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REPORT OF CONDOLENCE REFERENCE
Bradford, 29th November 2008
A meeting of South Asian Peoples Forum UK was held here in a local restaurant in remembrance of the eminent progressive Urdu Poet Ahmed Faraz. It was chaired by Prof. Nazir Tabassum and conducted by Khalid Saeed Qureshi, both coordinators of the FORUM. Those who participated as special guests were Comrade Avtar Sadiq, Secretary General of the Association of British Communists and Ambassador Arif Kamal, a Faculty Member of National Defence University Islamabad.
Apart from various speakers two papers were presented, one by Engineer Pervez Fateh, a coordinator of SAPF UK and the other by eminent Bradford journalist and fiction writer Mr. Maqsood Ellahie Sheikh, Sitara-e-Imtiaz. Both the writers of these papers paid glowing tributes to the great poet by appreciating his poetry and enumerating his services to the working classes by writing profusely against the military dictatorship and the feudal and capitalist classes combine, caring a fig even for courting arrest, persecution and banishment from the homeland.
Comrade Avtar Sadiq Secretary Association of Indian Communists UK, in his speech said that Ahmed Faraz was a continuation of the Progressive writers Association that was established in 1936 after the Great Recession and its founders were Sajjad Zaheer, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Sahibzada Mahmood-uz-Zafar and Munshi Prem Chand. He said that like the great Recession of 1931, the capitalist system is once again crumbling. Based as it is on the exploitation of the working classes, no amount of injection of billions of pounds into its ailing body can relieve it. It is our duty that we must not spare any efforts in exposing its anti-people character and thus discord it for ever. Commenting on the recent terrorist attacks on Munbai, he said that there are quite a few miscreants both in India and Pakistan who are perpetually creating hurdles in the way of normalization of relations between the two neighbours. We must make conscious efforts to thwart their acts of subversion and sabotage.
Hafeez Joher and Mumtaz Awan recited their poems and paid tributes to Ahmed Faraz. Mohsin Zulfiqar, an eminent educationist presented English translation of Farazâs famous poem âMahasraâ (The Siege) in a very impressive style. Comrade Serwan Singh of Indian Workers Association expressed solidarity with the masses of South Asia for whose cause great poets like Ahmed Faraz have been projecting daringly. Ali Adaalat, a champion of the cause of Kashmiri diaspora spoke eloquently raising the issue of Kashmiri identity in Europe, America , Middle East and other parts of the world. He demanded unambiguously that when Kashmiris are neither Pakistanis nor Indians, then why are they not accorded their true identity in the world?
Dr Mukhtar-ud-Din Ahmed Mukhtar, an eminent poet and writer, while speaking to the audience, suggested a valuable amendment in the RESOLUTION presented before the house by Prof. Nazir Tabassum, condemning the recent terrorist attacks on Mumbai. His suggestion was thankfully acknowledged and incorporated in the amended version of the Resolution.
Others who spoke on the occasion included Dyal Singh Baghri President Indian Workers Association (IWA), Asif Nasim Rathore, Ms. Shehzana Hashmi, Ms. Mubarak Iqbal, Ms. Sakina Zafar Tabinda, Raja Rashid Bhatti, Ahmed Nizami, Yasir, Trade Unionist Lala Younis, Tariq Mahmood, Mian Mubashar Alim.
Mr. Aslam Lone, a journalist and writer, travelled all the way from Birmingham to participate in this event along with Mohammad Idress Mir.
Conspicuous among the speakers were Karal Dellas, an English poet, Peace and Stop THE WAR ACTIVIST, Bruce Barnes, a progressive English poet and writer, Mr. Garth, leader of the Alliance for Green Socialism. All of them joined their South Asian friends in paying respects to the famous Urdu Poet Ahmed Faraz.
The Resolution, duly amended, of condemnation of Mumbai terrorist attacks was passed unanimously by the house. At the end, Mr. Arif Kamal, one of the specialist guests, presented to Prof. Nazir Tabassum âChains to loseâ a biography of Dada Amir Haider Khan, veteran communist leader of South Asia . The meeting ended with the observation of two minutes silence to pay respects to Ahmed Faraz. (EOM)
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Resolution Passed at Condolence Reference dated 29th November
This august House expresses strong displeasure, resentment and condemnation over the ruthless killing of more than 172 innocents persons and injuring of a lot more of them in the recent terrorist attacks on Mumbai hotels.
This House expresses all its sympathies with the family members of all those who were either killed or injured or suffered losses in any form as a result of these inhuman and barbaric acts of violence against the peaceful citizens of India and the foreign travellers to that country.
This House strongly urges the governments of South Asian region to refrain from starting any fresh conflicts in the region in the backdrop of Mumbai terrorist attacks.
This House urges the governments in the region to take remedial measures in harnessing the forces hostile to the establishment of normal fraternal relations between the people and the governments of the region without any break in the ongoing process of establishing cultural, political and trade relations between the people and the governments of the region.
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Press Statement:
Bradford:
South Asian Peoples Forum UK, has strongly condemned the terrorist attacks on Bombay hotels in which more than 119 innocent people were killed and many more were injured.
Co-ordinators of South Asian Peoples Forum UK Pervez Fateh, Khalid Saeed Qureshi and Prof. Nazir Tabassum said that terrorism in South Asia is escalating day by day.
It is putting at risk the safety and security of masses indiscriminately. It is the root cause of checking the economic progress of the region when capitalism and globalism have already made life a hell of the working classes to the limit that it is now threatening the very capitalist class that perpetrates it.
The leaders of the South Asian Peoples Forum have demanded from the governments of the region to check the unruly behaviour of their respective intelligence agencies who are the masterminds behind all this fatal drama.
They have expressed sympathies with the families of those innocents who were killed or injured in this gory act.
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