THERE may not be many who would recall the role played by Shanta Zaibunnisa Bukhari for the labourers in the country. Born in March 1927 in a village in Rajasthan. Shanta was not even 10 years of age when, like other girls in the area, she started working at a local textile mill.

She became active in the trade union movement at an early age, and was only 16 when she attended a labour conference in Ahmedabad. Married to comrade Syed Jamaluddin Bukhari, Shanta moved to Karachi in May 1943, where the office of the Communist Party of India became her home. She organised assemblies of women workers, including domestic helpers, and made them aware of their rights.

After the government banned the party, the office was sealed in July 1948 and her husband was arrested under the Safety Act. It was a difficult time for Shanta but she showed great courage in continuing with trade union activities alongside her efforts to get her husband released from the prison.

Party funds amounting to Rs28,000 in cash, keys of the party office, a printing press and a flat were with Shanta, who, on the advice of her husband, handed everything in August 1948 to comrade Sajjad Zaheer, who had been appointed general secretary of the Communist Party of Pakistan.

In March 1949, comrade Bukhari was released, but Karachi was declared off-limits for him. He moved to Larkana. Shanta stayed with him till the very end, constantly trying to change things for the better through struggle.

Syed Mukarram Sultan Bukhari
Karachi

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2023