Story of Pakistani Left by the left worker and for the left workers....

Story of Pakistani Left 

by the left worker 

and for the left workers....

The biggest reason for these splits was egos. Every person who was big leader within the left thought, "I am here and there should just be my group." Naseer

An interview of Naseer Humayun (Nasera) that helps in understanding history of the left in Pakistan from 1966-86. It has many gapes but you may understand positions of various left actors. Is it only question of larger than ideology Egos that lead to factionalism within left or there were more important and larger issues? especially related to centralized structure that often restricted freedom of thought within left circles.  In the below links you can watch speeches of AWP leaders delivered today 16 October 2016 at Karachi. At AWP official page speech of newly elected President is incomplete yet every one felt need to revisit past. Praising past splits is not a visionary thing but one needs out of box solutions. There are massive misconceptions regarding post 1966 politics. Left generally splinted in various sections and emergence of PPP also attracted many of them. How left deal with new left liberal PPP is still need analysis. What left gain or loss by making love affair with nationalists is also a big question. There are many questions and naseer mentioned few.  You may find some errors regarding dates but it also push us to expand the discussion and collect various point of views. It is also important to separate facts from interpretations so that one can develop a consensus regarding facts.  Finally i got other clips and they are now part of this post. It is a good gesture to leave the president post and implement the constitution but in many ways old grouping is intact at some extent. As Fanoos said there are 16 different groups merged in AWP but in the absence of a meaningful debate it is impossible to come at one page. The magazine Awami Jumhoriate can play vital role but for this an independent editorial team is essential. The party has to understand the fact that still numerous groups and left workers are out of there circle and if they are still reluctant then the party should adopt CBMs. Social media presence of the party is not as effective but scattered in many ways. 
As par reporting in Dawn, there are many debatable issues in the speech of Abid Manto. Manto said that Pakistan was created on the name of religion then he has to explain why CPI supported it? there were many senior comrades in 1943 party congress. Even interviews and statements of people after 1947 are much different from what Manto sahib concluded. Khwaja Masood, C R aslam, Major Ishaq, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, safdar Mir penned many writings in this regard.  Regarding armed struggle he said '' groups involved in armed struggle had to eventually sit and negotiate on political grounds. `In most cases, political struggle took over armed struggle. It was borne out of a realisation that even if a group gains independence in a backward country, how will it run its affairs without indulgingin politics?'' But it needs further clarification. In his speech KPK President of AWP supported Afghan revolution but it was also among those examples that ruined the society itself. How Tarakai was killed? then a chain of killings , we all knew what happened in Afghanistan. We still have no rational analysis of Sour revolution. It is high time that the party should develop a narrative without indulging in Sino-Russian conflict. On the one hand we are ready to challenge armed struggle but we are still reluctant to criticize revolutions completed or sustained due to Soviet Armies. AWP current leader, Fanos Gujjar is among those who always prefer class politics to nationalism but it is time to revisit unilateral support of nationalists from 1957. It was largely missing yet in his preface of latest book manto criticized Khans too. The case of Punjab is very weak rather misleading in the narrative of AWP and it is more close to ANP in many ways. In his speech at Karachi,Manto said ''One of the biggest challenges in the future would be to weed out feudalism as it is the core of most issues the country faces.'' In which areas we have feudalism in Pakistan? Is AWP is not supporting feudalism in KPK or South Punjab in many ways? 
Interestingly no one speak against MQM and its 40 years role in destruction of the city. 
The last not the least is attention to the notion ''we are the only left force'' we knew very well that numerous left people /groups are working as their own and it is time to attract them and for this we need out of box solutions. 

Extracts of Naseer Interview  

After the creation of Bangladesh, NAP Bahashani split into two groups. One group led by Mirza Ibrahim and Sardar Shaukhat, founded the Workers Party, while the other led by C. R Aslam and Abid Hassan Minto formed the Socialist Party in 1971. At that time Mirza Ibrahim and Sardar Shaukhat wanted to contest the elections and make a possible alliance with the Pakistan Peoples Party. During that period Sardar Shaukhat, who in 1971 was a runner up in Kasur in a contest for a Punjab Assembly seat, emerged as a strong voice in the left.

C. R. Aslam opposed any sort of reconciliation or participation in the elections. What occurred was a split due to poor policy planning and analysis. When the PPP came to power C. R. would eventually be in favor of the PPP due to their labor policies. This poor planning also meant Mubashir Hasan would convincingly defeat Mirza Ibrahim in the 1970 election.


Major Ishaque Muhammed decided after the 1965 split to create his own party and by 1967 he announced his decision. In 1971, two groups emerged from within Mazdoor Kissan party. One was led by Major Ishaque and Afzal Bangash and the other by Sher Ali Bacha and Imtiaz Alam. This decision was related to whether or not to support the PPP. Imtiaz Alam and Bacha were against that

The Socialist Party also had split in 1986 due to its inability to find a coherent policy regarding the movement itself. They had tendered an application to join the movement. But C. R. Aslam wrote a controversial column in the left-organ Awami Jhamooriat, calling the MRD movement 'Zia's B-team'. .....So in 1986 the Socialist Party split and Abid Hassan Minto went on to create the Awami Jhamoori Party. 

 if the NAP Bhashani group, which included Mirza Ibrahim, C. R. Aslam, Abid Hassan Minto Sardar Shaukhat and others, had stayed together there would still have been the potential to create a vast left alliance. Even among themselves they were unable to work together. 

Read the interview by clicking below link
Though the Zia dictatorship was cruel towards the communists, but the most oppressive period for the left was the Ayub regime. Meanwhile, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, not only split the left, but also oppressed the communists

Reporting in Dawn, Karachi
http://epaper.dawn.com/DetailNews.php?StoryText=17_10_2016_115_006 Speech of New AWP President Fanos Gujjar
https://www.facebook.com/usmanghani.gujjar/videos/529254290607310/

Another clip of Fanos Gujjar
https://www.facebook.com/usmanghani.gujjar/videos/529260420606697/

Speech of Abid Hassan Manto
https://www.facebook.com/usmanghani.gujjar/videos/529265803939492/

Speech of Akhtar Hussain newly elected AWP October 16, 2016
https://www.facebook.com/AwamiWorkersParty/videos/1086806348041358/

Speech AWP Sindh president Bakshal Thalbo
https://www.facebook.com/460085557435055/videos/970551856388420/

Daughter og Ahad Baloch speech..Hina Baloch
https://www.facebook.com/460085557435055/videos/970694506374155/

Reviews of Books by Manto, Jumma Khan Sufi, Jamal Naqvi, and many more things regarding Left Politics in Pakistan..Click Below
Another Review of Abid Hassan Manto book But question ''away from expected course'' remains there..and more