We last met at his office in early August 2010, when he had convened a meeting of Christian clergy and community leaders to discuss the impact of blasphemy laws on poor Christians and other minorities. His early departure has impoverished the rights movement.
From the Cathedral in Lal Kurti, some of us rushed to the Army Graveyard, near the old Rawalpindi neighbourhood of Westridge, to say the last prayers and witness the burial of a great humanist, an ardent believer in socialist ideals, poet, writer, trade unionist and a leading light in the fight for freedom of expression and speech in Pakistan, Minhaj Barna. He stood firm all along and led both working journalists and press workers through Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists and All Pakistan Newspaper Employees’ Confederation during the most oppressive years of martial rules in Pakistan. He did not surrender his ideals or compromised on his struggle, both for press freedom and for the economic rights of both working journalists and other newspaper employees. He was imprisoned a number of times, even under civilian regimes.
Minhaj Barna had moved to Rawalpindi from Karachi in the later years of his life to live with his daughter and her family. His ailing health restricted his movement to an extent. However, I remember my last meeting with the fair skinned, short, old and physically frail but a thoroughly satisfied and optimistic Barna Sahib when Kishwar Naheed organised a dinner in his honour.
The real tribute one could pay to both Sada and Barna is to keep their struggles alive.
The writer is an Islamabad-based poet, political analyst and advisor on public policy. Email: harris.khalique@gmail.com
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