CHAKWAL: Speakers at a memorial reference on Thursday paid rich tributes to late Dr Lal Khan for waging a consistent battle against capitalism and sticking to his ideology of Marxism throughout his lifetime.

The speakers, including intellectuals, lawyers and journalists, threw light on the struggle and achievements of Dr Lal Khan, who died on Feb 21 after fighting a long battle against lungs cancer.

The reference had been organised by the Chakwal chapter of the People’s Lawyers Forum, as Dr Lal Khan belonged to Chakwal’s Bhoun village.

Speaking on the occasion, author Dr Arif Azad said Dr Lal Khan kept on struggling for his ideology throughout his life and even his death created ripples in the society as his funeral was arranged in a quite untraditional manner.

The funeral of Dr Lal Khan, whose real name was Yasrib Tanvir Gondal, had been attended by a number of women who were seen carrying his coffin along with men while his comrades took the coffin for burial amidst the echoes of revolutionary slogans and under shadows of red flags.

“Dr Lal Khan was an intellectual who had a firm grip on European Marxism as his mentor was Ted Grant, the famous Marxist of the United Kingdom”, Dr Azad said, adding that it was Dr Lal Khan who introduced Trotskyism for the first time in the country.

“Before him, Pakistan had only cultural Marxists but he emerged as a scientific Marxist who would always come up with solid statistics to prove his point”, Mr Azad maintained.

He recalled that it was Lal Khan who for the first time by instigating labourers had managed setting up of a workers union in Sharifs’ owned Ittefaq Foundry during their rule over the country.

He was of the view that Dr Khan’s commitment to his cause remained unwavering despite struggling for more than four decades.

Shahid Azad, a teacher of English Literature at Government Postgraduate College, Chakwal, described Dr Khan as an unflinching person who never compromised on his ideology.

Prominent journalist CR Shamsi said some people were even questioning the way in which the last rituals of Dr Lal Khan were performed, saying that these people were not aware of the ideology and passion behind that funeral.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2020