The gruesome murder of Professor Syed Shabbir Hussain Shah in Gujrat on November 19 along with his driver was widely mourned by all the liberal and progressive writers and educationists of the country.

A professor of history by profession, Shabbir Hussain Shah was a left-wing activist who remained active in the Lecturers Association and gave tough time to the state sponsored Islami Jamiat in the days of Zia. He started his life as a section officer in Islamabad. Later he joined the education department as a lecturer. His job took him to many cities but it was his native town Gujrat where he passed greater part of his life. He joined the University of Gujrat after retirement from the Education Department and made all out effort to make the gigantic project a success. He was serving as the Director of the Students Services Centre.

Shah was a brilliant conversationalist. He challenged the official version of history which irked people a lot. But he used to always lend ears to others with a smile -- a rare trait indeed.

Historian Dr Mubarak Ali, who had met him a few times, terms his murder a great loss. "I first met him in Gujrat in a programme held in memory of Akbar Ali M.A and after that many times. He was a progressive scholar and activist who believed in scientific thinking. He read a paper in the conference that we arranged in Lahore on Martial Laws in Pakistan. He made great efforts to make the Gujrat University a success -- and I must add, he was a real asset of the university."

Ch. Masood Akhtar, a Gujrat-based progressive lawyer, had known Shabbir Shah for the past 25 years, says the murder of Shah is an irreparable loss -- "he was a ray of hope in an era of darkness in which we are condemned to live. He gave the idea of forming a university to the then chief minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi and later devoted his energies to the making of the institution. He had no personal enmity and the police says Lashkar-e-Jhangvi might be behind the murder as it has found a chit at the site of murder which reads that LeJ has done the dastardly act. As a matter of fact the state is reaping what it has sown during the dark days of Zia and now the guntoting coterie is dictating its terms", regrets Chaudhry Masood Akhtar.

Sheikh Abdul Rashid, a close friend of Shah and PRO of the Gujrat University says the murder of Shah is an attack on "dialogue" as he strongly believed in freedom of expression.

He further says Shah was a brilliant conversationalist who used to argue with facts and figures -- "We are compiling two books on Syed Shabbir Shah -- one of his articles and another of the tributes paid to him".

The PPP stalwart and former MNA Ghazanfar Gul says there is no Shia-Sunni history in the city of Gujrat. He is also sad at the brutal death of Shabbir Shah with whom he enjoyed cordial relations. "He was a fine man and a scholar. His services are great in the realm of education and his death is a huge loss for us."

Shabbir Hussain Shah was also an active member of Mazdoor Kisan Party and his old colleagues remember him as a committed leftist whose dream was a classless and free society. He didn’t care to compile his writings into a book form during his lifetime.

Let’s hope his comrades and colleagues will fill this gap.