Leftist leader Dr Lal Khan passes away

LAHORE: Noted ideologue and Leftist leader Dr Lal Khan died Friday after suffering from cancer for more than a year.

He was a physician by profession but ceased practicing medicine. He was the leader of the Pakistani Marxist organization. He was also editor of his own newspaper The Struggle and wrote regular articles for an English and Urdu language newspapers. He was author of several books. In the 1970s, Khan was a medical student and a political activist in the country when the PPP government was toppled by Gen Zia’s military coup.

He was imprisoned for a year, then went to a university in Islamabad. He moved to Netherlands in 1980 and during his time in exile, he graduated from an Amsterdam university. He returned to the country in 1988 and quit his profession as a doctor, in order to work full-time for the politics of Left. He was the leading member of

The Struggle which is based on the ideas of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky and advocates a socialist transformation of Pakistan. He demanded the economy under workers control, an end to religious extremism and radicalism, eradication of unemployment and free accessible education for all the citizens.