Many battles are yet to be fought. We will not have Saeen Rasool Bukhsh Palijo physically present among us but his legacy, his undying spirit, his ever inspiring lessons, his institutional guidance and overall his ideals are very much here to provide the necessary stimuli for such battles

Ambassador Muhammad Alam Brohi

(On the occasion of 6th death anniversary of Rasool Bukhsh Palijo held on 7th June 2024)

This heroic sage who appeared on the horizon of Sindh from the small village of Mongur close to Jungshahi of Thatta district in January 1930 regained the embrace of his mother soil in June 2018 leaving behind a blazing trail of brilliant scholarly pursuits, rich political literature, ever inspiring books, a treasure trove of knowledge and research, a multi-faceted tale of political struggle, and above all, a strong corps of trained, disciplined, intellectually curious, ideologically motivated, politically conscious, well read and well-endowed leaders and activists who could be found in both genders and in every field of life who could fight as soldiers for the defence of their land and people on political and intellectual fronts in the footprints of their leader and mentor. They need to be collected on one platform, bound in a dynamic chain of an ideological struggle unleashing their energy and spirit, to carry forward the message of Late Rasool Bukhsh Palijo.

I just witnessed his political struggle from far off shores and boundaries being busy in my career in the Foreign Service of Pakistan that takes us from shore to shore, country to country and people to people, and makes us internationalist in our view and approach away from narrow nationalism and parochialism. However, I had never slackened in keeping myself abreast of the conditions in the land we look up to as our motherland, and particularly of the uniquely unorthodox, untraditional and, indeed, the legendary political and ideological struggle of Saeen Rasool Bukhsh Palijo in Sindh. I had many of his disciples in the circle of my friends who kept conveying to me the tales of his inspiring struggle.

Guns have fallen silent; the noise of soldiers has drowned in the depth of the night; but the war is far from over; many serious battles are yet to be fought.

Though I did not consider myself qualified to write about this giant of a person of Himalayan stature – a scholar and intellectual of the highest caliber, a relentless pen pusher, an unwavering ideological warrior, a unique political leader, organizer and reformer with his inexhaustible knowledge of regional and international ideological, political and literary trends of historic importance – past and present – I mustered the courage, again on the persistent demand of Mir Mazhar Talpur, and contributed a modest essay for the book. The essay was appreciated by friends and the admirers of Late Rasool Bukhsh Palijo particularly his able and knowledgeable son, Ayaz Latif Palijo.

I took a week to think over the vast canvas of his life-long struggle trying to discern the multiple shining and impressive colors of the rainbow of his legacy. I must admit that new dimensions of his historic struggle surfaced to broaden my understanding of the personae of Saeen Rasool Bukhsh Palijo and stimulating my spirit to undertake this formidably daunting task in a bid to unfold some additional aspects of his struggle. This is a duty to my pen rather the responsibility of every conscious son and daughter of Sindh to come out to pay tributes to late Rasool Bukhsh Palijo for his enormous contribution to the political and social awareness of the people of Sindh. He fought or took part in serious battles over many issues of imminent concern to his land and people from the infamous One Unit to the banishment of Sindhi language; the execution of Bhutto; the stealth of the waters of Indus River; the Kalabagh dam; the onslaught on the progressive Sindhi literature by the regressive and obscurant forces.

“Guns have fallen silent; the noise of soldiers has drowned in the depth of the night; but the war is far from over; many serious battles are yet to be fought. The lull is illusory. Do not let the numbing winds of despair overwhelm you. Look at the young moon as it merrily peeps out from a rebellious piece of cloud hovering over Mongur; watch the restless soul rustling the waves of Sindhu and beckoning to us to see the beauty of this motherland; feel her miseries, learn from her patience, aim at mountains, keep above pebbles; control our ego and subdue our pride for her sake. This is what this great man did from his conscious age to his final embrace of the mother earth of his small village”.

I had purposefully ended my earlier essay with this positive and motivational paragraph. It was relevant at that time because I had a lurking fear that, given our historic propensity for political factionalism, the Awami Tehrik, after losing the welding, binding and inspirational leadership of Saeen Rasool Bukhsh Palijo, might break into political factions on the pattern of other political parties of Sindh. It is more relevant today for some serious reasons to be dilated on in the following paragraphs.

I am glad six years after the passing away of their leader; the Awami Tehrik activists and leaders have preserved the political heritage of Late Palijo and kept following his footprints plunging in every battle for the preservation of the core national interests of Sindh albeit in a comparatively low profile. I know it is not easy for them to match the courage, stamina, strategy, eloquence, intellect, motivating presence and the able and wise leadership of their mentor and leader. Saeen Palijo was a concept, an idea, a vision and a phenomenon. It is difficult to fill in the vacuum created by his passing away.

Notwithstanding their constraints and limitations, they have been listening to his clarion call, his lament over the miseries of the motherland; the tales of the atrocious loot and plunder perpetrated on her by the aliens and her own unscrupulous sons and daughters as much; the audacious capture of her lands and resources in cahoots with her shameless elite and rulers; the systematic destruction of her educational institutions to keep her sons and daughters at a disadvantageous position  in the current human march to modernity, technological revolution and prosperity; the unending night raids on the waters of Sindhu; the slow death of the Delta of Sindh; the ferocious encroachment of the  Sea on the arable lands of the coastal districts reducing the populace inhabiting the area to an alarming poverty;  the growing and unchallenged tyranny of the feudal lords pushing our hard working peasants to hunger, disease and ignorance.

Many battles are yet to be fought. We will not have Saeen Rasool Bukhsh Palijo physically present among us but his legacy, his undying spirit, his ever inspiring lessons, his institutional guidance and overall his ideals are very much here to provide the necessary stimuli for such battles. Ideas are more powerful than swords. Conviction is the core source of strength. Without faith in the truthfulness of their purpose, big warriors fall flat on their faces. The lack of clarity about one’s purpose is the ruin of a movement and a struggle –political or ideological.

Say farewell to the trumpet!

You will hear them no more,

But their sweet and silvery echoes

Call to you still

Through the half-closed door

Saeen Rasool Bukhsh Palijo must have been watching us and his beloved land from the heaven and feeling sad over the horrible change that has gripped  his dear land and pulverized her society remodeling  her people’s ethos and values and altering their  preferences, needs and worries. This change is refashioning this land of Shah Latif, Shah Inayat, Sachal Sarmast, Shaikh Ayaz into ugly shapes and colours bearing little or no relevance with the Sindh he had idealized. He must have realized that his Sindh has edged on wearing a withered face that mirrors the loathsome callousness of its own sons and daughters who remain indulged in making hay while the sun shines to the peril of their motherland.

Emerging before him must be some dark images overwhelmingly repulsive in their appearance. Leaving aside a small number of the ideological warriors clinging onto the political and cultural traditions and human values – this great man had cherished, the growing barrenness of Sindh must have caused him pain and anguish. He must have seen our skies overcast with the dark shadows of greed and blemished by the repulsive images of predators gnawing hungrily the flesh and bones of his groaning land. To his disgust, he must have seen these demons of effrontery and shamelessness jubilantly celebrating the silent death of humanity, dignity, honesty and fairness that were part of his faith throughout his life.

He must have realized his disconnect in every way with this suffocating world disfigured by a new crop of leadership whose basic humanity is buried under layers and layers of toxic arrogance and who are suffering from a blinding sickness that has crippled their conscience and polluted their souls. They cannot see the enormity of social and economic injustice; the unforgiveable Dickensian squalor; the pathetic deaths of our innocent children for want of nutrition and healthcare; the burgeoning industry of kidnapping for ransom; the forcible conversion and marriages of Hindu girls; the collapse of education; the dying souls of our cities and towns.

Saeen Rasool Bukhsh used to say the time is short and the work gigantic. The warriors should keep on fighting one battle after the other with their banner fluttering high. He acted like a warrior on his death bed. He would tell the visiting friends, “my body is weak but my spirit to fight is high; a lot of work remains to be completed”. He embraced the inevitability of mortality but left his resilient and redoubtable spirit with us to fight, to rise above shallow thoughts, to keep the beacon alight, to keep his banner fluttering high, to wipe the tear-soaked cheeks of this land, to protect the Sindhu from the looters and plunderers.

Long may that brave banner flutter high,

Over mountains, over deserts, over Sea,

Beacon to friends, but a terror to foes,

The most glorious banner there be

Saeen Rasool Bukhsh Palijo, even in his death, confidently beckons to his comrades to keep up his legacy of crusading against the anti-people and regressive ideologies and inhuman rulers.  As borne by the evolutionary history of nations, this is a long drawn-out battle, a long haul in human struggle and an unending march against oligarchs, autocrats and anti-democratic forces engaged in curtailing human freedoms and perpetuating social and economic inequity, injustice trampling upon the human rights and values shamelessly.

While imagining Saeen Rasool Bukhsh Palijo being restless in the heaven over the plunder of his land, I went in a reverie and noticed a crowd of noble souls assembling together and trying to shame the predators into stopping this brazen plunder of their motherland. I recognized many familiar images standing in this noble crowd with spurs in their hands readying themselves for a fair fight with the hungry hyenas to save their helpless land from further pain. These images gradually crystallized to be of the illustrious sons and daughters of this land with the conspicuous presence of Saeen Rasool Bukhsh Palijo among them – who had lived their whole life as valiant soldiers fighting fierce battles for its emancipation from the fetters of subjugation.

It seemed, they have parted with the comforts of the heaven to show their dread and disgust over the blatant pillage of their land by its own blind sons and daughters and the shocking apathy and indifference their people have sunk in. A few words I gathered from the murmur of this noble crowd are ‘wither a nation that accepts the wanton plunder of its assets without a voice of protest let alone throwing a challenge to the plunderers’. I saw them moaning in utter helplessness and praying that may the humming waters of the mighty Indus overwhelm these plunderers, destroy their ill-gotten treasures and palaces and sweep their stinking corpses into the marshy lands of the Arabian Sea where wild animals should have a feast on their stale flesh. I heard Saeen Palijo reassuring this noble crowd of the valour and resilience of the people of Sindh who would stand up as a formidable phalanx against the anti-Sindh forces and lead their people in battles on multiple fronts to save their land. (Continues)