People's Democracy

First Ever Communist Delegation To Pakistan

Muralidharan

THE general secretaries of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Communist Party of India, Harkishan Singh Surjeet and A B Bardhan would be leading a goodwill delegation to Pakistan at the invitation of the Joint Left Front of Pakistan. The Joint Left Front of Pakistan comprises the Communist Party of Pakistan, the Communist Mazdoor Kisan Party of Pakistan and the Labour Party of Pakistan. The delegation would leave for Lahore on February 24 and return from Karachi on March 4. During their seven-day tour of Pakistan they would spend two days at Lahore, two days at Sahiwal-Faisalabad, two days at Islamabad and a day at Karachi. Besides several meetings that the hosts have organised for the delegation, the leaders would also be calling upon Pakistan president Pervez Musharaff and prime minister Shaukat Aziz, while they are in Islamabad during March 1 and 2.

This would be the first-ever official delegation by the communist parties to visit Pakistan. Both the general secretaries would be setting their foot on Pakistani soil for the first time. For Surjeet, it would be a trip down memory lane. In the pre-partition days, when Punjab used to extend from Gurgaon (now in Haryana but bordering Delhi) to Lahore, Surjeet used to cycle to Lahore from Jallandhar. Apart from participating in the activities there, he was a regular visitor to the Dwarkadas Library.

SURJEET’S ASSOCIATION

Surjeet was convicted at a tender age of 14 for hosting the tricolour atop the district courts at Hoshiarpur, on the first anniversary of Bhagat Singh’s martyrdom. First he was sent to a reformatory school in Delhi. But he was too hot for the authorities to handle. He was motivating the inmates to join the freedom movement. It was then that the authorities decided to transfer him to Borstel Jail, near Lahore. And it was at the Borstel Jail that Surjeet came in contact with revolutionaries Tika Ram Sukhan, Inder Singh Gujaranwala and many of Bhagat Singh’s colleagues. He was released from Borstel jail in 1934.

After the outbreak of the Second World War and the ban on the Communist Party, there was an arrest warrant against Surjeet.  He went underground. One day after attending a meeting, he boarded the train from Amritsar to Lahore. It was a mere coincidence that Karam Singh Mann and Surjeet were travelling by the same train.  Karam Singh Mann was being trailed from Amritsar. Unaware of the presence of Mann, Surjeet got out of the train at Bhagbanpura Railway station. Mann too got down at the same station. The police took Mann into custody. After a while they got suspicious of Surjeet and caught him too. But they were unable to establish his identity for three full days. It was only after going through the papers collected from Mann’s possession that they realised that they had laid their hands on a big catch.

Surjeet was then sent to the Red Fort at Lahore where he was subjected to immense torture. He was put under solitary confinement in a dark cell, No. 3, where he was unable to see light for days together. He was kept in this dark chamber for three months. Even the basic necessities and amenities were denied. Conditions were so harsh that Surjeet became frail, his hair was full of lice and he contracted an eye ailment.

One day an Irish medical officer insisted on meeting Surjeet and refused to sign papers testifying to his well being without examining him. It was because of his insistence that Surjeet was relieved of further torture. The doctor ordered that Surjeet be shifted to hospital immediately. Later on he was treated upon and shifted to Montgomery jail, which again is situated in today’s Pakistan part of Punjab. A few days later he was shifted to the Deoli concerntration camp where other communsit detainees like, B T Ranadive, S A Dange, Soli Batliwala, Patkar etc. were kept

FORMATION OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF PAKISTAN

In the immediate post-partition period, the Communist Party of India decided to help organise a Communist Party in Pakistan. It was during the Calcutta Congress in 1948 that the Communist Party of Pakistan was founded. Sajjad Zaheer was elected general secretary. Many prominent Muslim members of the CPI were instructed to work in the Communist Party of Pakistan and were sent there for that purpose.

Though a small party, it was well disciplined and tightly organised. The CPP set up many frontal organisations. Amongst the most prominent was the Progressive Writers Movement which was headed by Faiz Ahmed Faiz. The party exercised control over the Railway Workers Union (RWU), an organisation that had deep roots within the railway workers and had played an important role in the struggle against British imperialism. The student organisation led by the party members, Democratic Students Front had substantial influence in the student movement.

Even within the Muslim League (ML) there were progressives like Mian Iftikharuddin, who went on to become a minister in the Jinnah cabinet. He belonged to a very rich and influential landlord family of Punjab. Though he was close to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, his sympathies were with the communist movement. He amongst some others was asked by the Communist Party to join the Muslim League to exert a progressive influence over it. He set up the Progressive Papers Limited (PPL) which published The Pakistan Times. The feudal elements within the Muslim League and Pakistani society as such were arraigned against him.

A distressed Ifthikaruddin left the Muslim League and formed the Azad Pakistan Party. Leading figures of the nascent Communist Party of Pakistan were implicated in the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case. Even though no direct evidence could be found against the party or its leaders for attempting to stage a coup to overthrow the regime. Implicated in the case were 12 people including the general secretary of the party Sajjad Zaheer and Faiz Ahmed Faiz. The party was banned and so were its mass organisations.  The so-called coup was only in the realm of discussion and was never really attempted. There was a lot of resentment within the Pakistani armed forces over the rightward tilt in Pakistan’s internal and foreign policy. This led to a small group discussing in terms of overthrowing the regime.

Following the ban, some CPP members together with Mian Iftikhar-ud-Din formed the Azad Pakistan Party.  In 1957, the Azad Pakistan Party merged with some other so-called liberal progressive groups to form the National Awami Party (NAP-National People's Party).

The Left however was unable to emerge as a significant force in Pakistan politics. But the urge for a Left alternative was very much there amongst the people.

FORMATION OF THE PAKISTAN PEOPLE’S PARTY

It was this urge that was sought to be utilised with the formation of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) was formed in September, 1967. Its program was ostensibly radical-socialist. A person with communist leanings, J A Rahim, had written its manifesto. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto appeared in the political arena as a challenge to the Ayub dictatorship. Bhutto sought to channelise the people’s anger and discontent against the dictatorship of Ayub Khan and he received the people’s unstinted support.

Bhutto, a feudal lord himself, had been foreign minister in Ayub's cabinet. He raised the slogan of socialism and joined hands with some leftists to form the PPP. The desperate Ayub dictatorship started targeting Bhutto. This only added to the popularity of Bhutto and he became a symbol of resistance. In the first democratically held elections in Pakistan, Bhutto was elected with a thumping majority. Amongst the promises that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto made, he fulfilled the creation of a welfare state and got enshrined some basic democratic rights.

Zia ul Haq seized power in a military coup in 1977 and established a theocratic-military dictatorship. Journalists, activists, leftists – all streams of revolutionaries were flogged and hanged on the streets. This period saw the ascendancy of the fundamentalist forces in Pakistan. It was during this period that the US intervention in Afghanistan began. Most of the communist and democratic leaders were in jail during this period. Bhutto was hanged in 1979. 

The PPP was returned to power in 1988 in the elections held after the death of Zia ul Haq. Bhutto’s daughter, Benazir Bhutto became the prime minister. It was soon mired in corruption and was thrown out before it could complete its term. The Muslim League, which assumed power was also shunted out of office.

The conflict between the military and the civilian administration erupted once again which led to a coup on October 12 1999.  Pervaiz Musharraf seized power. He later on assumed the office of president and continues in office till date.

The communist movement today is splintered into various groups. There are several who swear by Mao, several others who swear by Trotsky, some term themselves Stalinist, while many others have donned the NGO mantle.

The communists have no representation in any of the elected bodies in Pakistan. The only cCommunist to have made it to the National Assembly this time, is on a PPP ticket. He belongs to a faction of Trostskites.

The communist movement in Pakistan which had to undergo severe repression is yet to grow and become a force to reckon with. The coming together of some parties to jointly host the visit of the communist leaders from India and the joint programmes which they are organising, will no doubt help in galvanising the atmosphere.