“Create in your heart and soul, a re-spect and desire to fght or the peo-ple, or rule o law, the constitutionand the rights o humankind”.

Ali Ahmad Kurd QBM: How did you resist General Zia’s regime? Tell us aboutyour political activity. AAK: I have been a political activist throughout my life, and forthat reason I have been on ‘jail yatras’ for more than six and halfyears. I believe that it is the duty of anyone who is minimally edu-cated or is aware of the workings of politics and society throughnewspaper readership, TV channels or magazines to fight for therights of people -- that is, for their fundamental rights. Fightingfor the fundamental rights of people, in my opinion, is political‘work’, and I am fortunate to have taken part in such activity. Ihave been affiliated with many parties, Provincial Bar Associa-tions, Supreme Court Bar Association and the Pakistan BarAssociation, and have used my position for the struggle of the

peoples– for the disadvantaged people.

We agitated against Zia from the platform of bar politics. Weconvened a lawyers’ convention in Lahore and brought togethera large gathering, an estimated 3500 lawyers, including eminentfigures like Yahya Bakhtiar, Mehmood Ali Kasuri, Syed Kirmaniand others. It was in that convention that we formulated fourpoints. These points served as a basis for the formation of theMovement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD). All dictators have wreaked havoc on the country; they haveshaken its foundations, by destroying public space, debate,creating a culture of violence and backdoor politics. The dam-age done by Zia was particularity profound and Musharraf wasequally damaging. The line of thought for resistance set againstZia by the lawyers continues to radiate today. There is continu-ity in our outlook.QBM: Did you participate in ‘student politics’? How do you viewthe government decision to lift the ban on student unions andstudent politics? AAK: Yes! My activist training comes from experience in studentpolitics. I was simultaneously president of both the student bod-

Ali Ahmad Kurd.

Qalandar Bux Memon and Riaz Akbar in Conversation with

Ali Ahmad Kurd.