DSF founding member Asif Hameedi passes on

DSF founding member, cardiologist Dr Asif Ali Hameedi passed away recently, aged 85 (see his remembrances of DSF and Dr Sarwar at: ‘In good spirits’ – from Dr. Asif Ali Hameedi, Chigaco) 

His first posting as a doctor after graduating from Dow Medical College was in Tharparkar. (Updated info: see his son’s detailed note below)

Dr Hameedi had been living in the US for many years, most recently in Grand Rapids, MI. He had diagnosed with throat cancer and had complications with diabetes. His wife passed away three years ago. They are survived by their three children, Samia Hameedi-Brown, Ashraf Hameedi and Jamal Hameedi.

Dr. Ghalib Khan Lodhi (1930-2012) – A personal memoir by Eric Rahim

Eric Rahim

Former journalist Eric Rahim’s thoughtful obituary of Dr Ghalib Khan Lodhi, one of the founding members of DSF, who passed away in Karachi recently:

“Goodbye, generous friend, earnest and upright, seeker of knowledge”

Solas Educational Trust, supporting schools in Chitral, remains Ghalib’s most important legacy

Dr Ghalib Lodhi, London, 2001. Still from video footage by Beena Sarwar

Ghalib, who has recently died of cancer, was a founding member of the Democratic Students Federation and, along with Mohammad Sarwar, Hashmi, Haroon, Ayub Mirza, Yousaf Ali, SM Naseem and others, a leading activist in the early 1950s student movement in Karachi. I remember him as one of the most serious minded among his cohort. While a medical student, in his early twenties, he was trying to grapple with Das Kapital.

Along with so many others – students, journalists, writers, and trade unionists – he was arrested in the general round-up that took place in West Pakistan in the wake of the triumph of the United Front in East Pakistan elections of 1954 and Pakistan government’s decision to sign military pacts with the United States. Before his arrest he was acting as general manager of the organ of the Democratic Student Federation, the Students’ Herald. Naseem, who was the editor of the Herald, in a recent communication described to me the occasion of the arrest in the following words.

Former DSF activist Dr Ghalib Lodhi makes a quiet exit

Dr Ghalib Lodhi (left) in London, with Dr M. Sarwar, April 2001

Karachi, Aug 3, 2012: Tahir Wasti in London emailed recently that Dr Ghalib Lodhi expired in Karachi. I contacted some of Dr Ghalib’s old comrades. None of them had heard of his demise.

“Shocked and saddened to learn the demise of our friend, and comrade in arms. I am ashamed that despite knowing his address and phone number I did not call him for last two months,” responded Iqbal Alavi.

He subsequently visited Dr Ghalib’s sister Zahida Shamshad in Karachi to condole and learnt that Dr Ghalib breathed his last on July 4 2012, at 5 am,at Agha Khan Hospital and was laid to rest in the graveyard at Dalmia Cement Factory Area.

‘Looking back to look forward’: event videos now online

A play list of 16 clips from ‘Looking back to look forward’, the three-hour long event held in Karachi on Jan 9, 2010 to commemorate Dr Sarwar and the 1953 student movement. Click this playlist link to see a list of all the clips. Clickable in chronological order below:

Was the Russian Revolution a Marxist revolution?

From Eric Rahim in Glasgow, Sept 8, 2010:

The background to the writing of this article is as follows. I was asked by the editor of the Left, Urdu language journal Awami Jamhori Forum if I would comment on a number of questions which were currently subject of discussion in Pakistani Marxist and left circles. I agreed. The first question asked provides the title of this article. ER.

Was the Russian Revolution a Marxist revolution?

Eric Rahim

The materialist method: a hypothesis for understanding social change

Before you can answer this question, you have to decide what you mean by ‘a Marxist revolution’. And to do that you need to understand the main ideas of the ‘materialist conception of history’. That is the case because the materialist conception is a hypothesis for understanding historical development which involves changes in modes of production (socio-economic systems, e.g. feudalism, capitalism); and change from one mode of production to another involves, in turn, a revolution (peaceful or violent). For this reason much of the following discussion is about Marx’s hypothesis (which he called ‘my materialist method’) of social change or development which involves both evolution (gradual change generated within society) and revolution.

Dr Ayub Mirza passes on

Sad to hear that Dr Ayub Mirza passed away this morning. His daughter Alina Mirza, writes from  Glasgow:

He had another heart attack and collapsed. The doctors tried to resuscitate him but he had gone. He went peacefully and did not suffer. The last few days with him were a bonus for all of us.The love and affection shown by all of you helped him to recover from his initial illness. I used to read all the e-mails that you sent everyday to him and he would smile remembering the old days with his friends.

Mum is staying with Sarmed and their contact no is +44-141-4236534 [h], +44-7859897840 [M].

Dr Ayub Mirza update

Dr Ayub Mirza (right) at a PMA meeting in Pindi

Dr Ayub Mirza, a leading figure of the 1950s’ student movement and DSF, a life long friend of Faiz Ahmed Faiz and author of Faiz’s biography ‘Hum Keh Thehray Ajnabi‘, has been seriously ill in Glasgow where he lives.

Good news from Eric Rahim: “Ayub is feeling much better. Initially he was in intensive care; three days back he was transferred to coronary care. Last night’s report is that he was feeling better, had had a meal and was sitting in chair. I am hoping to see him this evening and will write.”

Introduction to Event Book, Jan 9, 2010

Thanks to S.M. Naseem for writing the introduction to the Event Book produced for the Jan 9, 2010 event at the Arts Council Karachi, ‘Looking Back to Look Forward’ (a phrase borrowed from Eric Rahim’s email of Dec 12, 2009)

INTRODUCTION

The January 1953 student movement was a result of a confluence of social and political factors, including the influx of a large population into Karachi from all parts of the sub-continent, which became imminent after the Partition. A thorough analysis of these factors and their interaction has yet to be undertaken. However, one factor that stands out on looking back is the role of the collective efforts of a large number of student activists – mostly belonging to the Democratic Students’ Federation (DSF) – in the affiliated Colleges of Karachi University, spread across the city.

Jan 8, 2010 – ‘Students’ Day’; Nov 13, Hasan Nasir Day

A rare photo of Hassan Nasir

Note: Photo of Hasan Nasir courtesy People’s Democratic Front (PDF) and National Students’ Federation (NSF)

Oct 12, 2009: Email sent to several old friends and family members of Dr Sarwar, as well as some younger activists and others.

Over the past month, following the references at Karachi and Lahore, a small informal group has come together in order to take forward the legacy of Dr M. Sarwar. Updates following our last discussion followed by notes from the meeting:

Setting the record straight on DSF (2008 article by Dr Haroon & Saleem Asmi)

A slightly abridged version of this article was published in Dawn as Student movement revisited, April 5, 2008

Scan from front page of Student Herald 'Martyrs Number', Vol. 1, No. 5, Jan 19, 1953

Setting the record straight

Democratic Students Federation: The first all-Pakistan student body

By S. Haroon Ahmed and Saleem Asmi

The welcome move by newly elected Prime Minister Yusuf Reza Gillani to revive student unions takes us back the first all-Pakistan students’ body, the Democratic Students Federation, which laid the foundations not only for the progressive outlook of the National Students Federation (NSF) but also the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA). The DSF is often either ignored or misrepresented in most accounts of the history of the students’ movement in Pakistan, like the article ‘Students politics: a brief history’ (Dawn Magazine, February 10, 2008) which otherwise included excellent thumb-nail sketches of student unions. At this critical juncture of Pakistan’s history, there is a need to set the record straight regarding the DSF.