Student Politics in Pakistan: A Profile

#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."

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.

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.

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

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?

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.

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

"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!

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!

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?

HP Sahib, I have not disputed the year .But you are right because this happened in ayub's martial law regime.

Re: # 122
Sorry, it was the River Volga (Danube is in Europe). Yes, my father knew him but not very well. Mushirul Hasan in Germany is in contact with his brother Shoaib Naqvi in Karachi.

Re: # 119 & #120
Thanks NFP & HP - I was talking specifically about 1951-54. Student leaders in Karachi colleges started DSF. It was not a student wing of the Communist Part although most DSF members had socialist leanings and some were members of the CP. However, some also belonged to other parties, & the Muslim League leadership was very cooperative with them. DSF had office bearers like Maulana Ehtishamul Haq Thanvi's nephew Habibul Haq (an anesthetist at Lady Dufferin Hospital, Karachi). However, the DSF leadership was careful to keep party politics out of the student body and to keep their demands linked to improving the educational system and student life.
DSF was banned in 1954 and some students who had been part of it formed NSF. It was after this that it began getting linked with one or other political party. What I've said is easily verifiable through people like S.M. Naseem in Islamabad, Dr Haroon Ahmed in Karachi (who was never with NSF), and of course newspaper files of that time. Anwar Sen Roy (now with BBC in London) did a detailed interview of Dr Sarwar in Jan 2007, in which he raised all these issues.

Beena
Perhaps it is true that DSF was not a student wing of Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP), but fortunately (or otherwise), history records it as being a student wing of the CPP. In fact, the student wing of the Communist Party of India was also called DSF.
But I agree that certain Muslim League leaders were also associated with DSF. In fact, some 15 years after the DSF was banned in 1954, one NSF faction, NSF (Bari) was formed in Karachi, apart from NSF (Miraj), NSF (Kazmi) and NSF (Rashid). Whereas all other NSF factions were associated with fiery left-wing personalities, NSF (Bari) was associated with the progressive Muslim Leaguer, Mian Abdul Bari.
As for Dr. Haroon being part of DSF instead of NSF, it was he who told me he was with the NSF when I twice interviwed him for The News in the early 1990s. He said that he began with DSF but then joined NSF.

Re: # 126
NFP,
Just because 'history' has 'recorded' something does not mean that the record should not be set straight.
There was no DSF in India. The CPI student wing was called the All India Students Federation.
Re: Dr Haroon, maybe re-check with him.
best, beena

Re: # 126

The original DSF whose President was Zuhair Naqvi was definitely a student wing of the CPP whose Chairman was Sajjad Zaheer. It published an English weekly (?) also, called 'Students' Voice'.