Progressive Movements in Pakistan Collection

Period 1917-2000
Total size   3.82 m.
Consultation Not restricted

History

Progressive movements, which emerged during the colonial rule of the former British India, split after the Partition in 1947 according to the division into India and Pakistan; together with these progressive movements nationalist forces in Balochistan and other provinces of the new state grew also stronger; in West Pakistan these movements rallied to the National Party in 1956; one of its constituent organizations was the Sindh Awami Mahaz of Ghulam M. Sayed; a merger with organizations from East Pakistan led to the formation of the National Awami Party (NAP) in 1957; constituting itself as the progressive alternative to the ruling Muslim League the NAP aimed at reforms and at a break of the alliance with the United States; in common with other political parties the NAP was banned after the coup d'état of Ayub Khan in 1958; in the 1960s the party revived and after the elections of 1970 the NAP participated in some provincial governments; in 1975 the NAP was again banned by the Bhutto government.

Content

Documents, including photocopies and printed material relating to progressive movements in Pakistan collected by Ahmad Saleem of the Gohar Research Institute of Pakistan (GRIP) in Lahore. Documents relating to the NAP, consisting of proceedings of meetings, resolutions, some correspondence, circulars, press releases, reports and other documents (1952-) 1964-1968, 1970-1986; documents relating to the Communist Party of Pakistan (CCP) (1944-) 1976-1986, the Pakistan National Party (PNP) 1972-1986 and other political parties (1947-) 1969-1997; documents relating to trade unions, student and peasant organizations 1939-1940, 1966-1987, 1992; documents relating to nationalist movements in Balochistan, the North West Frontier Province and Sindh (1940-) 1966-1995; documents concerning colonial rule 1918, 1928-1947, Hindu-Muslim relations in Sindh 1947 and other subjects; photocopies of some files of conspiracy cases against communists 1922, 1924, 1927; some personal papers of Muhammad Kaswar Gardezi 1967-1973, Hyder Baksh Jatoi 1950-1958 (-1969), Ajmal Khattak 1973-1989 and others.

Newsletters, leaflets, copies of periodicals and some other documents relating to progressive parties, trade unions and to students', writers' and peasants' organizations 1983, 1986-1994 and 1999, n.d.; some documents relating to nationalist (regional) movements in Balochistan and the North West Frontier Province 1972, 1992 and n.d.; proceedings of the Rawalpindi conspiracy case 1951-1955; documents on the Bangladesh war of independence 1969-1971; texts of folk songs and stories, narrated by the women of muslim sweepers in the villages of the Punjab and transcribed by Ahmad Saleem; documents on other subjects 1917 and n.d.; some personal papers of Masood Khaddar Posh 1947-1951, 1958, 1960, 1972 and n.d. and of the poetess Sara Shagufta 1974-[1980].

A series of chronological notes on the political history of Pakistan by Ahmad Saleem 1947-1969, 1971-1977; a series of documents relating to political parties and politicians collected by Ahmad Saleem, including his supplementary notes 1947-1969, 1971-1977; congress papers, manifesto's, leaflets, newsletters, copies of periodicals and other documents relating to the Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP) 1975, 1981-1988, 1999-2000, the East Pakistan Awami League 1966, 1969, the Kalat State National Party 1947, the Labour Party Pakistan 1998-2000, the Mazdoor Kisan Party (MKP) 1972-1975, the Communist Mazdoor Kisan Party (originated from a merger with the CPP) 1998-2000, the National Awami Party 1966-1970, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), 1970-1974, 1987-1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, the Pakistan Socialist Party 1988-1999, the Young Peoples Front 1970-1973 and other political organizations; documents relating to trade unions, the student movement and the peasant movement; booklets, pamphlets and other printed material, including the secret `Punjab political Who's who' 1921 and a series of government intelligence reports on the 1947 massacres of Muslims (published in 1948); personal documents consisting of manuscripts of poems by Sara Shagufta, a manuscript by Iqbal Leghari on the history of the socialist movement in Pakistan, an autobiographical account by Fazal Ilahi Qurbun, some documents of Hyder Baksh Jatoi 1968-1969, documents of S.M. Jaffar, director of Archives of the North-West Frontier Province 1931, 1935-1974 and director of the Peshawar Museum, consisting of correspondence with historians, librarians and others 1964-1973; completed questionnaires and other documents.

Processing information

List made by Ahmed Salim, Tiny de Boer, Jaap Haag and Bouwe Hijma in 1999, 2001, 2003, 2007 and 2010