He lived the life and died the death of which novels could be written on. A handsome looking, tall, youthful, walrus like mustaches, with razor edged sense of humor (was not really a cliché) which, what his old comrade Mir Theo says could not conceal a melancholy in his wide twinkling mischievous eyes. Yet, his was melodic voice. So melodic, the sentry soldiers of his cell at Kuli Camp Quetta- a historically notorious interrogation center where he had been detained, would request him to sing a naat“ Roze di jail chum laiye”for them. The captors at his Kuli Camp interrogation center had warned him while he was being freed “ we are letting you go alive this time, but next time, you wont have the chance,” had warned him his captors at Keli Camp the time f his release. True to their warning, he was not let go alive while captured second time. He was tortured to death in custody of military intelligence agencies, led by then colonel Imtiaz Billa under military dictatorship of Zia regime on this day, the August9, 1980. He was Nazir Abbasi, the student leader and leftist revolutionary who founded the Democratic Student federation (DSF) nationwide in Pakistan. Nazir Abbasi was said to be an active member of the then underground Communist Party (CPP) that had remained disbanded from 1953 to 1989. The names of the members of the ‘party’ were kept secret except the few on active scene. At the outset of martial law by the dictator general Zia ul Haq, Nazeer Abbasi had been arrested with his other colleagues like Moolchand, Syed Shakir Shah, Faiz Soomro, Ghanshyasm Deepak and Sindh’s peasants’ rights leader Mandhal Shar from various places at Sindh, detained and remained incommunicado at Kuli Camp Quetta, historically notorious for housing torture cells in name of interrogation center. They were probably first of the missing persons who were made enforcedly disappeared within months of the Zia’s martial law in the country.Except Nazeer and Mandhal Shar, , all were in their late teens then. Nazir Abbasi and and his leader Jam Saqi would exercise to brave torture methods to get prepared themselves in case of their arrest and after. They were fond of quoting from a book they had memorized by heart titled “The method” authored by a Greek writer P.Korovesis published in 1969. The book was based on the first hand account of horrifying tale of torture experienced by a theatre actor after his arrest and detention on charges of being a suspect communist conspirator in 1960s. I had also a chance reading the book in 1980sand that gave me few sleepless nights. The Greek theatre artist had also undergone ‘bastinado’ an ancient method of torture by beating soles of his feet with sticks and got badly swollen.In the Greek interrogation center had different section where different method of torture was practiced and had different names. Hanging the prisoner upside down, hanging female prisoner from her genitalia from the prison roof naked all the night, burying the prisoner in ground up to his neck and give him electric shocks under the supervision of doctor, beating their feet soles with rifle some of the ‘Method’ witnessed by the Greek theatre actor. Nazir Abbasi and Jam Saqi were sounded like Don Quixotic revolutionary. Later Jam Saqi advised his interrogators during his incarceration at the interrogation center at Lahore Fort to read the ‘Method’. Probably, they seem to have read it by now.
“My Name is Nazeer Abbasi”, telling his interrogators in Kuli Camp Quetta, “now try to make me pronounce my name again.” he challenged them to get his name divulged by him again. And they failed to do so. No mater what ways of third degree methods they applied over him. His colleagues and fellow inmates (on their release) would narrate the stories of his bravery at the torture cells of Kuli Camp as fairytales. Nazir Abbasi told his interrogators the confessions of crime of which they are trying to extract from his comrades through torture was actually committed by himself alone. The crime they were being interrogated for was writing, publishing cyclostyled pamphlet against Zia’s martial and to distribute them. In Kuli Camp, Nazeer Abbasi will tell his guards they were among like him because they were mostly sons of peasants. He won over the soldiers by his attitude and voice that they will have ‘ farmaish’ to sing to them ‘naats’. When he told them he did not know how to sing Naaat . They brought him a copy of (naats) collection. He will ask their officers to grant the soldiers leave to visit their families. Officers were touchy about the issue and restrained him pressingly not to talk to the guards or their service matters. Nazir Abbasi’s stay in detention center happened to be a company for his fellow inmates, even guards, soldiers and sometimes interrogators and captors. Once his interrogator, who was a senior colonel brought a book on Marxism and began discussing with him. He asked him reveal names of the communists in Pakistan. “Khurshid Hasan Mir, C.R.Aslam, Mairaj Mohammed Khan and Dr. Musbashar Hasan” Nazir told the colonel. It made the colonel mad on him.”They are all fake, tell me the names of real ones,”hitting his table with his fist was colonel’s reaction. Even after his release, one of his guards form his Kuli Camp days came to visit him at Hyderabad to say him thanks because he had his leave sanctioned because of Nazeer’s pressing his officers on the issue. (This piece I wrote, is based on the stories narrated by Nazir Abbasi and his other formerly fellow inmates to me during latter’s life, soon after their release from Kuli Camp).
