End of an era

B M Kutty, or more correctly Biyyothil Mohyuddin Kutty, left his home in Kerala in 1959 and moved to Pakistan. During his 69 years in Pakistan, Kutty proved quietly and eloquently why he was respected by so many politicians in the country regardless of their political leanings. Kutty himself brought a little bit of Kerala’s long leftist legacy to Pakistan with him and followed it all his life until his death following a long illness on Sunday. A human rights activist and political worker, Kutty was general secretary of the Pakistan Peace Coalition, a group working to promote peace between India and Pakistan. He championed many progressive causes, but is perhaps best known as a close confidante of veteran Baloch leader Ghaus Baksh Bizenjo who served as governor of Balochistan in 1972. He shared the nationalist politics of Bizenjo and remained loyal to the cause for the remainder of his life. Kutty had became affiliated with the Communist Party while still in Kerala. He said in his book that he left simply for the sake of exploration, adventure and to experience a new place. The home he chose for himself was Karachi.

Through his long career, he often worked with the Pakistan Awami League, the Azad Pakistan Party in Lahore and was an active member of the National Awami Party. He worked as joint secretary for the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD) for three years during the Zia era. In his writings, Kutty has written of a time when no passports were needed to cross the border drawn up between India and Pakistan and when the currency notes were the same, with ‘Government of Pakistan’ superimposed on top of the notes issued in India. As a journalist, a business manager, a trade unionist, a publisher, a political worker, a leftist intellectual and an author, Kutty leaves behind a long legacy. It will be an extremely difficult one to fill at a time when leftist ideology has increasingly vanished from the political scene and tensions between Pakistan and India are at an all-time high. In a world such as this – and a region such as South Asia – people like B M Kutty are rare and badly needed.