LAHORE: A large number of friends, colleagues and comrades of Awami Workers Party (AWP) founder Prof Jamil Umer attended his funeral here on Tuesday, paying him rich tributes for his services to the Left and the downtrodden.

The AWP founder had died of heart attack in Lahore on Monday. He was 61 and has left behind a widow and a daughter. He was buried at Garden Town Graveyard.

Prominent among those who attended the funeral were AWP President Abid Hasan Manto and General-Secretary Farooq Tariq, I A Rehman, Hussain Naqi, Azizuddin, Dr Tariq Abdullah and Pervaiz Hoodbhoy.

A former professor in the Quaid-i-Azam University, the late Mr Umer was arrested in November 1981 for distributing a pamphlet along with Dr Saleem (Chemistry) and Tariq Ahsan (Pakistan Studies). All three were adopted as Prisoners of Conscience by Amnesty International. They were tortured but were finally released in 1984 after paying hefty fine.

As he was dismissed from service in the university, he founded Maktaba-i-Fikr-o-Danish after his release and published books on social issues, class-based exploitation and the politics of Left.

Afterwards he formed the Awami Jamhoori Forum that led to the creation of Awami Party.

Finally he worked a lot for unification of the Left parties. Three parties, his Labour Party, Workers Party and his own Awami Party merged as a result of his struggle and appeared as Awami Worker Party.

At time of this demise, he was a member of the AWP’s central committee, and its finance secretary.

Prof Umer was one of the main figures of the Left in Pakistan. Committed to socialist ideas, he spent his life struggling for secularism, democracy and human rights in Pakistan.

Mr Farooq Tariq said the late Mr Umer was a very articulate comrade who would speak in the meetings with passion and commitment.

He had command over Urdu and English literature and could speak Pushto, Kabli and several other regional languages. He was well aware of the role of individuals and also the organisations.

“He was the finest Marxist of the Left movement. He achieved the Left unity and sustained it. He was a committed and self-sacrificing comrade,” Mr Farooq said.

AWP Lahore General-Secretary Shazia Khan termed the death of Mr Umer a great loss. “We have lost a visionary, a real intellectual who had command over several subjects,” she said.

THE NEWSPAPER’S STAFF REPORTER