Fanoos Gujjar

Fanoos Gujjar (Urdu: فانوس گجر), (1958 - December 1, 2018) was a left-wing Pakistani politician from Buner, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He was the founding chairperson and president of Awami Workers Party. He spent his life in grass root struggle for the rights of minorities, workers, peasants, women and students.[1]

Fanoos Gujjar
فانوس گجر
Born
Fanoos Gujjar

1958
Buner, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
DiedDecember 1, 2018
Buner, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
NationalityPakistani
Known forFounding chairperson and president of the socialist political party, Awami Workers Party

Early life and Education

Gujjar was born in 1958 in union council Chagharzai, Buner, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the house of Haji Zafar Khan. He received his initial education in the district Buner and graduation from the Buner Government College and later in Lahore.[2]

In Peshawar, Gujjar contributed to the left-wing newspaper "Daily Shehbaz" and as editor of the newspaper "Jiddat" in Peshawar.[1]

Politics

Ideology

Gujjar was a socialist and he believed in progressive politics.[3] He was grass root organizer of politics of resistance and even with small number of resources, he stayed committed to the left-wing politics.[4]

Political beginning

Gujjar started his political career in his student life in early 1970s by joining, a left-wing students’ body, National Students Federation. He also remained part of Democratic Students Federation and Pukhtun Student Federation.[1][2] In 1980s, Gujjar formed the "Gujjar Youth Forum" to help underrepresented Gujjar community. He also remained part of the peasant movement in Karachi and later joined communist party.[3] During 1984-85, he worked with Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Bacha Khan) and later with his son Wali Khan.[1] He was arrested and faced imprisonments many times during dictatorship of Ziaul Haq. Under captivity, he was being tortured and one of his kidneys got severely affected, he was on dialysis for many years.[2] He left the Awami National Party in 1988, when he was not awarded the ticket for National Assembly. He chose to contest as independent candidate in elections on NA-28 in which he got 17,000 votes.[1] He was part of Movement for the Restoration of Democracy and the National Awami Party.[5]

Pakistan Awami Party

Gujjar started his political journey across the country in 1990s and brought people from lower classes together to form “Pakistan Awami Party”.[1][6]

Gujjar welfare society

He belonged to a community called Gujjar which is one of the most oppressed, socially deprived caste system in the KP region. He raised the network of solidarity to fight against the injustice faced by his community specifically students and youth. Gujjar laid foundation of Gujjar welfare society in 2008-09 with the help of students from Gujjar community in universities of Peshawar to help and encourage students from this community.[4]

Awami Workers Party

Gujjar struggled to gather three left-wing progressive political parties (the Awami Party Pakistan, the Labour Party Pakistan and the Workers Party Pakistan) at one platform to form “Awami Workers Party” in 2012 and elected as chairman of the party.[7][8][9][10][11] He was elected as president of AWP in its second congress in 2016.[12][13][14] Gujjar contested general elections 2018 from his native constituency, Buner, KP.[15]

Pashtun Protection Movement

Gujjar, despite facing discrimination in Pashtun society, he raised his voice against the oppression Pashtuns faced and stood in solidarity with Pashtun Protection Movement.[4][16][17]

Death

Gujjar had been suffering from multiple diseases and left with just one kidney for the past decade. He died on December 1, 2018 due to cardiac arrest. His funeral held in his native village Riyal, Union Council Batala, district Buner which was attended by thousands of people from all fields of life.[13][18]

References
  1. "The secular dreamer: AWP president Fanoos Gujjar laid to rest". The Express Tribune. December 3, 2018.
  2. Correspondent, The Newspaper's (2 December 2018). "AWP chairman Fanoos Gujjar passes away". DAWN.COM.
  3. "فانوس گوجر کی یاد میں". Baam-e-Jahan. December 2, 2019.
  4. Shah, Hurmat Ali (10 December 2018). "Fanoos Gujjar: A legacy of resistance". Naya Daur.
  5. Reporter, The Newspaper's Staff (2 February 2019). "Reference held in memory of Fanoos Gujjar". DAWN.COM.
  6. "RAWA function on International Women's Day, March 8, 2002 - Peshawar". www.rawa.org. March 9, 2002.
  7. "The left unites: To offer an alternative to status quo, new left party formed". The Express Tribune. November 3, 2012.
  8. "The Left way: AWP vows to struggle for 'real' change, egalitarian society". The Express Tribune. September 29, 2014.
  9. "AWP calls for revival of working class politics". www.thenews.com.pk. September 30, 2014.
  10. Baloch, Saher (16 October 2016). "Left-wing political parties key to counter society's militarisation: AWP". DAWN.COM.
  11. "Privatization, Roots for Equity". January 31, 2018.
  12. "Way forward: Fanoos Gujjar takes up AWP mantle". October 18, 2016.
  13. "AWP President Fanoos Gujjar dies of cardiac arrest | The High Asia Herald". thehighasia. December 1, 2018.
  14. "Eight-party Left Alliance demands immediate release of all political prisoners". Daily Times. 25 May 2018.
  15. "Fanoos Gujjar NA-9". Vote For AWP!. Awami Workers Party. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  16. "Solidarity with the Pashtun Protection Movement | League for the Fifth International". fifthinternational.org. April 22, 2018.
  17. "PTM rally in Lahore". www.thenews.com.pk. April 23, 2018.
  18. "Fanoos Gujjar was a true leader of working class: Bizenjo". Dawn. 6 December 2018. Retrieved 14 January 2019.

See also
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.