ETERNAL LIFE
A MARTYR’S REWARD
Martyrdom of Hakim Muhammad Saeed
It makes me speechless when I think about the cold-blooded people who shot dead Hakeem Muhammad Saeed – a humble, decent, kind, gentleman. I was in tears on October 17, 1998 when I found out that the founder of Hamdard Waqf and former Sindh governor had been killed outside his clinic. It felt like I had lost a family member. He was a part of every family of the city, indeed. Hundreds of thousands of children had read ‘Naunehal’, and ‘Rooh Afza’, the famous drink of his institute, had truly become ‘mashroob-e-mashriq’ (the drink of the East). The biggest evidence of Hakeem sahib’s sincerity with the cause of education is Madinat al-hikmah, which houses a very large library, a university, a college, a school, a medical college, and an eastern college of medicine.
Hakeem sahib lived next to Idara noor-e-haq and had a very positive opinion about Jamaat-e-Islami (JI). He had migrated from India and initiated a clinic in a very small space to begin his journey of public welfare. The clinic evolved into a fully grown project during his lifetime, but like others, he wasn’t spared by the violent, ethnic politics of Karachi.
Martyrdom of Mirza Luqman Baig
On July 19, 1999, ameer (chief) of JI district bin Qasim, Mirza Luqman Baig was on his way back home after attending a meeting at party worker Muhammad Naseer sahib’s house, when he was stopped by unknown men some 100 meters from his home. When he stopped, they came close and opened fire at him and fled from the scene. He was moved to Aga Khan Hospital critically injured, but he couldn’t survive. He had received 11 bullets. Upon receiving this tragic news, I reached the hospital, and then went to his home with his body. I remained there until the next night and held an emergent meeting of the district shura (consultative body) there.
No one could understand that who could kill a noble person like Luqman Baig? And what could be the motives of this murder? He was just 42 and his sons, Noman, Farhan, and Soban were young children, who had been deprived of their father. Those who had killed him must have thought that his passing would weaken JI in Landhi, Korangi, and other areas, and people would abandon the cause, but they hadn’t thought it through. The martyrdom rather gave the workers a new pirit, and JI’s dawah and organizational work continued to take place with the same zeal. Luqman Baig’s children were later associated with Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT) and his wife became an even more active part of JI. The martyr’s wife, Riffat Luqman Baig contested and won the councilor election from her constituency, Khawaja Ajmair colony, UC 7, Landhi Town in the 2001 local body elections, and served the women and children of the area for the next four years.
