQ, Khaliq started a video rental business with a University friend of his in Karachi called Satr Video. Did a great job, enough to start BBQ.
Recently, however, he got into a tussle with the city government for some reason. BBQ was shut down for a few days.

Re: # 92

No disagreement there. Boro, his sidekick, Shireen, ... all are dead.

I can remember that day very vividly.