smartcybers786@gmail.com 
#Pakistans #Pasionaria #Political #Economy
The 5th anniversary marked the birth centenary of one of Pakistan’s most charismatic feminist leaders and communist activists, who shaped the consciousness of millions of her countrymen over decades. Some of his contributions continue to shape the present.
Famous communist and women’s activist, Begum Tahira Mazhar Ali Khan (1925 – 2015), was born a hundred years ago on 5 January in Lahore to a feudal family headed by Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan, the powerful Pakistani leader. Tarin was one of the Zamindars. A leader of the pre-independence Punjab Unionist Party and chief minister of the province, he was a British loyalist. However, Tahira preferred the Congress, whose leader, Jawaharlal Nehru, later the first Prime Minister of India, was in secret correspondence about the War of Independence as well as reading lists. When she left the Communist Party of India – which she had joined at the age of 18 – to deliver a message about the party’s position on partition, she told Mr. Jinnah that she wanted to join his Muslim League instead. supports the Congress because the former spoke for all Indians. communities and not only for Muslims.
Tahira was as free-thinking in her personal life as she was in her politics. She married a cousin, Mazhar Ali Khan, who was unemployed at the time. He was a communist sympathizer and had been a student leader.
In the newly formed Pakistan, Tahira and her husband immersed themselves in working for the rights of the marginalized. She was the pioneer of women’s struggle in Pakistan. He saw no contradiction in supporting women’s rights and workers’ rights at the same time. Shostvis E donated her entire dowry to the Communist Party.
Tahira Mazhar Ali Khan was part of the first International Women’s Day celebrations in Pakistan in 1948. At his home in Lahore, he hosted many historic meetings and gatherings, including the founding of the Progressive Writers’ Association. This was also the period when a minister in Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s cabinet befriended Tahira and Mazhar.
Tahira was one of the founders of the Democratic Women’s Association. DWA was founded in 1950 with the support of the Communist Party to mobilize poor women and fight for their rights. It was more active and militant in support of women’s rights than the All Pakistan Women’s Association, formed a year earlier.
Tahira was a pioneer of women’s struggle in Pakistan for eight years. He saw no contradiction in supporting women’s rights and workers’ rights at the same time.
The DWA also played a role in raising anti-imperialist consciousness among Pakistani women regarding the growing conflicts of the time, such as the Vietnamese resistance to American intervention. Tahira Mazhar Ali was among the handful of West Pakistanis who protested against military action in the then East Pakistan.
Tahira Mazhar Ali Khan also strongly opposed the strict legislation during the reign of Zia-ul-Haq. In later years, despite ill health and the loss of Mazhar Ali Khan in 1993, she remained politically active and participated in every protest for the rights of the underprivileged. She passed away on March 23, 2015.
Sadly, most of the youth today have little or no idea of his heroic struggle. Now is the time to acknowledge his great services to the underprivileged people of Pakistan.
When ZAB stopped her son Tariq Ali, a noted writer and activist, from visiting Lahore in 1972, Tahira wrote a scathing message to her ‘friend’, accusing him of letting people down. Bhutto lifted the ban. Later, when he was facing murder charges in a Lahore jail, he had a cigar box as a gift. Whenever Tahira sought advice from her daughter Benazir, she was also kind to her.
His meeting with Begum Tahira at the end of his life has been one of the eternal memories with this scribe. I first met him in 2003 when I was working on a research project on the contribution of the Railway Workers Union to the struggle for democracy in Pakistan. She sat with me one afternoon and narrated her fascinating political journey from colonial India to independent Pakistan. He also suggested names of fellow communists, trade unionists and journalists whom I could contact for my research. With a twinkle in her eye, she recounted how a group of Vietnamese women, hosted by DWA in Lahore, sang ‘Pasionaria!’ The slogans erupted. Seeing this, referring to the name of the famous Spanish communist and anti-fascist leader Dolores Eberri
The author is a critic, translator and researcher based in Lahore. He is currently translating Mumtaz Shireen’s short stories and unfinished biography. He can be contacted at: razanaeem@hotmail.com. He tweets @raza_naeem1979.
