by: Khalid Hashmani

During the months of July and August, many in Sindh are celebrating sacrifice of Shaheed Nazir Abbasi as he was last arrested on July 30, 1980 by spy agency, who tortured him, until he died on August 9, 1989. An excellent write-up on him in Sindhi by Hasan Mujtab is accessible at the following link:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/13595152/shahid-nazir-abbasi

A synopsis on Nazir Abbasi’s life primarily based on that article, written by me, is given below.

One may disagree with some of the aspects of Nazir’s political views, but there is no doubt that he was one of the greatest sons of Sindh. He spent much of his life to seek justice for the poor people of Pakistan and died bravely fighting one of the cruelest dictators of all times.

Let us all salute to Nazir Abbasi’s bravery and pray that God will bestow many more Nazir Abbasi to Sindh, who will fight to bring justice to Sindhis and others!

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Nazi Abbasi – A legendary Hero of Sindh

Nazir Abbasi was the most courageous and bold Sindhi student leaders who was killed by Zia-ul Haq’s brutal ISI. Then colonel Imtiaz (and later Brigadier) tortured him and his cruel ISI subordinates the likes of who continue to hunt Sindhis and Baluch even today.

The Peoples Party made a historic promise bring to justice all the culprits who killed Nazir Abbasi. Although a case was filed during the last short rule of Benazir Bhutto, who had promised to fight for justice for Nazir Abbasi, the current leaders of PPP have forgotten that historic promise. Mr. Hasan Mujtaba says that he does not believe that it going to happen because the senior leaders of PPP would immediately receive protest calls from Nawaz Sharif, General Kiyani, and General Musharraf.

Mr. Mujtaba criticizes the rule of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and says scores of student leaders were jailed during his rule and Bhutto did not even spare family members of students. He cites the example of Nazir Abbasi, when the police could not catch him once, Bhutto’s regime-imprisoned mother, father, brothers, and sisters of Nazir Abbasi in Tando Allahyar jail.

Nazir Abbasi believed in the revolution of the benefit of poor people. His belief in the revolution was so strong that people used say he is married to the “revolution” . Nazir had a beautiful voice and no one could stop him from singing whether he was on rail or in jail. His singing style was like famous Sindhi singer Dholan Fakir. When in 1978, he was incarcerated in Quetta jail; his singing impressed the jail guards so much that every day they wanted to hear him sing and frequented him to sing. He was also arrested in veining days of Bhutto rule. He spent much of his adult life in prison under Pakistan Defense Rules. He was the President of Sindh National Student Federation and in later years to formulate a Pakistan-level student body called “Pakistan Federal Union of Students. This mage Zia-ul Haq very angry and he ordered Nazir Abbasi’s arrest immediately while Nazir Abbasi’s wife Hamida Ghanghro was already in jail.

With Colonel Imtiaz being in charge of ISI Sindh, who began a new phase of extreme torture against Sindhi activists. Nazir Abbasi was arrested with his friends Suhail Sangi (now journalist), Badar Abro, and Kamal Warsi. After extreme torture, the extent of which only the culprits and God knows, he died from serious injuries from torturer on 9 August 1989. An official of Edhi Foundation said that the condition of Nazir Abbasi’s dead body was had so many injuries that it seemed as if some one had attacked every part of his body with a broken glass bottle. Nazir Abbasi is buried in Hyderabad’s Sakhi Hasan graveyard.

Many Sindhis consider Nazir Abbasi only next to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto as having severely opposed the regime of Zia-ul Haq. Like Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, he too gave his life. A revolutionary friend of Nazir Abbasi once remarked that “He was killed behind bars, otherwise no one as bold and as courageous was among the Pakistan’s revolutionary cadres”.

Courtesy: Sindhi e-lists/ e-groups, August 1, 2009

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