Jam Saqi
| Jam Saqi ڄام ساقي | |
|---|---|
|
Jam Saqi | |
| Born |
October 31, 1944 Chhachro, Tharparkar, Sindh, Pakistan |
| Residence | Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan |
Jam Saqi (Sindhi: ڄام ساقي) (born October 31, 1944) is left-wing politician from Sindh, Pakistan. He was previously general secretary of the Communist Party of Pakistan. Saqi was imprisoned for more than 15 years because of his political activities. He left the Communist Party in 1991 and joined the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Trotskyist The Struggle group. He is married to Akhtar Sultana.
Biography
Born in village Janjhi, Taluka Chhachhro, Tharparkar, Saqi passed his matriculation examinations from Local Board High School, Chachro in 1962. Later, he studied at Government College, Sachal Sarmast Arts College Hyderabad, and Sindh University, Jamshoro from where he did his Master’s. In an interview Jam Saqi recounted later that a retired primary teacher Inayatullah Dhamchar put him in touch with the underground Communist Party of Pakistan.
Saqi, a fiery student leader of yesteryear’s, founded Sindh National Students Federation (SNSF) – a student wing of Communist Party on November 3, 1968, of which he was the founder president with Nadeem Akhter as the founding vice president and Mir Thebo as general secretary of the organization. Small wonder, then, that Pakistan People’s Party emerged victorious in Sindh and Punjab, Awami League in East Pakistan and National Awami Party in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Balochistan. All of them had socialist leaning,” Saqi told The News.
However, he regretted that while Bhutto and Maulana Bhashani openly espoused socialism, the communist cadre was taught to refrain themselves to the slogan of national democratic revolution. In 1971 when a military operation was initiated in East Pakistan, his organization brought out rallies against the military junta in Hyderabad and Nawabshah.
In 1983, he along with Prof. Jamal Naqvi, Sohail Sangi, Badar Abro, Kamal Warsi and Shabir Shar was tried in a military court for allegedly acting against the ideology of Pakistan. Stalwarts, such as Baloch leader Mir Ghous Bux Bizenjo, Benazir Bhutto, Khan Abdul Wali Khan, Tahira Mazhar Ali Khan, Mairaj Mohammad Khan, Fatehyab Ali Khan, Maulana Shah Mohammed Amroti, Manhaj Burna, Shaikh ALi Mohammad, Shaikh Aziz some renowned journalists and so on, were his defence witnesses. This case is also known as communist case or Jam Saqi case.
Jam Saqi is also an author. He has written a novelet “Khahori Khijan”, a book about students movement in Sindh “Sindh Ji Shagrid Tahreek”, while his court statements in the special military courts were published in book format (in both Urdu and Sindhi medium) with the names “Tareekh Moonkhay na wesarreendi” and “Zameer ke Qaidi”.