Condolence
reference of Jyoti Basu in Bradford
Bradford:
South Asian Peoples Forum in collaboration with Indian
Workers Association held a condolence reference of veteran communist leader of
India , Comrade Jyoti Basu, and Prof. Khawaja Masud of Gordon College
Rawalpindi, both expired on the same day. The meeting was presided over by Prof.
Nazir Tabassum of SAPF and Comrade Avatar Sadiq of the Association of British
Indian Communists was the Chief Guest. The proceedings of the meeting were
conducted by Comrade Sarwan Singh of IWA.
The meeting started with observing two minutes silence in
the loving memory of the departed leaders. Paying glowing tributes to
Jyoti Basu, Mr Tabassum said that his life long struggle for the
fair, just and fraternal society shall remain guidance for the future
progressive leadership. He emphasised, with special reference to the political
situation in Pakistan that the leftist parties should strive hard to provide
alternate leadership to the people of Pakistan who are looking forward to
welcome their saviours as opposed to the corrupt and failed leadership of feudal
and the comprador bourgeoisie.
Comrade Avatar Sadiq stood to the ground and after paying
homage to Jyoti Basu and enumerating his people-friendly reforms, analysed very
objectively and scientifically the failing capitalist mode of economy. He
stressed that the West’s “War on against Terrorism” is no more than a mere
deception; their real motive is to give extra strength and energy to the dying
capitalist system by usurping natural resources of the Third World countries. He
said that today the Western countries are commemorating the Fall of Berlin Wall,
yet they are silent over the Fall of Wall Street and are trying to hide their
failures.
Eminent Journalist Zaffar Tanweer highlighted the
contribution of Prof. Kh. Masud, a career academic, Mathematician and General
Secretary of the district Rawalpindi Communist Party of Pakistan till it was
banned in 1953/54 by Liaqat Ali Khan at the behest of American Imperialism. He
said that the leftist intellectuals and workers of Pakistan , many of which were
academics, were the most vulnerable lot as the state was functioning as an
American satellite and it had zero tolerance for the leftist politics. Most of
them ended up in the world’s worst concentration camps like the one in infamous
Lahore Fort. Kh. Masud was persecuted by the worst of Pakistani dictators,
General Zia-ul-Haq when he was Principal of Gordon College Rawalpindi. As a
result, he preferred to resign from this post and started anew as a freelance
journalist.
Mr Nerbhel Singh presented a paper in which he elaborated
the development of Jyoti Basu, right from his early age up to his rise as the
Chief Minister of Bengal , highlighting his various pro-people reforms. Darsham
Hayer narrated the episode when Comrade Basu visited his home in East Punjab and
at another occasion, a meeting at Jalundher.
Phil Clegg, who represented the British Communist Party,
paid tributes to Comrade Jyoti Basu and other progressive leaders of South Asia
, highlighting the difficulties faced by them in their struggle for social
change.
Representing Bangladesh Communist Party, Comrade Abdul
Quddus analysed the political and economic situation of South Asia and the
cicumstances in which the progressive parties of the region are striving hard to
bring about a social change in their respective countries. He praised comrade
Jyoti Basu for his steadfastness to bring home to the common man the fruit of a
socialist build up in West Bengal .
Comrade Abdul Mateen Khan represented Communist Party of
Afghanistan (Watan Party) and he highlighted the socio-political steps taken by
late Najeebullah Khan, the last of the Saur Revolution in Afghanistan . Comrade
Sarwan Singh has been intermittently speaking about the current inflation and
the credit crunch, and the way it is affecting small businesses and the ordinary
consumers.
In the end, Professor Nazir
Tabassum gave a brief but concise review of all the speakers and their
expressions. He thanked all the participants and the coordinators it would have
been very difficult to hold such a prestigious condolence reference.
Due to shortage of time Pervez Fateh, Mohsin
Zulfiqar, Khawaj Waheed, Khalid Saeed Qureshi, Mohammad Younis and other
comrades voluntarily have withdrawn their name from the speakers list.
(EOM)
