While reflecting on the general claim advanced in Pakistani history and Pakistan Studies textbooks that Pakistan was conceived and created in the name of religion, one wonders why the likes of Sibte Hasan and Sajjad Zaheer opted to migrate to that polity in 1947. Sajjad Zaheer went back to India or, as it is widely believed, was extradited because of his role in the Rawalpindi Conspiracy case. Whatever might be the reason of Zaheer’s relocation back to India, he surely found the socio-political terrain of Pakistan not at all conducive for socialism, which he thought was the only just code of life.
Contrary to Zaheer, Sibte Hasan decided to stay on. Until his death in 1986, Sibte Hasan kept striving for socialism to sprout and foment in a society that was steeped in religion. That was undoubtedly a herculean task.
In fact, in the entire South Asian region, religion had re-invented itself after the post-mutiny reform period. All religions were drastically redefined in the light of contemporary challenges posed to them, largely by the proselytisation of the Christian missionaries. Sang Sabah (Sikhs), Arya Samaj (Hindus) and Deoband Movement (Muslims) brought in puritanical streak in all three religions.
Resultantly, their acceptability for each other as well as for any other system was severely pared down. Despite the Indian National Congress’ call for an all-encompassing nationalism, religion stayed as a major social force. Even a leader of Jawaharlal Nehru’s stature, while being interviewed by the French writer, Andre Malraux had to confess that the greatest difficulty, which he had to confront as the Prime Minister of India was, "creating a secular state in a religious country."
Narendra Modi’s ascendancy to power affirms the power of religion in the social arena. Socialistic model is left to fend for itself in a hostile environment with Tatas, Ambanis and Bajajs ruling the roost.
The situation in Pakistan was even more antagonistic for a system like socialism to establish roots. Idealists like Sibte Hasan, Zaheer and Faiz Ahmed Faiz still took the chance. All of them had their own share of sufferings but Sibte Hasan bore the maximum brunt. Like Saadat Hasan Manto, perhaps the partition of India brought nothing but trouble for him.
Sensitive minds nurtured in a poly-communal milieu could not sufficiently cope with a state formed with monolithic ideals. The neo-colonial structure of the state was equally inimical to Sibte Hasan’s anti-capitalist ideology, calling for a radical change in the social formation. However, before analysing the life and contribution of Sibte Hasan, his brief introduction seems in order.
Syed Sibte Hasan was an eminent scholar, journalist and activist of Pakistan. He is regarded as the pioneer of socialism and Marxism in Pakistan, as well as the moving spirit behind the Progressive Writers Association. Sibte Hasan was born in 1916 in Ambari, District Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, to a family of aristocrats. He graduated from Aligarh Muslim University. For higher studies he went to Columbia University, USA. In 1942, Sibte Hasan joined the Communist Party of India.
It is important to note that the Communist Party was formed by Sajjad Zaheer and Faiz initially in Calcutta in 1946 and later on it was shifted to Pakistan. Sibte Hasan was among the first ones to join it. After partition, he migrated to Pakistan and settled in Lahore while his family was still in India. He also served as the editor of noted journals including Naya Adab and Lail-o-Nehar. Lail-o-Nehar was a left wing magazine published by the Progressive Papers founded by Mian Iftikhar ud Din. Sibte Hasan was its founding editor.
Read also:100 Years With Sibte Hasan
When Ayub Khan took over the Progressive Papers, Sibte Hasan was summarily sacked. He had to contend with unemployment, incarceration and unfulfilled ideals. In Pakistan, he remained in hiding for many years. When he was not hiding, he was in jail. In the later days of his life, he had to shift to Karachi where he did most of his writing. He died of a heart attack on April 20, 1986 in New Delhi while returning from a conference in India. He was buried in Karachi.
The fascinating feature of Sibte Hasan’s scholarship is history as his preferred choice of epistemic articulation. Pakistan mein Tehzeeb ka Irtaqa and Mazi kay Mazar are remarkable illustrations of historical writing. The commendable aspects of these books are their accessible style and credible sources on which the narrative is based. His writing style won him many admirers and even many more readers. He was perhaps the pioneer historian on Pakistan who explored the cultural-civilisational dimension of its history. Besides, he underscored the geographical specificity in the formulation of history. His work is beyond any doubt the best exposition on the Sindh Valley civilization.
Among the ones writing history in Urdu, Sibte Hasan is the solitary figure who pushed his pen on cultural history. It is also surprising that though Sibte Hasan was essentially trained as a journalist, his prowess on history writing was admirable.
His book Navid-i-Fikr too is a study in history but its orientation is more intellectual than merely historiographic. He brought in Islamic sources to prove his point which made that book controversial in the 1980s and provided the Zia regime an excuse to ban Navid-i-Fikar. Themes like Theocracy and Secularism evoked acerbic response from the right-wing intellectuals. Many of them vouched to write its rejoinder but no one succeeded.
For the students as well as mature readers these books are a must read. Musa Say Marx Tak is the most perceptive endeavour to make sense of Marxism. That book belied my own long-held assumption that Marxism and Marxist philosophy cannot be expressed in Urdu. Sibte Hasan was an amazing writer. His writings in Lail-o-Nehar are extremely valuable. These pieces ought to be published in a book form so that his fans and the general readers can benefit from his opinions on various themes of vital importance.