KARACHI: At a tribute for Jam Saqi on Saturday, politicians and activists said the battle for the poor and against the system of exploitation that the revered communist leader fought was not over with his death and should continue and be spearheaded by the political cadres irrespective of their ideological differences and divergent party lines.

They gathered at the event organised by the Arts Council of Pakistan (ACP) Karachi and various rights and labour organisations at the ACP’s auditorium to pay tribute to the revolutionary who was also a poet and fiction writer.

“The struggle that Jam Saqi never shunned till his last breath should continue as it is more relevant today than before,” said former Senate chairman Senator Raza Rabbani.

Speaking as the keynote speaker, he candidly talked about the ‘dangers’ hovering over the country’s democratic arrangement and warned that military and judicial martial laws had never contributed anything positive to the country and any move aimed at rolling back the 18th Amendment to the Constitution would open a new Pandora’s box and could lead to “a new chapter of terrorism”.

Jam Saqi’s struggle for the rights of the poor praised

“We are already facing religious terrorism, extremism and insurgency. I shall advise [people at the helm] don’t force those people who are speaking in the ambit of the Constitution to join those forces engaged in terrorism.

“Any judicial or military martial law will be harmful to the country as in the past all such acts had bad effects on Pakistan,” he said.

He said the establishment was trying to abolish the 18th Amendment.

“It will be a disaster,” he warned, adding that Pakistan was created on the basis of federation. “If you try to weaken the federal character of Pakistan, the establishment will be responsible for all the consequences.”

He paid tribute to political leaders who helped pass the 18th Amendment. “Don’t add a new factor of terrorism to an already beleaguered society in Pakistan.”

Establishment warned

“I warn the establishment that Pakistan was created on the principles of federalism and federalism is in the roots of Pakistan. If you try to weaken or do away with it, it will bring about unimaginably negative impact.”

Senator Rabbani said it was a fact that education and health were provincial subjects; yet, the federal government did not allow the provinces to make change in the curricula according to their wishes.

“The Punjab government wants to add Bhagat Singh in the syllabus, but the state is scared of it. Similarly, in the curricula of Sindh and Punjab you will find more benefits of martial law than democracy in the textbooks of Pakistan Studies.”

He said the state was still firm in its decision that it taken decades ago according to which One Unit was imposed as a tool to bring about artificial parity among the country’s eastern and western wings and did not accept Bengali as a national language despite the fact that it was spoken by the majority of the country’s population.

He said distorted facts included in the curricula had never fared well for the country.

He said Jam Saqi’s battle for a better future for the country’s poor majority would continue and his sacrifices that he rendered following his ideological principles were a beacon of light for everyone.

Mir Hasil Bizenjo, the Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs, said Jam Saqi remained committed to democracy. He said he was also one of the witnesses for Jam in the treason case against him and his comrades in 1980s.

He said Jam had played his role, yet it did not end the story. “Our society is not infertile. It will continue to give birth to great people and our struggle for a better future will not stop.”

He said likeminded people were in abundance who were part of opposing parties. He said some way out should be found to bring all those individuals under one umbrella, without leaving their parties though, to jointly work for a better future.

Unity against ‘judicial martial law’

Shah Mohammad Shah, provincial president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, said Jam Saqi remained committed to his cause for the rights of the poor and he was a true democratic leader.

He called upon all political parties to get united against the speculations suggesting for imposing some ‘judicial martial law’.

Rashid A. Razvi, a former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, said Jam Saqi was an illustrious chapter of the country’s politics.

“He is a beacon of light for students, workers and political cadres. He was a great leader in students’ politics. I came close to him when the red flag case was registered against him. We were in jail during the MRD (Movement for the Restoration of Democracy),” he said.

He said Jam was against the establishment during his entire life and his struggle was against those forces who exploited the poor segments of society. “He dedicated his entire life for your rights. He stood tall on his principles and never compromised.”

Noted fiction writer and columnist Zahida Hina said Jam Saqi was a man of principles who did not kept it secret when he developed differences with the Communist Party of Pakistan for which he spent most of his life in prison, living underground, yet among his own people.

She said Jam resigned from the Communist Party and joined the PPP, which too he abandoned without making any excuses.

“He continued his struggle for people. He had joined PPP but he was not satisfied with the party. He also searched for solace in Sufism, but, by doing all this he remained a person of integrity and solid commitment.”

Dr Riaz Shaikh, of the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST), said Jam Saqi was a humanist worker and his commitment to his cause made him taller than the parties he represented.

ACP President Ahmad Shah, Shaheena Ramzan, Sajjad Zaheer, a son of Jam Saqi, Mehnaz Rahman, Habibuddin Junaidi, Iqbal Tareen also spoke. Karamat Ali moderated the proceedings.

Published in Dawn, March 25th, 2018