Comments on: K.K. Aziz (1927-2009): History Shall Miss Him

By: Professor Mukhtar Chaudhry

Professor Mukhtar Chaudhry — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 05:43:11 +0000

I had heard about Dr KK Aziz for a longtime and wished to meet him. Since living USA, my dream, I thought will never materialize.Suddenly I got an email from Ihsan from Cambridge UK and asked him about Professor Aziz. He very kindly gave me his Telephone number in Lahore. I reserved my seat on a flight for Lahore and called his number. His wife answered the phone and told me he is hard of hearing and cannot talk to me. I asked the address and was graciously obliged. I proceeded to his residence and found him very sick but very gracious. Our talk was on general routine things and nothing much about specifics. In the course of our meeting he mentioned his childhood in Batala and his school (M.B.High School and Syed Akhtar Ahsan as Headmaster). That turned me on and I too grew up in Batala and attended MBS and the names of teachers we shared. What a surprise. In fact the sons of Syed Akhtar Ahsan and Great Syed family were my classmates.

I told him how my dream materialized through Ihsan of Cambridge. His wife told me that Ihsan is like their son. What a small world. I am a crazy lover of great men and always cherish to meet them. Unfortunately we are very emotional and judgmental people and live in dreams and no tolerance whatsoever for other peoples opinion or emotions but we claim ourselves as very tolerant.

I realized the condition of Dr Aziz was extremely uncomfortable and had to leave after two hours of our meeting. It was very kind of him to give me an opportunity to discuss with some of events that tormented me like many of the Pakistanis. He asked me how I describe Pakistani people? I told him” Brain Damaged”. He chuckled and wanted some elaboration. I told him that generation after generation they behave the same way and make the same mistakes. The people who tortured Minto, QuratulAin and Baray Ghulam Ali Kha, and Sahir Ludhanvi are long dead and the people who kicked Faiz,Dr Fazalur Rehman and K.K.Aziz are a new generation. You see the pattern! Faiz was solitary confined for 4 years by Liaqat Ali and found nothing. Why! This whole years is dedicated to Faiz all over the world and no one remembers Liaqat. Even his progeny does not remember him. And I said to him goodbye. May Allah reward him for his good work for our posterity.

By: syed farid maharaj/ajmer sharif

syed farid maharaj/ajmer sharif — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 06:06:14 +0000

thanks to ur blog that i came to know of the passing away of KK Aziz a great historian of the sub continent. I am a collector of KK Aziz books and would i like mention only two which are missing from ur other wise exellent coverage of his work,namely Prelude to Pakistan Vol. 1 &2, The Chronological History of Muslim India and Murder of History in Pakistan, of which i am a proud owner in addition to his other books.
May Allah rest his soul in peace and give him a place in Jannat.
May his writing be an inspiration to all his fans.
this is my first time logon to ur blog after reading an article in the Times of India on the debate of the first national anthem of pakistan. good work in keeping the spirit of liberal thought alive thru debate and dailouge……….

By: ahmad manzer

ahmad manzer — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 06:08:41 +0000

May Allah grant peace to the departed soul. K K Aziz was a scholar of great standing and a fair and fearless historian. His endeavour was to place the history in it’s unabashed and unbiased form before the reader. Obviously in our country the small men who styled themselves to be the champions of freedom struggle and became keepers of the invented nazariyas , resorted to distorting history in the post independence Pakistan.K. K Aziz boldly exposed such distortions and tried to educate the people of Pakistan by producing the facts and the historical records before them. It is unfortunate that his crusade has come to an end. However it is certain that his works will continue to be used as reference by the next generations.
We have lost a great histrian, an eminent scholar and a great human being. God bless his soul.