Early life and activism

Tipu was born to a lower-middle-class Muhajir family in Karachi

Karachi

Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...

, Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

. His grandfather, Ashfaqullah Khan , was a noted anti-British firebrand, who was hanged by the British in 1927.

Tipu joined the left-wing National Students Federation

National Students Federation

National Students Federation is a Left-wing students federation in Pakistan.Its predecessor, the DSF , had links to the Communist Party of Pakistan. It had power base among progressive students from Dow Medical and DJ Science Colleges. It dominated student politics in Karachi, the then Federal...

 at a Karachi college (Adamjee Govt Science College) in the seventies and then the Pakistan Peoples Party

Pakistan Peoples Party

The Pakistan Peoples Party , is a democratic socialist political party in Pakistan affiliated with Socialist International. Pakistan People's Party is the largest political party of Pakistan...

's student wing, Peoples Students Federation

Peoples Students Federation

Peoples Students Federation is a student federation and the student wing of the Pakistan Peoples Party founded by Shaheed Qamar Abbas in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa....

 at the University of Karachi

University of Karachi

The University of Karachi is a public university located in Karachi, Pakistan. It serves an on-campus student population of more than 24,000. According to the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, it is ranked among the top three universities of the country...

. He was notorious for his violent methods of dealing with right-wing opponents, especially the Jamaat-e-Islami

Jamaat-e-Islami

This article is about Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan. For other organizations of similar name see Jamaat-e-Islami The Jamaat-e-Islami , is a Pro-Muslim political party in Pakistan...

's student organization.

After his schooling, Tipu joined a Karachi

Karachi

Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...

 college in 1972 where he enrolled in the left-wing National Students Federation (NSF). At college, Tipu became NSF’s muscle man against the IJT, and formed ‘street-fighting units’ to tackle IJT’s ‘Thunder Squads.’ In 1975, while still at college, Tipu quit NSF and joined the PPP’s student-wing, the Peoples Students Federation

Peoples Students Federation

Peoples Students Federation is a student federation and the student wing of the Pakistan Peoples Party founded by Shaheed Qamar Abbas in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa....

 (PSF).

According to his cousin, Tipu read translated works of leftist revolutionaries like Che Guevara

Che Guevara

Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...

 and Carlos Marighella. Soon after the 1977 coup, Tipu went underground to evade arrest. He resurfaced in 1979, when some members of the IJT shot dead an NSF activist at the University of Karachi

University of Karachi

The University of Karachi is a public university located in Karachi, Pakistan. It serves an on-campus student population of more than 24,000. According to the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, it is ranked among the top three universities of the country...

.

Tipu travelled to Peshawar

Peshawar

Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....

 along with some PSF

Peoples Students Federation

Peoples Students Federation is a student federation and the student wing of the Pakistan Peoples Party founded by Shaheed Qamar Abbas in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa....

 militants and bought a cache of AK-47s from the same Afghan gun-runner who had first sold guns to IJT

Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba

Islami Jamiat Talaba is the male wing of an organization of students influenced mainly by the works of Late Syed Abul-Ala Maodudi. Its mission is to preach Islam to students of modern institutions throughout Pakistan. It has been attempting to increase the Islamic ideals of decency and glorifying...

 activists — even though NSF and PSF

Peoples Students Federation

Peoples Students Federation is a student federation and the student wing of the Pakistan Peoples Party founded by Shaheed Qamar Abbas in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa....

 claimed the guns were provided to IJT by future Afghan warlord, Gulbaddin Hykmatyar, who was stationed in Peshawar as an anti-Soviet Islamist leader.

On his return Tipu along with four other PSF

Peoples Students Federation

Peoples Students Federation is a student federation and the student wing of the Pakistan Peoples Party founded by Shaheed Qamar Abbas in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa....

 members got into a gunfight with some IJT

Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba

Islami Jamiat Talaba is the male wing of an organization of students influenced mainly by the works of Late Syed Abul-Ala Maodudi. Its mission is to preach Islam to students of modern institutions throughout Pakistan. It has been attempting to increase the Islamic ideals of decency and glorifying...

 activists at the University of Karachi

University of Karachi

The University of Karachi is a public university located in Karachi, Pakistan. It serves an on-campus student population of more than 24,000. According to the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, it is ranked among the top three universities of the country...

. In the tussle Tipu shot dead a senior IJT

Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba

Islami Jamiat Talaba is the male wing of an organization of students influenced mainly by the works of Late Syed Abul-Ala Maodudi. Its mission is to preach Islam to students of modern institutions throughout Pakistan. It has been attempting to increase the Islamic ideals of decency and glorifying...

 member. Tipu then escaped to the then Soviet-controlled Afghanistan and joined Murtaza Bhutto

Murtaza Bhutto

Dr. Mir Ghulam Murtaza Bhutto was a Pakistani politician and the Member of the Parliament of Pakistan, representing Pakistan People's Party from the Larkana constituency...

’s guerilla outfit Al Zulfikar (AZO).

1981 PIA Hijack

Tipu re-entered Pakistan in early 1981 and along with three other PSF

Peoples Students Federation

Peoples Students Federation is a student federation and the student wing of the Pakistan Peoples Party founded by Shaheed Qamar Abbas in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa....

 militants hijacked a Peshawar-bound PIA

Pakistan International Airlines

Pakistan International Airlines Corporation commonly known as PIA, is the flag carrier airline of Pakistan. The airline has its head office on the grounds of Jinnah International Airport in Karachi. and operates scheduled services to 24 domestic destinations and 38 international destinations in 27...

 plane from Karachi

Karachi

Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...

. The plane was first forced to land at Kabul

Kabul

Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...

 airport, and was then flown to Damascus

Damascus

Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...

. Though undertaken to ‘avenge Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s hanging by Zia’, the hijacking was at once condemned by the young co-chairperson of the PPP

Pakistan Peoples Party

The Pakistan Peoples Party , is a democratic socialist political party in Pakistan affiliated with Socialist International. Pakistan People's Party is the largest political party of Pakistan...

, Benazir Bhutto

Benazir Bhutto

Benazir Bhutto was a democratic socialist who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996....

, who was languishing in a Karachi jail.

The hijackers demanded that 55 political prisoners be released. These included PPP

Pakistan Peoples Party

The Pakistan Peoples Party , is a democratic socialist political party in Pakistan affiliated with Socialist International. Pakistan People's Party is the largest political party of Pakistan...

, PSF

Peoples Students Federation

Peoples Students Federation is a student federation and the student wing of the Pakistan Peoples Party founded by Shaheed Qamar Abbas in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa....

, NSF and some Marxist, Baloch

Baloch people

The Baloch or Baluch are an ethnic group that belong to the larger Iranian peoples. Baluch people mainly inhabit the Balochistan region and Sistan and Baluchestan Province in the southeast corner of the Iranian plateau in Western Asia....

 and Pakhtun Jiyala activists. Zia hesitated and Tipu shot dead Captain Tariq Rahim, whom he mistakenly believed to be the son of then-martial law administrator General Rahimuddin Khan on the plane accusing him of being a part of Zia’s coup against Bhutto. He wasn’t.

Around 50 prisoners were eventually released by the Zia regime. However, by 1984, Tipu's resistance had become to be seen as a threat both by the Soviet-backed regime in Kabul and by Murtaza Bhutto

Murtaza Bhutto

Dr. Mir Ghulam Murtaza Bhutto was a Pakistani politician and the Member of the Parliament of Pakistan, representing Pakistan People's Party from the Larkana constituency...

, thus he was thrown into a Kabul

Kabul

Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...

 jail. He eventually hanged in 1984 for murdering an Afghan national. His body was never returned, and he is said to have been buried somewhere near Kabul.

See also

• Al-Zulfiqar
  Al-Zulfiqar
  Al-Zulfiqar was a leftist organization of Pakistan. It was formed in the late seventies by the sons of former Pakistani Prime Minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who was also the Chairman of Pakistan's biggest political party, Pakistan Peoples Party. Al-Zulfiqar was formed to revenge the killing of...
  
  
• Murtaza Bhutto
  Murtaza Bhutto
  Dr. Mir Ghulam Murtaza Bhutto was a Pakistani politician and the Member of the Parliament of Pakistan, representing Pakistan People's Party from the Larkana constituency...
  
  
• Raja Anwar
  Raja Anwar
  Raja Anwar is a Pakistani journalist and writer, and a former PPP political activist.- Personal life :Anwar was born into a Bhakral Rajput family of Darkali Sher Shahi a village, near Kallar Syedan in 1948...
  
  
• National Students Federation
  National Students Federation
  National Students Federation is a Left-wing students federation in Pakistan.Its predecessor, the DSF , had links to the Communist Party of Pakistan. It had power base among progressive students from Dow Medical and DJ Science Colleges. It dominated student politics in Karachi, the then Federal...
  
  
• Ashfaqullah

External links

• Smokers’ Corner: The Deviant Che by Nadeem F. Paracha, July 26, 2009