Sibtul Hassan Zaigham was a Mazdoor Kissan Party member and organiser, and close associate of Ishaque Muhammad. His analyses of key texts from the Punjabi oral tradition crucially informed the cultural work of the party in Punjab. In particular, he focused his attention on a progressive interpretation of the works of Waris Shah, eighteenth century bard and author of the extremely popular folk narrative, Heer Ranjha, or Heer Waris Shah. Zaigham started the “Majlis Waris Shah”, a dedicated space for reading and discussing Waris Shah in Gujranwala, Punjab. He also published an edited manuscript of nineteenth century Punjabi poet Mian Muhammad Buksh’s iconic epic, Saif ul Mulook. Zaigham went on to found the Punjabi Adabi Board (Board of Punjabi Literature) and served as its first secretary.

His person and work embodied the synthesis between the MKP’s Maoist focus on organising in the countryside with a Marxist-inspired language politics that emphasised the importance of regional cultures of resistance.