Ode to a legend: SALU remembers peasant leader Haider Bux Jatoi
Jatoi left the government after 14 years of service to fight for the rights of peasants.
Jatoi left the government after 14 years of service to fight for the rights of peasants .
SUKKUR:
It is not very often that an assistant commissioner quits his job to fight for the rights of peasants. After 14 years of government service, Haider Baksh Jatoi did exactly that in 1945.
Shah Abdul Latif University (Salu), Khairpur’s, political science department organised a seminar on his life and achievements on Tuesday. Prof. Parveen Shah presided over the seminar. “Jatoi was a visionary leader who fought against nepotism and brought to light the atrocities the feudal lords committed against the peasants,” said Mukhtiar Samo, the director of Knowledge Centre, Larkana. He pointed out that Jatoi introduced the slogan ‘Hari Haqdaar’ [peasants have rights] and he also launched a newspaper with the same title to promote peasants’ rights. “He fought to introduce the tenancy act and after his untiring efforts, the act was passed by the Sindh Assembly.” Samo pointed out that Jatoi also expressed his condemnation of the way peasants were treated through his poetry. “He wrote Shikwa, Tuhfa e Sindh, Harian Jo Zamano and Salam-e-Sindh, in which he spoke about the living conditions of the people. He also spent eight years of his life in different jails of Pakistan in Kot Lakh Pat, Mianwali, Mach and Lal Kila.
“Jatoi completed his graduation in 1927,” said Abdul Malik Khoso, a representative of Jagarta Forum, adding that Jatoi was impressed with Marxist ideology. “While he was employed with the government, he spent a lot of time with the peasants and he became known as their messiah.”
Dr Saifullah Joyo, the associate professor of political science at Government Degree College, Naushahro Feroze, pointed out that Jatoi set up peasant committees in every district of Sindh which were responsible for addressing their grievances. “When the one-unit scheme was imposed, he wrote a pamphlet condemning it titled Justice of Chief Justice,” said Joyo, claiming that Chief Justice Muneer, who supported the scheme, retaliated by awarding him five years in prison.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 23rd, 2013.
It is not very often that an assistant commissioner quits his job to fight for the rights of peasants. After 14 years of government service, Haider Baksh Jatoi did exactly that in 1945.
Shah Abdul Latif University (Salu), Khairpur’s, political science department organised a seminar on his life and achievements on Tuesday. Prof. Parveen Shah presided over the seminar. “Jatoi was a visionary leader who fought against nepotism and brought to light the atrocities the feudal lords committed against the peasants,” said Mukhtiar Samo, the director of Knowledge Centre, Larkana. He pointed out that Jatoi introduced the slogan ‘Hari Haqdaar’ [peasants have rights] and he also launched a newspaper with the same title to promote peasants’ rights. “He fought to introduce the tenancy act and after his untiring efforts, the act was passed by the Sindh Assembly.” Samo pointed out that Jatoi also expressed his condemnation of the way peasants were treated through his poetry. “He wrote Shikwa, Tuhfa e Sindh, Harian Jo Zamano and Salam-e-Sindh, in which he spoke about the living conditions of the people. He also spent eight years of his life in different jails of Pakistan in Kot Lakh Pat, Mianwali, Mach and Lal Kila.
“Jatoi completed his graduation in 1927,” said Abdul Malik Khoso, a representative of Jagarta Forum, adding that Jatoi was impressed with Marxist ideology. “While he was employed with the government, he spent a lot of time with the peasants and he became known as their messiah.”
Dr Saifullah Joyo, the associate professor of political science at Government Degree College, Naushahro Feroze, pointed out that Jatoi set up peasant committees in every district of Sindh which were responsible for addressing their grievances. “When the one-unit scheme was imposed, he wrote a pamphlet condemning it titled Justice of Chief Justice,” said Joyo, claiming that Chief Justice Muneer, who supported the scheme, retaliated by awarding him five years in prison.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 23rd, 2013.