Eminent philosopher Rasool Bux Palijo remembered

Scores of ideologists, social scientists, researchers, writers, historians, and poets from various parts of Sindh converged in Thatta on Tuesday to pay homage to iconic nationalist, philosopher and a vivid advocate of Sindh’s riparian rights Rasool Bux Palijo on his 4th death anniversary, which was commemorated in his hometown Jungshai.

Earlier, his son Noor Nabi Palijo, Veteran Nationalist and Founding member of his party Quomi Awami Tahereek Dada Abdul Qadir Ranto, Advocate Sajjad Chandio, nationalist leader Ilahi Bux Bikik and others along with a large number of his admirers and supporters laid floral wreaths and traditional Ajraks on the mausoleum of the eminent nationalist leader who has several progressive initiatives to his credit.

A great political figure in Pakistan, who struggled against four military dictatorships to help restore democracy. He founded Awami Tehreek in 1978 and broke new ground by mobilizing men, women, and students to join his party. A well-read man, he was influenced by the writings of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and Ho Chi-Minh. He opposed Pakistan’s pro-American foreign policy and believed in the class struggle. Among Pakistani politicians he admired were ZA Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto, GM Syed, Akbar Bugti, Khair Bux Mari, Attaullah Mengal, Wali Khan, Begum Naseem Wali Khan, and Mahmood Khan Achakzai. A lawyer by profession, he was a poet, short-story writer, orator, and literary critic and went to jail 12 times for his radical ideas.

Later speakers at a well-attended gathering in his hometown shed light on political and social aspects of his life by calling him a true supporter of Sindh’s rights as per the Lahore Resolution of 1940.

They held that he for the first time in history highlighted the case of the Indus river and Indus delta by arranging mass gatherings in different parts of Sindh. Baloch leader Abdul Rauf Mengal said that Palijo mobilized like-mind leaders from across the country to set into motion the struggle against the dictatorial regime of Zia-ul-Haq, adding that ahead of that he also played a vital part in doing away with a one-unit scheme that was against provincial autonomy.