Mairaj Mohammed Khan reminisces about the early days of students’ politics

If we ever had our version of Veterans’ Day, surely Mairaj Mohammed Khan, a leader of the student-driven 1968 resistance movement, would be honoured on that particular day along with other forgotten heroes of that particular movement.

Unfortunately, our indifference has plummeted to such deplorable levels that one does not bother digging into the past; however, it is imperative to recall that landmark agitation for it was a precursor to the 2007 lawyers’ movement. Back then the campaign was carried out against a military dictator Ayub Khan and later, the lawyers’ movement was galvanised against an autocrat named General (retd) Pervez Musharraf.

Before Khan saab talks about his and his colleagues’ role in the 1968 movement, he emphasises recalling the earlier student-led agitations and their sacrifices since they laid the foundation for their campaign. “Around 1953, the Muslim League came into power; there was no opposition to speak of. It was the students who stepped into the opposition’s role. These were those progressive student leaders who believed in the Quaid’s dream — a nation free of feudalism, capitalism, exploitation and discrimination. They believed that that the new country would be a welfare state, where there would be free primary and secondary education for all. But when they arrived here after the Partition, they were deeply distressed as they could see nothing of Quaid’s vision for the new country.

“Mohammad Sarwar, Adibul Hasan Rizvi, Haroon Ahmed, Mazhar Saeed were some of the leading names who organised protests and rallies. Initially part of the Democratic Students’ Federation (DSF), they later formed the All Pakistan Students Federation. When the government banned this organisation, the student leaders re-thought their strategy. They floated the idea that unknown student leaders should penetrate an organisation called the National Students Federation, which up till then was involved in social work. Once they became part of NSF, they changed its constitution and organised elections which they won.”

While all this was happening Khan Saab was completing his matriculation but he was keenly watching the movement along with his brother Minhaj Burna, who too became an active member of NSF eventually. Meraj Mohammad Khan’s father was a practitioner of tibb and his mother was a traditional housewife who inculcated a strong sense of right and wrong in her children.

“The government had up till then ignored NSF but in 1956 a huge rally was taken out during the Suez Canal crisis and the government became alert to NSF’s activities. When Ayub Khan signed Cento and Seato pacts, and US President Dwight Eisenhower visited Pakistan in 1959, the student leaders, trade union leaders, intellectuals, were arrested once again as they were against western aid and treaties. I too was arrested, although I was a small time NSF sympathiser, and spent a couple of months in Karachi Jail.

“Then Ayub Khan formed a Sharif Education Commission. This further infuriated the students who were already upset over the imposition of dictatorship. The students had valid reasons to be upset over the recommendations of the Commission. For instance under the University Ordinance, the vice-chancellor could confiscate the degree of an enrolled student without being challenged in the court of law. It even had a personal consequence on my academic studies. I was never given admission at the Karachi University despite my great desire to acquire a master’s degree. I remained BA LLB all my life. The introduction of the three-year bachelor degree and three-year law course meant that students would have to pay one more year’s fees and that made college education even more expensive.

“Other events also triggered unrest: Communal based riots took place in Jabalpur, Gujrat in India in which many Muslims were killed. The NSF called for a demonstration against these riots and thousands of people participated in the rally. The police had demarcated a line beyond which we could not go but we walked on. The women who resided in the apartments along the protest route bombarded the police with trash and stones. When the police came after us we would run into the residential buildings on Burnes Road; some of the residents even allowed us to take refuge in their homes. You see, even they were fed up with Ayub Khan. Needless to say overnight we were arrested again and tortured.

“Seeing all this Ayub Khan was compelled to bring out about political changes. He was probably afraid that this would lead to country-wide protests. He revived civil liberties, brought the political parties act and gave the Constitution. In 1963 Ayub Khan formed his party, Convention League, while the ousted prime minister, Khwaja Nazimuddin, formed Council League, a political party of which Fatima Jinnah became a member. Miss Jinnah and her supporters also joined our movement. I remember meeting Miss Jinnah for a few minutes as she was concerned that our agitation would instigate Ayub Khan to again impose martial law. So I went to meet her in disguise because the intelligence officials were keeping an eye on my whereabouts. She spoke to me in her broken Urdu and said, ‘tum log kya chahta hai larka log’. I told her that we want you to win the election and remove Ayub Khan from power. She first scolded me and then her tone changed and she even patted my shoulder; ‘tum log apna strike jaari rakho’, she said. When Ayub Khan’s Convention League’s convention was taking place in polo ground, Karachi, the NSF managed to successfully seize the stage from their leaders. I and Fatehyab Ali Khan quickly gave speeches at that stage in which we condemned Ayub Khan and his concept of Basic Democracies, and education reforms.

“In the evening we were all arrested and were sent into exile. But by then it was too late. Protests took place in Sindh University and were replicated in other universities and colleges in all the provinces. For two to three months students were protesting on the streets agitating against Ayub Khan and our arrests. Some of the female students even went on a hunger strike. Everyone came out and supported us whether it was business leaders or professionals or the general public.

“Finally Nawab of Kalabagh, the governor of West Pakistan, relented and asked the protest leaders to send a delegation to meet him and discuss their demands. He withdrew externment orders and the three-year-degree courses but told them that he could not withdraw the University ordinance since it was a central subject and it could only be dropped if they all came onto the streets and protested against Ayub Khan. Nevertheless this was a huge victory, not only for us but for the entire nation. In the 1965 presidential elections we supported Fatima Jinnah; even though she lost the elections the real loser was Ayub Khan. Then in 1965 the India-Pakistan war started. In 1968 we restarted the resistance movement because we were depressed about Fatima Jinnah’s loss. Some of us were arrested and were languishing in jail but then we had planned so well that the movement carried on in spite of the missing members. In West and East Pakistan protests were at their peak against the dictator and he had no choice but to quit. Unfortunately he handed his office to another dictator Yahya Khan.”

One of the only few living leaders of that movement, Khan saab nowadays leads a quiet life spending his time either with his grandchildren or reading books or if health permits him, attending meetings and seminars organised by trade union bodies or socialist-inclined parties who want to benefit from his knowledge in one way or the other.