Ishaque Muhammad
Ishaque Muhammad was among the founding members of the Mazdoor Kissan Party. His analyses on culture, language, politics, and peasant struggle frequently appeared in the Circular. Ishaque also wrote two plays, Kuknus and Mussalli. Mussalli centres rural Dalit subjectivity as the source of revolutionary consciousness in post-colonial Pakistan, pushing against the orthodox Marxist focus on the urban proletariat.
▴ Ishaque Muhammad
▴ An elegy for Ishaque Muhammad, penned by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, famous progressive poet, Communist, and editor of the Afro-Asian publication, Lotus. They were incarcerated together, along with Sajjad Zaheer, a founding member of the AIPWA, for the 1951 Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case.
Hassan Nasir Ki Shahadat (The Martydom of Hassan Nasir)
The cover of Major Ishaque’s book on Hassan Nasir (1928-1960), titled Hassan Nasir Ki Shahadat (The Martydom of Hassan Nasir). Nasir was an anti-colonial leader and Communist organiser. He fought in the peasant struggle in Telangana, Hyderabad, in present-day India, migrating to Pakistan in 1947 to escape the Indian Army’s brutal crackdown on the movement. He served as General Secretary of the proscribed Communist Party of Pakistan. Nasir was eventually arrested and imprisoned in 1960. Reports of torture leading to his death sparked protests across the country.
▴ A Gurmukhi edition of Ishaque Muhammad’s Kuknas published in East Punjab. Picture Courtesy: Kitab Trinjan