Comrade Iqbal Bali: A Tribute

by Dr. Faheem Hussain

My dear friend and a great revolutionary, Mohammed Iqbal, affectionately know by all his friends and admirers as Bali, died on 19 June in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, following complications after major heart surgery.

Comrade Iqbal Bali

How does one talk of this man so full of energy? For me it is impossible to imagine Rawalpindi without him. For the last forty years he was the moving force in all the demonstrations and meetings held in Rawalpindi to promote democracy in Pakistan. In this article I will talk about how I knew him and about some of his political ideas. The activities that I will highlight pertain basically to the period from 1969 to 1989 when I worked closely with him. I left Pakistan in 1989 and withdrew from taking active part in the democratic movement because of personal reasons and because of the collapse of the left and the trade union movement.

Bali’s political activism goes back to the days in the sixties when he was a radar technician in the Pakistan Air Force. He got into a lot of scrapes while in the air force as he stood up to officers who mistreated ordinary airmen and fought for the rights of the latter. Several times he was punished for this.

He moved to Rawalpindi in the late sixties when he was immediately involved in the 1968-69 student movement against the Ayub Khan dictatorship. At this time there was a rebirth throughout Pakistan of socialist and Marxist ideas inspired by the great Vietnamese resistance and the student movements in Europe and America against the war and for greater democracy. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was also riding this wave with his slogans of “roti, kapra, aur makan” (food, clothe and shelter). In Rawalpindi too there were many people discussing the concept of reviving a communist movement. Bali was part of a group of young idealistic people wanting to overthrow the oppressive capital social order in Pakistan. There were such groups consisting of intellectuals, students and workers springing up in all the major cities.

He worked with the People’s Labour Front (PLF), newly founded in Rawalpindi by Riffat Hussain Baba (now at PILER in Karachi) and Nazir Masih (Secretary-General of the Municipal Worker’s Union of Rawalpindi). (Sadly Nazir Masih, another great figure in the workers’ movement in Pindi, died many years ago). In its heyday the PLF was the main trade union federation for the major industries of Pindi and Islamabad, including the large Kohinoor Textiles Mills on Peshawar Road. The PLF played a leading role in negotiations for workers rights. There was many a heroic battle that should be recounted by others. During his PLF years Bali ran study circles with workers and wrote pamphlets and helped to distribute them and to paste them on walls around the city. He was always an activist who did not like long theoretical discussions and he wanted to immediately get into action.

Arrests all around

With the passage of time the effects of the Emergency imposed by General Musharraf on Saturday are becoming glaringly visible, though they were not surprising for anyone with even minute political knowledge. The Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, was kidnapped from his office along with many other members of the apex court on the evening when the Emergency was declared. They were all placed under house arrests. Aitzaz Ahsan, Munir A. Malik, and Ali Ahmed Kurd – the leaders of the Lawyers’ Movement – were also arrested on the same evening on one-month detention order. Aitzaz has has been detained in the Adiala Jail. Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) President Ahsan Bhoon was also detained. Imran Khan, leader of Tahrik-e-Insaaf was placed under house arrest on the Saturday evening. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Chairwoman Asma Jehangir was also placed under house arrest.

Today (Sunday), several journalists, lawyers, academics, and human rights activists gathered in Lahore at the office of Human Rights Commission Pakistan (HRCP) office to peacefully protest against the declaration of Emergency. They were surrounded by the Police and later on many of them were arrested. Amongst the arrested are: I.A Rehman, Iqbal Hyder, Robina Saigol, Azra Shad, Khalid Mehmood, Mehboob Khan, Raja Salman, Salima Hashmi, and Dr. Mubashir Hasan (later released because of his old age). Mr. Bilal Hassan Minto and Professor Ali Cheema from the faculty of Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) are also amongst the arrested. According to the latest information, detention orders are expected to be issued soon for all those arrested, which means that they may be put in jail indefinitely.

In Islamabad/Rawalpindi, Police has detained scores of prominent political figures, lawyers, and human rights activists.

The news of this massive crack-down on the opposition figures has remained missing as all Private TV channels remained off the air for the second day. Premises of private ‘Aaj TV’ channel were raided by officials who tried to seize live broadcast equipment, but had to make a hasty retreat after vociferous protests by the staff.

Senior journalist and secretary general of South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA), Imtiaz Alam, was detained and later let-off.

Around 500 people, including 80 lawyers, have been arrested so far on the first day of the Emergency. More arrests can be expected to take place on Monday as the legal fraternities meet up and demonstrate.