Yousaf
Aziz Magsi Chair

The actual dawn of 20th century
Balochistan dawned in its southern horn in one Kaiser Khan's
house. Yousf Aziz Magsi was born there in January 1908 .
At the exit door of Yousuf's teen years nature managed to
add a creative colour in Baloch life . The stab-
sword-shield mode of struggle was complemented with
preach-pen-publish politics. The anchor to hinge on was none
other than Yousuf .
This unfamiliar way attracts interest , specially in budding
middle class and amongst the wretched peasantry. But this
new phenomenon genuinely shakes up the ruling classes to
madness. They resort to the pen n prison duel , and the
young man finds himself in jail.
Metastatic lover i.e the political organization in its
concealed pursuit hugs him there amongst the alert and armed
state guards. The first ever political party of Balochistan
was established under his presidentship with modern means of
meetings, rallies, press and publication. It's declarations
and resolutions were a death warrant for the rulers of
independent Kalat state and their British allies.
This man is a gifted poet, blessed with a strong prose and
with a workaholic personality. Through a blend of
nationalism, Islam and socialism he composed the anti
imperialist poetry, writes pieces of literature letters to
his comrades and followers, finances half a dozen newspapers
and throws himself in frequent distant exhaustive tours to
converse, communicate , convince and organize.
Back at home he inaugurates a free public education
university JAMAYA YOUSUFIYYA, a free dispensary, constructs
a canal, reduces his Sardari taxes, prohibits drug
production and use, and introduces broad based reforms.
The primitive Balochistan resists this 'island' enmass,
excommunicates him, snatches his Sardari and at last throws
him in exile.
To their bad luck they don't send him to an inland Siberia,
but to industrialized England... he becomes a full fledged
Marxist... He plunges in exhaustive reading, drowns himself
in tireless letter and political writings and cries
patriotic poetry.
He returned back to fatherland overloaded with ideas, plans
and blueprints of his future politics. Quetta earthquake
burries him and his ideas under the heavy debris beyond
reach to his ideological grandchildren for a whole century.
History roars against anonymity of one of his able sons, and
a university chair is established to scratch the surface in
this field. In the first phase of three months the chair
luckily was able to reach the original manuscripts
milestoning the life and struggle of Yousuf Aziz Magsi and
his contemporaries. The scholars engaged in this work only
then were able to understand the immense significance of his
only TEN years which gave meanings, direction and roadmap to
the future Baloch economico-politico- cultural movement for
the comming centuries. Major portion of his writings were
published in these three months .
A research journal YOUSUFIYYA is to be seen not only a
continuity of Chairs endeavour but also as a movement to
restart that university which Magsi sahib had started nine
dacades back. Director (Honorary): Dr Shah
Mohammad Marri
03003829300
yamc@uob.edu.pk |