Aez Azizi belonged to that breed of revolutionaries who spend their entire lives in pursuit of dreams for a society free of classes. They aim at freeing the common people from the clutches of the exploitative class; for this they withstand the state oppression with great fortitude.

Aez Azizi (1938-2013) jotted down some short and long pieces about his comrades who were standing with him in their joint struggle among the various parties of the left in Pakistan. He wanted to compile a book of his remembrances of the years he spent in left politics but, sadly, he breathed his last before the book could be published. Thanks to the efforts of his son Ahmar Azizi, the book Rafeeqan-e Sidq-o Wafa has seen the light of the day.

It is important to read the book in order to understand the left-oriented politics of the country. Aez Azizi has cherished the memories of his friends in the communist movement who remained steadfast till the end in the hard days of struggle. He nostalgically remembers the ‘rebel prince’ Hasan Nasir who was brutally tortured to death in November 1960. After his cruel death, Hasan Nasir has risen to be an iconic figure of the left parties as we still see his picture on pamphlets and posters in their gatherings.

It was late 1950s when Aez Azizi came into contact with Hasan Nasir who was then staying in Karachi. Due to his commitment and hardwork, Azizi became a close confidante of Hasan Nasir as they both visited the far flung areas of the city to meet their comrades and to organise the affairs of the communist party. He remembers how they pasted posters in the city, decrying the raise in bus fares which prompted the administration to withdraw the excess fare.

In those days, they tried to champion the cause of the common man. In the detailed sketch of Hasan Nasir, we get to know how passionate he was about organising the party -- almost on a war footing. He happily lived in very poor and abject environs although he belonged to an elite class family of Hyderabad Deccan. The portrait of Hasan Nasir has been drawn with a lot of love and devotion by Azizi and it tells us about the many facets of his personality. As Nasir was under the observation of the special branch people, he had to make himself adept at masquerading to avoid being arrested. However, one day he was picked by the ‘keepers of the national sovereignty’; thus started an era of missing persons in the newly-founded state of Pakistan.

Azizi and all the left comrades were aghast at his arrest but the worse was yet to come; they didn’t know the state authorities will go to such an extent by suffocating the dissenting voices in a macabre way. When his mother Zehra Alamdar Hussain came to Pakistan to see and receive the dead body of his son, she found out that the corpse she was shown wasn’t of his beloved son but someone else.

Aez Azizi has also devoted pages for other legends of the left movement in Pakistan in his book. We are acquainted with the titan Dada Ameer Haider whom the writer met at his dingy residence in Mohanpura, Rawalpindi. Though the piece runs like an essay instead of a sketch, it fondly remembers another giant of a leader who also wanted a Pakistan free of any sort of exploitation and classes. Comrade Nazeer Abbasi who bravely fought against the authoritarian rule of Yahya Khan and Ziaul Haq has also been portrayed by Azizi. Nazeer Abbasi also fell victim to the reign of terror unleashed by Zia. He was brutally murdered by the state authorities in 1980. He died in 1980 but continues live in the hearts of all the people who speak of people’s right and democracy.

Comrade Azizi also pays tribute to Haider Bakhsh Jatoi, Aizaz Nazeer (who was Azizi’s elder brother and a die-hard comrade in his own right), Syed Sajjad Zaheer, Mirza Ibrahim, Imam Ali Nazish, Dr Rehman Ali Hashmi, Fatehullah Usmani, Comrade Abdus Salam, Ruknuddin Qasmi, Iqbal Alvi, Dr Muhammad Ali Siddiqui etc. There are short pieces of many a lesser-known communist worker like Saeen Azizullah, whom Hussain Shaheed Suhrawady gave immense respect and trust, Sharaf Ali, Rehmat Ali, Wahab Kanpuri, and a few others.

This book is a valuable addition to the left literature and will help the historians to draw an objective picture of the left politics in Pakistan.