In loving memory: Comrades get together to pay homage to Mairaj Muhammad Khan

Arts Council hosts condolence reference for deceased political worker

KARACHI: Mairaj Muhammad Khan used to say that the 99% who are being oppressed have to unite against the 1% who is oppressing the entire population, recalled the former president of National Students Federation (NSF), Punjab, Hisaamul Haq.

He was speaking at the condolence reference organised at Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi, on Friday to honour the late NSF leader. According to Haq, the only thing that Mairaj used to stress during the early 1960s was that the military regime of dictator Ayub Khan needed to be ousted. "And we never let him down in any way," he added.

"When Comrade Mairaj resigned from the [Pakistan Peoples Party] PPP, it was that time when opportunists filled the vacuum," said Senator Taj Haider. He emphasised that our main priority should be to side-line capitalists and feudal lords from the political scene. The president of the National Party of Pakistan, Mir Hasil Bizenjo, was of the view that Mairaj’s name is important in our history. "The name of the movement against dictator Ayub Khan was Mairaj Muhammad Khan and National Students Federation," he said.

"Mairaj dedicated his entire life to the much-needed social change and his life goals had become our mission," said advocate Akhtar Hussain of the National Awami Party.

According to former Sindh cabinet member Maula Bux Chandio, Mairaj was an ideal speaker of students and always appreciated them for their political thought. "I wish thinkers like him, who always talked about the common people, do not disappear from the political scene," said Chandio.

According to Azhar Jamil, a leftist leader, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was blessed that NSF and trade unions were with him against Ayub Khan. He added that Mairaj was the brightest star of that struggle against the dictator, which inspired generations of leftists. "I have never seen him falter throughout my life spent with him," he said.

Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said that despite a number of ideological differences, his party had a strong relationship with Mairaj. "We never resisted calling Khan at our annual functions as a speaker," he said, talking about the days of his student politics. Mairaj's son, Khaqan Muhammad Khan, shared how when his father was admitted in a private hospital in Karachi in 2007, a peasant came to meet him from Thar.

"When I asked him why he had come all the way from Thar to meet since he could have easily spoken on the phone, he said that whenever your father came to Thar, he brought toys and clothes for my children so why shouldn't I visit him."

He remarked that he realised on that day that Mairaj's personal life is beyond his immediate family. "He remained socialist throughout his life and socialism remained in his blood till the day he died," he said. "During a discussion, I once told my father that why don't you become a successful politician instead of a failed one. His reply was that that success as a politician would be my failure."

Published in The Express Tribune, July 31^st, 2016.