Shaikh Muhammad Rashid adhered to reformist socialist policies throughout his activism for peasants and workers. He believed that the development of social institutions would naturally lead to socialism, provided that work was done for it, too. Thus, he toiled for socialist democracy through reforms rather than revolution and remained a part of peasant organizations, political parties and governments.

Rashid was born on May 24, 1915, in Kakyzai tribe of Kalal Wala village in Sheikhpura district — the village is situated around 20 kilometres from Lahore on the Lahore-Sharqpur Road. His father, Shaikh Mehar Ali, was a small landholder and lumberdar (headman) of the village.

Practically, he got introduced to the principles of socialism when he started ploughing his inherited lands after completing matriculation at the age of fourteen. During his stay at the village, he realised that the village artisans, kammis, were considered inferior creatures and were not allowed to sit equal to the landlords. They were compelled for begaar—corvée. Thus, exploitation of the peasants at the hands of landlords mobilised him to protect the exploited classes from the exploiters. Subsequently, the landlords turned against him, and once almost beat him to death when he argued with them over the wages of a carpenter.

His quest for socialism and struggle for the peasants and the workers was reflected from many acts of his life. For example, he refused to live in the house of his father-in-law, Shaikh Mehar Din, who was a big landlord of Khanpur (then the part of the State of Bahawalpur). He left the house of his in-laws with his wife, Hamida Begum—the only daughter of the landlord, and started working as a circle Qanoongo in the State of Bahawalpur. However, he left the job after six years in order to invest his time to mobilise the peasants and the workers for a socialist movement.

He started his political career by joining the Khaksar organisation of Inayatullah Khan Mashriqi in 1937 while he was serving as a Qanoongo. He joined All India Muslim League in 1942 after it presented a clear future plan on March 23, 1940. Soon he became an ardent Pakistan Movement worker. He started visiting various areas of Lahore, riding his tonga — that came to be known as Tonga of the Muslim League — to mobilise support for the party. He also countered the Hindu Mahasabha by organising resistance against its hit squads in the Punjab.

A few months before the creation of Pakistan, Rashid, with the help of other activists, formed a progressive group in the Muslim League. Later, Rashid opposed Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan’s move to be prime minister of Pakistan and president of All Pakistan Muslim League, simultaneously. Rashid argued that Khan could not head the government and the party at the same time since it was a violation of the League constitution. Also, he said, this would set the stage for dictatorship and concentration of power rather than promoting social democracy. As Rashid’s voice went unheard, he resigned from the party.

After parting ways with the League, Rashid, along with socialist landlords like Sardar Shaukat Hayat Khan, Mian Mahmood Ali Kasuri, and Mian Iftikharuddin, founded the Azad Pakistan Party (APP) in 1950. He and poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz drafted the manifesto of the party. However, the party soon became a hub of intrigues by the landed aristocrats. Iftikharuddin tried to bring Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan into the party fold. Rashid protested and resigned from the party in 1954, contending that Khan’s politics was premised on linguistic and ethnic lines and not socialism.

After leaving the APP, Rashid founded another party — the Awami Jamhoori Party (AJP). His aim was to create awareness among the peasant classes to organize and mobilise them to protect their rights. That is why he barred entry of the landed aristocrats into the party. He affiliated Kisan Committee with the AJP after getting elected as convener of the party. However, the AJP too became inactive soon.

As president of the Punjab chapter of the PPP, Rashid tried his best not to award party tickets to landed aristocrats. That is why a considerable number of members from the middle or lower classes got elected to the assemblies from the Punjab in the first general elections in Pakistan in December 1970.

Rashid formed the Pakistan Kisan Front (PKF) in 1955 and invited every political party in the country to join it. With the exception of the National Awami Party, all the other parties joined the PKF. The Front organised rallies, processions, conferences and meetings to demand the rehabilitation of refugees. It also proposed strategies to this end. However, the government did not pay attention to the PKF demands. Rashid then proposed the Kisan Tehreek and urged activists to court arrest to press for its demands. However, the Jamaat-i-Islami opposed this proposal. This led to the disintegration of the Front.

Rashid next led the Kisan Committee that protested against the eviction of non-claimant refugee tenants in July 1956 in Lahore. To push the government to meet its demands, the Kisan Committee and the AJP, under the leadership of Rashid, decided to launch a Kisan Tehreek on July 11, 1956. The Tehreek attracted thousands of peasants. As a result, the notices of eviction were cancelled. In addition, the government gave the assurance that the evicted tenants would be either reinstated or allotted alternative land (according to their preferences). Although the implementation of this agreement left much to be desired, Rashid could not be denied credit for his efforts. This was the first organised peasant movement in post-colonial Punjab.

Rashid also organised a People’s Convention in Lahore on May 28-29, 1966, and proposed the creation of a new political party — the People’s Democratic Party — for the peasants and workers to launch an organised struggle to abolish landlordism. The proposed party could not be established but its manifesto was later incorporated into the manifesto of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

Rashid was one of the founders of the PPP on November 30, 1967. He recalled later that it was after receiving an assurance from Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to include abolition of landlordism and introduction of cooperative farming in the manifesto of the party, that his Kisan Committee decided to join the PPP. As a member of the committee formed to draft the Foundation and Policy Document (manifesto), he ensured that it aligned with socialism. To promote the party’s manifesto and socialist ideology among party workers, he launched a weekly pamphlet, Dehqaan, in 1969.

None of the landed aristocrats, except Bhutto, was present at the time of founding of the PPP. However, later on, landed aristocrats flocked to the party. As president of the Punjab chapter of the PPP, he tried his best not to award party tickets to the landed aristocrats. That is why a considerable number of members from the middle or lower classes got elected to the assemblies in the first general elections in Pakistan in December 1970.

Rashid’s group of the Punjab Kisan Committee claims that PPP’s success in in the 1970 elections would not have been possible without their support. They claim that the people of Punjab had voted for change and a hope for a better future.

It has been claimed that the elections was contested on the basis of ideology rather than caste or kinship.

Rashid was cognizant of the contradiction between Bhutto’s words and actions. In theory, Bhutto belonged to the world of socialism. In practice, he appointed landed aristocrats as chief ministers, governors and ministers and made them responsible for the implementation of government policies including land reforms.

Rashid and Ghulam Mustafa Khar (a landlord from south Punjab) were appointed as chairman and secretary-general, respectively, of the Punjab chapter of the PPP. Bhutto awarded party tickets to landed aristocrats in the 1977 elections. On the eve of military takeover in 1977, 16 federal ministers out of 22 were landed aristocrats. Despite all this, Rashid did not leave the party.

It is related that Ghulam Mustafa Khar used to warn Bhutto that Rashid was organising the Kisan Committee as a parallel party to the PPP. Rashid explained that the Kisan Committee was not a political party but a class-based organisation whose leaders and activists were aligned with the PPP. Eventually, Rashid had to merge the Kisan Committee with the PPP on the insistence of Bhutto.

Being a defender of the peasant rights, Rashid urged Bhutto to entrust him with the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Agrarian Reforms. Instead, he was given the Ministry of Health mainly due to opposition from the landed group wary of agrarian reforms. As health minister, Rashid introduced the famous Generic Names Scheme that met with resistance from doctors, foreign drug companies and their local partners. Following mounting pressure from the vested interests, Rashid’s portfolio was changed to Food and Agriculture, Agrarian Reforms, and Cooperatives, Construction, and Evacuee Properties.

Landlords used many tactics to frustrate the land reforms. For example, they managed the inclusion of a clause protecting the hibah (gift) in the Land Reforms Act. This allowed them to gift or transfer lands to their relatives and dependents. In the absence of formal record of hibah transactions this benefited many landed families.

As Land Commission chairman Rashid contended that hibah had three elements: the offer, the acceptance and the change of possession. Some of the families who claimed hibah transfers had not registered their transactions in the possession register — Khasra Girdawri. Rashid used this fact to resume land that he distributed among landless tenants.

Federal Land Commission members were given judicial powers and authorised to review appeals against the decisions of the members of provincial land commissions. In addition, they were empowered to inquire about and review any case of land reform. Instead of waiting for appeals and applications regarding violations, Rashid acted suo moto and acquired land (from landlords) above the legislated ceilings. Due to his active role in the implementation of land reforms, landed aristocrats turned against him. Some of them even threatened to murder him.

The writer has a PhD in history from Shanghai University and is a lecturer at GCU, Faisalabad. He can be contacted at mazharabbasgondal87@gmail.com