Muhammad Nazeer Abbasi () (b. 10 April 1953 — d. 9 August 1980) was the youngest member of the Central Committee of the

Communist Party of Pakistan The Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP; Urdu: ) is a communist party in Pakistan founded in 1948 by Sajjad Zaheer. History The Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP) was founded in Calcutta, India, soon after the establishment of Pakistan on 6 March ...

. He was tortured to death on 9 August 1980 during the government of

Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (12 August 192417 August 1988) was a Pakistani military officer and statesman who served as the sixth president of Pakistan from 1978 until Death of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, his death in an airplane crash in 1988. He also se ...

while in the custody of the Field Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Pakistan Army. His family has accused former ISI operative Brigadier Imtiaz Ahmed Billa of torturing and killing Abbasi while in his custody. His family said post-mortem reports revealed death as a result of torture and claimed that Benazir Bhutto "herself had informed" Abbasi's wife over Imtiaz Billa's involvement.

Early life

Abbasi was born to Jan Muhammad Abbasi and Qamar-ul-Nisa in

Tando Allahyar Tando Allahyar (, ) is a city and capital of Tando Allahyar District of Hyderabad Division located in Sindh, Pakistan. As of 2023 Pakistani census, Tando Allahyar Taluka had a population of 421,923. History Tando Allahyar was founded during ...

Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

on 10 April 1953. After completing his intermediate education, he Started working at Municipal Committee

and Organized a Union of Municipal Workers. He went on to study at the

Sindh University The University of Sindh (; ; informally known as Sindh University) is a public research university in Pakistan located in the city of Jamshoro in the Sindh province. It is one of the oldest universities in Pakistan and was certified by ISO in 2 ...

where he got

B.Sc. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

Political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

. He married Hameeda Ghanghro on 4 February 1978 and had a daughter, Zarqa Abbasi.

Political career

He started politics during student life. He was first arrested as a member of Azad Marorra Students Federation in 1969, which was demanding the publication of the electoral voter lists in Sindhi language. In prison he met communists and leaders of

National Students Federation The National Students Federation Pakistan (NSF) is a left-wing students federation in Pakistan. In the late 1960s, NSF adopted the political line of Marxism–Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought. Its predecessor, the DSF (Democratic Students Federat ...

. In jail he was influenced by fellow political prisoners belonging to Sindh National Students Federation, an organization which he joined, and later became leader of. Abbasi was arrested again in May 1978 by military during the dictatorship of

Zia-ul-Haq Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (12 August 192417 August 1988) was a Pakistani military officer and statesman who served as the sixth president of Pakistan from 1978 until his death in an airplane crash in 1988. He also served as the second chief of ...

charged with publication of clandestine monthly Halchal and was sent to notorious prison Quli Camp, Quetta. During that period many of the members of Sindh National Students Federation and

Sindh Hari Committee The Sindh Hari Committee () was a leftist and Sindhi nationalist political organization in Sindh, Pakistan that sought to promote the interests of the ''Haris'' (landless peasant farmers) of Sindh. It was founded in 1930 by G. M. Syed. In 1947, ...

were arrested from all over

. He was arrested again by the Field Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Pakistan Army's Brigadier Billa from Karachi on 30 July 1980, along with Professor Jamal Naqvi, Amarlal,

Kamal Warsi The Jam Saqi trial (or Jam Saqi case), was a political and judicial program in the history of Pakistan marked by a rise of widespread fear of expansion of communism and the socialism. There were series of federal investigations led by the FIA an ...

and

Shabbir Shar Shabbir is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Shabbir Ahluwalia (born 1979), Indian television actor * Ahmed Shakeel Shabbir Ahmed (born 1953), Kenyan politician *Shabbir Ahmad Usmani (1886–1949), eminent Islamic scholar; provid ...

, who were later joined by

Sohail Sangi Sohail Sangi () is a senior journalist and activist of the leftist movement in Pakistan, presently working with the daily newspaper ''Dawn''. He has been one of the visiting faculty of the Mass Communication Department at the University of Sindh ...

Badar Abro Badar may refer to: * Badar (politician), governor of the Afghan province of Badghis * Badar (surname), surname of Central Asian origin See also * Bader Bader is a German occupational surname derived from the German word "Bad" meaning "bath". ...

and others. Abbasi was arrested on 30 July 1980 with other party workers. He was killed while the rest of the group were tried in a military court in what came to be known as the

Jam Saqi case The Jam Saqi trial (or Jam Saqi case), was a political and judicial program in the history of Pakistan marked by a rise of widespread fear of expansion of communism and the socialism. There were series of federal investigations led by the FIA an ...

Death

Nazeer Abbasi was tortured to death on 9 August 1980.

References

External links

Leftists want arrest of leader’s killers

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the diffuse sky radiation, appearance of indirect sunlight being Rayleigh scattering, scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc ha ...

, 8 August 2009
Demand to reopen Abbasi murder case

, 10 August 2009
Nazir Abbasi – A legendary Hero of Sindh
Indus Asia Online Journal, 1 August 2009
Biography of Nazeer Abbasi
by Hassan Mujtaba {{DEFAULTSORT:Abbasi, Nazeer Sindhi politicians Communist Party of Pakistan politicians 1980 deaths 1953 births University of Sindh alumni