Lal Khan
Lal Khan (; June 1956 – 21 February 2020) was a political activist and Marxist political theorist. Born Tanveer Gondal, he was a physician by profession but ceased practicing medicine in order to devote his time to political activity. Adopting the name Lal Khan, he was the leader of the Pakistani Marxist organization "The Struggle", and editor of its newspaper. He also wrote regular articles for "Daily Times" and the "Dunya". He died on 21 February 2020 after being ill with cancer for more than a year. Early life. In the 1970s, Khan was a student of medicine in college  and a political activist in Pakistan when the military coup of General Zia ul Haq toppled the Pakistan Peoples Party government, and subsequently hanged the country's first democratically elected prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. He was imprisoned for a year, then went to university in the capital of Pakistan, Islamabad. He moved to The Netherlands in 1980 to escape by fearing the death sentence in Pakistan. During his time in exile, he graduated from the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, and continued to reside in the Netherlands for eight more years. In 1988, he returned to his country and quit  his profession as a doctor, in order to work full-time in revolutionary politics. Career. He was the leading member of The Struggle which is based on the ideas of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky and advocates a socialist transformation of Pakistan. It demands the nationalization of the commanding heights of the economy under workers control, an end to religious extremism and radicalism, the eradication of unemployment and free accessible education for all Pakistani citizens. He was the editor of "Asian Marxist Review" and International Secretary of Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign. Lal Khan criticized the partition of India and  advocated for Indian reunification, which he stated would heal continuing wounds and solve the Kashmir conflict. Advocating for a common revolution, Khan declared that "Five thousand years of common history, culture and society is too strong to be cleavaged by this partition." His views are described his book "Crisis in the Indian Subcontinent, Partition: Can it be Undone?" in which Khan states that "revolutionary transformation of the economies and societies is an essential prerequisite for the reunification of the subcontinent." On 12–13 March 2011 the largest congress of The Struggle was held in Lahore. These annual congresses are held to  analyse the performance of The Struggle and to formulate new strategies for social change and revolution. In October 2013, Khan accused Malala Yousafzai's supporters in the West of appropriating her and concealing her socialist background. In a joint statement in August 2016, Khan and CPI(M) Jammu and Kashmir general secretary Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami called for revolutionary unity between the working classes of India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir conflict and overthrow capitalism in the subcontinent. Death. On 21 February, he died after suffering from cancer for more than a year at local hospital of Lahore. Lal Khan Lal