KARACHI: Speakers at the launch of a book on the history and struggle of the National Students Federation on Saturday called for unity among various segments representing the Left, which, they said, was need of the hour given the “gloomy” scenario on the political horizon of the country.

The book titled Sooraj pe kamand – National Students Federation ki kahani, karkunon or waqiat ki zubani is a compilation of interviews, profiles, oral histories and literature about the students’ organisation, which had been representing students with progressive leanings decades earlier.

The event was organised by the Irtiqa Institute of Social Sciences and the medical and social work committee of the Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi on the latter’s premises.

Book on history of National Students Federation launched

Hasan Javed, who co-compiled the book along with Mohsin Zulfiqar, said it was the first volume of a long series of the history of the NSF.

“The work has not [been] completed. In fact, it has just begun,” said Mr Javed, adding that it was a piece of collective history writing.

“Everyone, who is featured in this book, has made a contribution.”

He said the idea of the book was conceived five years ago, which followed with the work that included interviews, profiling and getting printed literature regarding the organisation’s history and activities, particularly during its active years in the 1960s and 1970s.

“We are trying to get the second volume of the series by the end of this year,” he said.

Dr Tipu Sultan, who heads the Sindh Healthcare Commission, called for all the sections of progressive thought to mend their differences and be united as the struggle had not yet ended.

Latif Chaudhry said it was not easy to get printed material about the students’ organisation because of its fragmentation.

He called for unity among the likeminded progressive activists, reminiscing that the NSF had been making alliances with workers and other segments of the society in the past, which helped make the organisation stronger and livelier.

He said there was a need for evolving progressive culture in sorting out differences instead of going into factionalism.

Dr Riaz Shaikh, dean of social sciences at Szabist, said oral history and printed material were the two key sources for writing history.

He said at the time when many other nations had opened up and made their records public in accordance with the universal law of freedom of expression, Pakistan, despite being a signatory to such global conventions, had not yet opened up.

He said the NSF had a unique distinction as it had played a key role in the collapse of a military dictatorship, followed up with the country’s first general elections.

“Many other students’ organisations had achieved feats during their struggle but a respected Western scholar gives credit to the NSF for launching a successful campaign against the military dictatorship in 1960s,” he said.

He said during Gen Zia’s military rule the regime created three fault lines on ethnic, sectarian and religious grounds through deliberate political engineering, which harmed the progressive movements, which had been hugely effective before.

Masroor Ahsan said the present situation of the country in which poverty was on the rise and conflict between the poor and the rich was sharpening warranted revival of the NSF with similar zeal, unselfishness and concord.

Dr Haroon Ahmed reminisced about the past of the students’ organisation and called for unity among all the progressive minds as it was before.

Shaista Zaidi spoke over various phases of the organisation and lauded the efforts of the compilers.

Dr Qaisar Sajjad spoke on behalf of the Arts Council while Kaleem Durrani moderated the proceedings.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2018