Another Forgotten Hero of Pakistan

Good piece Yasser. Should have elaborated more. Much more.

I think the rejection of Iftikharuddin`s proposal for large scale land reforms and redistribution of vacated lands to refugees in Punjab was the first instance of the split between a stand-out individual like Iftikharuddin and the parasite called the Muslim League. Iftikharuddin resigned from his post as minister as a result of refusal of his proposal.

Though one should be aware of any one ideology, it is quite obvious that those on the right-wing will team up and act in unison to prevent the status quo from being altered. The military in alliance with the bureaucracy (lead by the the parasites Ghulam Muhammad, Mirza, and Ayub Khan), the feudal lords and the Islamic parties are all an alliance willing to deprive, undercut and betray the idealism of someone like Iftikharuddin.

Good point Stuka,
First let me appreciate Yasser for writing about a person who tried his best to make Pakistan a country of forward looking people. Mian Iftikhar was a great man and an idealists.

I believe Yasser himself is not probably aware of complete background of Mian Iftikhar’s switch. History in Pakistan is the most distorted subject. I was thinking of writing about this in detail, after I read this article. I felt that the factors that led to Mian Iftikhar’s switch from Congress to Muslim League, will have be written to complete this story. I will go in details later as I get some time but here it is in a quick note.

Mian Iftikhar till his death was a congress supporter. He never believed in the TNT nor did he believe in Muslim League twist of political realities of India before partition.

Mian Iftikahr actually was a left sympathizer in the congress and very close to Nehru. That was the only part Yasser got right. Around 1946, when it became apparent that India would be divided into two countries, Communist Party of India decided to support the Pakistan demand. All left leaning Muslims and communist sympathizers that lived in Punjab switched parties and many joined Muslim League on Communist party’s insistence. Mian Iftikhar was one of them. He became a minister in the Pakistan cabinet based on a deal that communist’s and former congress people struck with Jinnah. It seems to me that at that time Jinnah was looking to balance the rightwing in the Muslim league. Jinnah failed and so did many former congress members but that story some other time.

Mian Iftikhar was never a newspaperman. He started those papers on communist Party of India’s insistence as the CPI wanted to provide some cover to the leftwing in Pakistan. CPI in fact sent Sajjad Zaheer to Pakistan to establish Communist Party in Pakistan. Sajjad Zaheer was arrested in Pindi conspiracy case. Zaheer later went back to India and Nehru allowed his citizenship back. Sajjad Zaheer’s daughter married Indian movie actor Raj Babber.

Yasser! You are wrong about Qurat ulain Haider. She wanted to remain in Pakistan. After she wrote two books in Pakistan and was roundly maligned by the rightwing in Pakistan, She herself approached Nehru to get her Indian citizenship back. Nehru was gracious enough to do that for her. Otherwise, she would have met the humiliation that Josh Malihabadi suffered in the late age of his life or Faiz Ahmed Faiz suffered thru all the years of exile.

I will write a little bit later about the Pindi conspiracy case.

was the rawalpindi conspiracy the one that involved faiz ahmad faiz and some other members of the army? or am i thinking of something else? they were implicated in allegedly planning an overthrow, and were put in prison?

perhaps the rawalpindi conspiracy refers to something else. i will look it up. : )

Yasser, it would help to provide some more depth to the article if you want non Pakistanis to appreciate it. I have no idea what the Rawalpindi conspiracy or its significance is. Also, some more details on why the disillusionment with the Congress occured, why a leftist would join a party that was more rightwing then Congress etc would be illuminating.