Veteran communist and peasant leader Ch Fateh Mohammad passed away

He will be remembered for his life long struggle and sacrifices

The veteran communist and peasant leader Chaudhry Fateh Muhammad was passed away on May 25 in his native village Chak 305 GB in District Toba Tek Singh. He was laid to rest in his native village. He was 97 years old.

With the death of Chaudhry Fateh Muhammad, Pakistan has lost another loud and vocal progressive voice. His death is a big loss of left movement in Pakistan. He was one of the founders of peasant’s movement in Pakistan and played leading role to organise the historic peasants’ conference of 1970. As a pioneer of peasant movement in Punjab, he played leading role not only in organizing the peasants but also in the struggle.     

He spends his entire adult life fighting against feudalism and capitalism and for the political, social and economic rights of working people. He never compromised his ideas and continued struggle even in the toughest of times. He was a committed revolutionary and Marxist who stood for the cause of workers, peasants and oppressed people.

He was the chief organizer of the 1970 historical kissan conference which was attended by hundreds of thousands of political workers, peasants, workers, and students across the country. Chaudhry Fateh Muhammad was detained many times during his political life. He was also detained in notorious torture cell in Lahore Shahi Qila Lahore Fort) and tortured. He joined Communist Party of Pakistan in 1948 and contested 1951 elections as a candidate of Communist Party of Pakistan. He was among the recruits in the newly organised communist Party.

He followed the old good tradition of the left and chose to work among the peasants. The tradition in old days was that the youth and intellectuals were asked to work among peasants and workers. Fateh Mohammad started working in Kissan Committee in the villages of Toba Tek Singh, a Tehsil of Lyallpur (Faisalabad).

He stood and campaigned for the unity of left forces in Pakistan. Chaudhry Fateh Muhammad waged a long struggle for the peasants’ rights. He also wrote his autobiography titled ‘Jo Hum Pey Guzri’. It is an honest and unbiased account of left movement in Pakistan. The book contains accounts of different Kissan conferences held up till the historic Toba Tek Sing Kissan Conference on March 23, 1970.

                                                                     Khalid Bhatti