By Aziz Narejo, TX

As we fight our present wars and honor our heroes of the day, we should not forget our leaders and our heroes of the past who led us during some of the turbulent times of our history, fought our wars, never compromised on principles, sacrificed their freedom and liberty and faced incarceration and tortures under previous dictators at various prisons and torture houses including the infamous Lahore Fort.

Let me remind you one such personality Comrade Haider Bux Jatoi with whom I had an honor of meeting a few times.

He was a humanist and a poet who felt the pain of the wretched of the earth and devoted his life to lessen their sufferings and their anguish. He quit a high position in British Raj bureaucracy to fight for the cause of the downtrodden. He was put in jail for so many times and for so long periods but it couldn’t diminish his spirit.

He remained a guiding star and the vanguard of peasant’s movement for over a quarter of a century and fought for the national, democratic, social, cultural and economic rights of our people. He is rightly considered as a non-controversial leader. His name was synonymous with the struggle of the oppressed people.

We miss him today when the feudalism has reemerged as a menacing power and along with naked opportunism, urban terrorism and lawlessness, it is disfiguring our society. We need leaders like him today to give us courage and inspiration and lead us in the war against the forces of darkness and the oppression.

Friends, it is the day to remember and pay homage to our great leader Comrade Haider Bux Jatoi who departed us 38 years ago today (21st May).

May 21, 2008