DSF Convention, Peshawar, April 29, 2012

Education is a right… Not privilege – DSF Pakhtunkhwa Students Convention, April 29, 2012, Peshawar

Memories of an unassuming Marxist

Published in The News on Sunday, Feb 19, 2012

Memories of an unassuming Marxist 

The progressive movement of Pakistan has lost one of its best sons in the death of Dr. Manzoor Ahmed

By Shahid Husain

RIP old comrade, Dr Manzoor Ahmed

Veteran progressive intellectual and an active member of Pakistan’s communist movement, Dr. Manzoor Ahmed of Shah Faisal Colony Karachi, died in Islamabad in the afternoon of January 15. He hailed from Allahabad where he attended University before moving to Pakistan. At the time of his passing away, he was about 82 years old, and had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia for several years. He belonged to the group of medical students of Karachi that laid the foundation of progressive students’ politics in the early fifties, and later led the left movement during the times of worst persecution of communist workers, for which he also suffered incarceration. The Communist Party had tasked him with organising labour unions and the association of medical professionals. At one time, he was the vice-president of National Awami Party, and president of Karachi NAP.

(Thanks to Dr A.H. Nayyar for this note)

PMA condemns colleague’s murder | Dr Baqir Shah

31st December, 2011

Press Release
PMA CONDEMNS COLLEAGUE’S MURDER

The Pakistan Medical Association, Karachi has strongly condemned the brutal murder of Dr. Baqir Shah, Police Surgeon, Quetta while performing his official duties. The reason for his killing is obvious: that he was the key witness of the Kharotabad incident. He had conducted the post-mortem examination of the victims and had given the factual version that the victims had died due to the indiscriminate firing of the LEAs and not due to an explosion.

If truth is going to be silenced in this manner how can justice prevail? The government did not provide him any security inspite of the fact that an earlier attempt had been made on his life. How can the government function if it fails to protect its own functionaries? How will other medico-legal officers react to this incident: will they not be afraid to give their fair and factual finding in such cases?

The PMA calls upon the Government to hold an urgent judicial and arrest the perpetrators of this heineous crime. The PMA also urges the Chief Justice of the Balochistan High Court, who is a very able and upright Judge, to take suo moto notice of this incident to ensure that those who help in the attainment of Justice are not silenced in this manner.

Dr. Salamat Kamal
Vice President
PMA, Karachi

Pakistani doctors in America: continuing a legacy of progressive student activism

Poet Fehmida Riaz with Dr Naseem Shekhani of NHF at the launch of the Urdu English Medical Dictionary in Karachi, Dec 31, 2010

Anyone interested in healthcare in Pakistan – check out and support National Health Forum (NHF), a registered tax-exempt organisation in America initiated by a group of Pakistani doctors, many of whom were activists with the progressive National Students Federation (NSF)in their student days.

Screengrab of NHF website

The causes they have taken up include maternal care, child cancer (working to build a children’s cancer hospital) and helping flood survivors in Pakistan through the Pakistan Medical Association. They also support non-profit organisations in USA in the healthcare and medical education sectors. I love that Dr Sher Shahis listed in their website as one of the ‘projects’ they support (if you don’t know who he is, you should. Look him up). Another project, and a great success, is the launch of the much-needed Medical Urdu-English Dictionary. The informative website includes links to PDFs of their reports). Also do check out and ‘like’ the NHF facebook page.

R.I.P. Moiz Farooqui

Prof. Khawaja Moizuddin Ahmed Farooqui, 83 years old, passed away on Nov 24th after a prolonged illness. Prof Farooqui was a former General Secretary, then Vice president of Urdu College Students Union and retired as a Professor of University of Sindh. In his student days, Moiz Farooqui was involved in the Democratic Students Federation (DSF) and Inter-Collegiate Body (ICB) of the 1950s. He was one of the four person delegation that the Convening Committee for the All Pakistan Students’ Convention, formed by the Inter-Collegiate Body decided to send to tour important towns of West Pakistan to mobilize support for the convention.

Prof. Farooqui addressing the audience at the event 'Looking Back to Look Forward', Jan 10, 2010

“Amongst the members of the delegation were Syed Iqbal Ahmed, (VP, SM College), Moizuddin Farooqui, (GS, Urdu College) and Khwaja Adil Ahmed, (GS Law College) and myself. Our programme was to pay short visits to Multan, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Hyderabad. After reaching Lahore we had to accept the forcing invitation of Lyallpur students to visit their city also,” wrote Dr Sarwar in in the Student Herald of March 9, 1953.

Despite his illness, Prof Farooqui had attended and addressed the event Looking Back to Look Forward we organised in Jan 2010 at the Karachi Arts Council to commemorate the 1953 student movement.
May he rest in peace.

Archival photos – AISF, APSO, DSF, PMA, Dow Medical College

AISF group at Allahabad U. 1948; Akhtar front left

SEE ALL/PLAY SLIDESHOW 

Syed Sibte Hasan: An esteemed teacher and leader – by Dr M. Sarwar (1985)

S. Sibte Hasan, Dr M. Sarwar, Faiz Ahmed Faiz. Photo by Dr S. Haroon Ahmed

This is a link to the scanned article ‘An esteemed teacher and leader’ by Dr M. Sarwar on Sibte Hasan, 1985: tribute to his friend Syed Sibte Hasan, published in the Pakistan Medical Gazette, June 1, 1985. The article contains a lot of history, and was written about a year before Sibte Hasan passed away. Thanks Aisha Gazdar for the scan.

Aur Nikle.nge Ushhaq ke Qafley – documentary on DSF, 1949-54. 30 min, 2010

The inspiring story of Democratic Students Federation (DSF) 1949-54 (documentary, 30 min), Pakistan’s first nation-wide student movement, led by Dr M Sarwar (1930-2009). A historical documentary based on interviews, extensive research and archival material. Produced by Beena Sarwar, directed by Sharjil Baloch, 2010.

Celebrating Dr Sarwar, DSF, Lahore, Aug 8, 2009

Video clips from the event Celebrating Dr Sarwar, DSF, Aug 8, 2009, at the HRCP auditorium in Lahore, organised by medical doctor Dr Farrukh Gulzar, Ammar Ali Jan of the Labour Party Pakistan (LPP) and friends of Dr Sarwar, now uploaded to the web. Below, the respected journalist Minhaj Barna speaking at the occasion. Other speakers included Abid Hasan Minto, I.A. Rehman, Hameed Akhtar, Zaman Khan, Afzal Tauseef, and others. For all the clips in this series, see this playlist.