Demise of Kashmiri Marxist leader: Barrister Qurban Ali dies in Britain

Body to be flown to AJK on Sunday for burial in his ancestral town Mirpur; lawyers, political leaders mourn his death.

ISLAMABAD:

Renowned Marxist intellectual, writer and politician Barrister Qurban Ali Khan died in a London hospital on Friday night after protracted illness at the age of 81, his family sources told The Express Tribune on Saturday. His body will be flown to his native city Mirpur for burial on Sunday. His funeral procession will be taken out from his residence at 11am.

In the death of Barrister Qurban, Kashmiri nationalists, in general, and Progressive forces, in particular, have lost a great committed Marxist ideologue and thinker.

He dedicated all his life for independence of Kashmir and setting up of an egalitarian secular and just society.

Born in Mirpur city of Pakistan administered Kashmir in 1932, Barrister Qurban got his basic education from his native city and also graduated from Mirpur College; he then moved to Karachi and got his law degree from Karachi University and later moved to Britain to get Bar-at-Law degree from Lincoln University of England.

Barrister Qurban founded a Marxist party, Jammu Kashmir Peoples National Party (JKPNP) in 1985 and became its president. Over the last three decades, the JKPNP has emerged as a major force in AJK. He worked incessantly for the unification of progressive nationalist forces and groups in Pakistan administered Kashmir and in the diaspora of 1.8 million Kashmiris to achieve the goal of an independent Kashmir and setting up an egalitarian secular society through peaceful democratic struggle. Under his leadership, JKPNP has forged close links with other progressive political organisations internationally including India and Pakistan.

Last year Barrister Qurban visited The Express Tribune’s offices in Islamabad and spoke to a select gathering for over an hour on various regional, national and international issues, crisis of capitalism and market economy and emergence of new socialist and democratic societies in Latin America and other Asian countries.

JKPNP, under the leadership of Barrister Qurban Ali Khan, is fighting to end foreign domination as well as internal oppression.

A UK-based organisation, South Asian Peoples Forum, in a condolence meeting on Friday paid homage to Barrister Qurban. In a message sent to The Express Tribune, the forum said:  “South Asian Peoples Forum UK shares our sorrow on this great loss with the leadership and members of JKPNP and the family members of Barrister Qurban Ali Khan.”

He was a prolific writer and authored over a dozen books on Marxism, class struggle and Kashmir issue, including ‘Kashmir ka Qaumi Sawal’ (Kashmir’s National Question), ‘Jamhuriat or Inqalab’ (Democracy or Revolution), ‘Inqalabi Shaoor’ (Revolutionary Consciousness), ‘Siyasi or Sciency Fikr’ (Political and Scientific Thought), ‘Taarikhi or Jadaliyati Maadiyat’ (Historical and Dialectical Materialism), ‘Asre Hazir ke Inqalabi Rahnuma’ (Contemporary Revolutionary Leaders), and ‘Azeem Inqalabi Rahnuma Jo Mar Na Sakay’ (Great Revolutionary Leaders who never die).

He had been a staunch supporter of reunification of the divided Jammu and Kashmir and advocate of national democratic revolution in the violence-hit Himalayan state.

Various social and political organisations of AJK including the Kashmiri nationalist forces have expressed deep sense of shock and grief over the demise of Barrister Qurban.

Kashmiri lawyers mourned the death of their veteran comrade on Saturday by staying off the courts.

In their separate condolence messages, progressive and nationalist parties of Kashmir and Pakistan and UK-based organisations have expressed their grief and sorrow over the demise of the veteran Marxist leader.

In a condolence message to his younger brother and jurist of AJK, Raja Zulfiqar Ahmed, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation League (JKLL) president Justice (retd) Abdul Majeed Malik, JKNLF leader Advocate Ramzan Dutt, JKPF president Advocate Nasir Ansari and former president of the front Muhammad Azeem Dutt termed the death of Barrister Qurban a great loss to the Kashmir freedom movement and the progressive forces.

He leaves behind a son, many comrades and committed workers to mourn his death.

Additional input by our correspondent in mirpur

Published in The Express Tribune, July 8^th, 2012.