Taj Haider, SI (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, mathematician, versatile scholar, and

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

intellectual. He is one of the founding members of

Pakistan Peoples Party The Pakistan People's Party ( ur, , ; PPP) is a centre-left, social-democratic political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third largest party in the National Assembly and second largest in the Senate of Pakistan. The party was founded ...

(PPP) and has been the general-secretary of the PPP since 2010. A mathematician and scientist by profession, Haider provided a vital leadership in the formative years of clandestine atomic bomb projects in the 1970s. He is also noted for his writing of political plays for the

Pakistan Television Pakistan Television Corporation ( ur, ; reporting name: PTV) is the Pakistani state-owned broadcaster. Pakistan entered the television broadcasting age in 1964, with a pilot television station established at Lahore. Background Historical co ...

(PTV) from 1979 to 1985.

Biography

Education

Taj Haider was born on 8 March 1942 in Kota,

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

British Indian Empire The British Raj (; from Hindi language, Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Q ...

. His family migrated to

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

following the

partition Partition may refer to: Computing Hardware * Disk partitioning, the division of a hard disk drive * Memory partition, a subdivision of a computer's memory, usually for use by a single job Software * Partition (database), the division of a ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in 1947. After graduating from a local high school, Haider ultimately enrolled in

Karachi University The University of Karachi ( sd, ; informally Karachi University, KU, or UoK) is a public research university located in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Established in June 1951 by an act of Parliament and as a successor to the University of Sindh ...

in 1959. He studied Mathematics at the

and graduated with a BSc (hons) in Mathematics in 1962. In 1965, he earned his MSc in mathematics from the same institution and opted for teaching mathematics at the local college, later moving to

. During his career at the Karachi University, Haider primarily taught and focused on the ordinary

differential equations In mathematics, a differential equation is an equation that relates one or more unknown functions and their derivatives. In applications, the functions generally represent physical quantities, the derivatives represent their rates of change, an ...

and topics in

multivariable calculus Multivariable calculus (also known as multivariate calculus) is the extension of calculus in one variable to calculus with functions of several variables: the differentiation and integration of functions involving several variables, rather th ...

PPP and political activism

During the attendance of 1967 socialist convention, Haider was one of the founding members of the

(PPP) and committed himself as a vehement supporter of change by left-oriented philosophy of

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Zulfikar (or Zulfiqar) Ali Bhutto ( ur, , sd, ذوالفقار علي ڀٽو; 5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979), also known as Quaid-e-Awam ("the People's Leader"), was a Pakistani barrister, politician and Politician, statesman who served as ...

. In the 1970s, he played a vital role in formulating the public policy concerning the atomic bomb projects. On multiple occasions, he provided his expertise on taking moral stance on

nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...

s initiatives at the diplomatic conventions. On nuclear weapons development, Haider stated that "there was a need to aggressively project the peaceful intent of Pakistan's atomic bomb program." Haider disassociated himself with the politics but remained member of Pakistan Mathematical Society and shifted towards writing political dramas at the

(PTV) in 1979. The PTV aired various political dramas written by Haider until 1985 when he renewed his association with PPP. In 1990–2000, he contributed in PPP-initiated industrial projects such as the establishment of

Heavy Mechanical Complex Heavy Mechanical Complex Ltd (HMC) is a Pakistani state-owned defense manufacturer, a subsidiary of State Engineering Corporation (SEC), Ministry of Industries & Production, Government of Pakistan. It is located in Taxila, Rawalpindi District, ...

(HMC),

Hub Dam Hub Dam ( ur, ) is a reservoir on the Hub River. It is situated 56 km from Karachi city in Karachi and Hub District on Sindh and Balochistan provinces border. The dam is extended to 24300 acres with gross storage capacity of 857000 acre ...

and various other social programmes. He was elected to the

Senate of Pakistan Senate of Pakistan or Aiwān-e-Bālā Pākistān ( ur, , , literally "Pakistan upper house"), is the upper legislative chamber of the bicameral legislature of Pakistan, and together with the National Assembly makes up the Parliament of Pakista ...

in 1995. In 2001, Haider returned to his literary activities after rejoining the PTV, and penned two political drama serials for the PTV which were aired in 2003. In 2004, he returned to politics in opposition to

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Pervez Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of the ...

over the issue of

nuclear proliferation Nuclear proliferation is the spread of nuclear weapons, fissionable material, and weapons-applicable nuclear technology and information to nations not recognized as " Nuclear Weapon States" by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Wea ...

. He bitterly criticised the United States over the sanctions of KRL and one of the noted politician expressing the discontent against the US, along with

Raza Rabbani Mian Raza Rabbani ( Punjabi, Urdu:; born 23 July 1953) is a Pakistani politician who served as the 7th Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan from March 2015 to March 2018. He has been elected a senator six times since 1993 from the Sindh Province ...

in 2004. About the

case, Haider defended the case of Abdul Qadeer Khan in the public and condemned the

Information minister An information minister (also called minister of information) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with information matters; it is often linked with censorship and propaganda. Sometimes the position is given to ...

, Rashid Ahmad's statement of acquitting former Prime minister

Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto ( ur, بینظیر بُھٹو; sd, بينظير ڀُٽو; Urdu ; 21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th and 13th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 t ...

in the

case. Ultimately, he called for a

parliamentary inquiry In parliamentary procedure, requests and inquiries are motions used by members of a deliberative assembly to obtain information or to do or have something done that requires permission of the assembly. Except for a request to be excused from a duty ...

over on that issues, and questioned about the involvement of

General

in the proliferation case. In 2006, Haider was awarded

PTV Awards PTV National Awards () was an awards ceremony annually held by the Pakistan Television Corporation. The awards were first introduced in the late 1970s to encourage talented people in Pakistan. History The PTV awards is the largest awards cerem ...

for Best Playwright Serial award, which he received in a televised ceremony.

Writing and philosophy

Haider extensively writes on nuclear policy issues, left-wing ideas, literary and political philosophy. His recent writings have included the support of

social democracy Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

in the country and power of balance in each state institutions. On literary and political circles, he has written critic articles against the

military dictatorship A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer. The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the m ...

, specifically policies enforced by the conservative

General

Zia-ul-Haq General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq HI, GCSJ, ร.ม.ภ, ( Urdu: ; 12 August 1924 – 17 August 1988) was a Pakistani four-star general and politician who became the sixth President of Pakistan following a coup and declaration of martial ...

throughout the 1980s. Taj Haider opposed the ethnically-based politics of the leader of

Muttahida Qaumi Movement Muttahida Qaumi Movement (abbreviated MQM) is a name currently claimed by two competing Pakistani political factions: * Muttahida Qaumi Movement – London, a political faction managed from the UK * Muttahida Qaumi Movement – Pakistan Muttah ...

or MQM, Altaf Hussain based in Karachi by reportedly stating on one occasion, "We were not Mohajirs but Urdu-speaking citizens of this province and this country. Our mother-tongue was the official and national language of Pakistan and it would be wrong and degrading to consider ourselves as lesser citizens or Mohajirs".

Honors and awards

Sitara-e-Imtiaz The Sitara-e-Imtiaz () also spelled as Sitara-i-Imtiaz, is the third-highest (in the order of "Imtiaz") honour and Civil decorations of Pakistan, civilian award in the State of Pakistan. It recognizes individuals who have made an "especially m ...

(Star of Excellence) Award by the

President of Pakistan The president of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=s̤adr-i Pākiṣṭān), officially the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is the ceremonial head of state of Pakistan and the commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Armed Forces.13th PTV Awards for Best Playwright Serial award (2006) ;Selected articles: *Haider, Taj. "CTBT Security Perspectives" ''Dawn'' Newspapers, 27 March 2000. *Haider, Taj. "Setting the PPP record straight", ''Express Tribune'' 2013. *Haider, Taj. "Why the PPP is boycotting the presidential election", 16 July 2013 ;Television plays * ''Jinhein Raaste Main Khabar Hui'' * ''Lab-e-Darya''

References

External links

Pakistan Peoples Party
*https://profilepk.com/ex-senator-taj-haider *https://www.pakpedia.pk/taj-haider/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Haider, Taj Living people 1942 births People from Kota, Rajasthan Politicians from Karachi Pakistani people of Rajasthani descent University of Karachi alumni Pakistani mathematicians Pakistani scientists Pakistan People's Party politicians Pakistani television directors Academic staff of the University of Karachi Pakistani socialists Government of Benazir Bhutto staffers and personnel Pakistani political writers Pakistani media personalities Pakistani Marxists Recipients of Sitara-i-Imtiaz Pakistani philosophers Pakistani television writers Pakistani dramatists and playwrights Pakistani anti-war activists Pakistani anti–Iraq War activists Pakistani senators (14th Parliament) Muslim socialists PTV Award winners