I was fortunate to meet Comrade Lal Khan in Lahore in November 2018, while The Struggle was holding its congress, against all odds. The situation was then particularly difficult, the TLP making itself known by blocking the roads after the Supreme Court declared Asia Bibi innocent [1]. My friend Farooq Tariq picked me up when I reached Lahore and we had a hard time getting out of the airport!

We visited Lal Khan together. He had warmly welcomed me. For my part, I immediately felt a community of history and commitment, a very natural personal closeness. We were comrades - and I was under the spell.

His loss is for me that of a friend, even if we did not often have the opportunity to be together.

I was able to appreciate his personal courage, in the face of both disease and repression, and I got to know his history, which is a precious part of the history of the Pakistani left. I was able to enrich with his writing the website of Europe solidaire sans frontières (ESSF). I was able to measure his ability to turn the page on past controversies, to be better able to shoulder all the responsibilities of a “senior” activist in backing the emergence of a new radical Left generation, radically asserting solidarities - as well as in renewing its internationalist commitment and that of The Struggle, manifested, in particular, by their engagement with the Fourth International.

Lal Khan struggled in the present to the end, perceiving new potential in the light of a rich experience. He is one of those who, in our militant generation, have not only kept their convictions, but have not locked themselves in the past either.

I see how great this loss is, for his family, relatives and friends, for his comrades, for the Pakistani and international left.

With all my solidarity,

February 29, 2020

Pierre Rousset