Hamza Alvi employed a theoretical framework that was essentially Marxist. However, he is mostly deviating and breaking new grounds in socialist theory -- particularly with respect to Indian subcontinent Renowned social thinker and intellectual par excellence, Hamza Alvi lost his battle against the inevitable on December 1, 2004. His demise evoked an extraordinary sense of remorse and deprivation, particularly among those who had some idea of the originality and profundity his scholarly work is invested with. For those relatively fewer people who knew him personally, it was never easy to figure out whether

Nevertheless, Hamza remained steadfast and stuck to his banking career even after partition -- he joined the State Bank of Pakistan where he worked diligently in the company of the likes of Zahid Hussain to put the nascent institution on firm foundations. His association with the State Bank of Pakistan, however, did not last very long.

During his student years he got enamoured by the Marxist ideology. His fondness for Marxism kept increasing with every passing day. Perhaps that was the motivation that led him to resign from the coveted job and proceed to Tanzania. He tried his hand at farming in Tanzania and started living with peasants -- thinking they were the most viable agency for social change in the third world.

His ambition to mobilise the peasantry to bring about a meaningful change could not materialise because of his inability to cope with the harsh weather of Tanzania. He once again decided to switch occupation and went to England to become an academic at the University of Sussex.

After this he had the opportunity of teaching in various universities and institutes as Professor of Sociology. Michigan State University (CSAS); University of California, Los Angeles; University of Denver; University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur; University of Leeds and University of Manchester were the institutions that benefited from Hamza's scholarship.

In the course of his academic career, he was offered a faculty position by the Queens University Canada. He accepted the offer but due to his 'doubtful credentials' -- his strong Marxist leanings -- the Canadian government denied him visa. The arbitrary act stirred a strong protest among academics as well as students and eventually the government had to give in. Hamza was allowed entry into Canada but now Hamza was not interested. He accepted an offer from the University of Leeds instead.

In 1997, he prorogued his active career as an academic. After getting retirement from the University of Manchester, he came back to his native city of Karachi and lived in his parental house at Gandhi Garden, Karachi East till he breathed his last

Hamza Alvi was editor of 'Pakistan Today', a left leaning journal that was circulated clandestinely during the decade of 1960s. He was also a regular contributor to 'Socialist Register' around the same time.

Hamza wrote on a wide variety of issues, ranging from feudalism, colonialism and imperialism to Pakistani post-colonial state and the importance of endogamy and kinship in the social formation of Punjab. Hamza employed a theoretical framework that was essentially Marxist in most of his works. However he was not a blind follower of Marx, Engels or Lenin. Therefore he seems to be deviating from and breaking new grounds in socialist theory -- particularly with respect to the Indian subcontinent.

Contrary to Marx's views about India as a country that virtually had no history and considered British colonial dispensation as a blessing in disguise for the hapless country, Hamza, in one of his seminal works 'From Feudalism to Colonial Capitalism', traces the emerging signs of indigenous capitalism in North India. He thus spurns Marxist as well as other Orientalist constructions whereby colonialism was depicted as having acted as an instrument that rid some part of India of feudalism and facilitated the growth of capitalism here.

Conversely, Hamza contends that the British scuttled all growth of indigenous capitalism clearly in evidence during the Mughal period. We already had commercial centres like Delhi and Agra where a fairly strong artisan class had sprung up. But, unluckily, a political crisis ensued and East India Company successfully grabbed power and acquired all the resources too. These resources were transferred to England in the wake of industrial revolution which were then utilised for enhancing the economic interests of Metropolitan bourgeoise.

He has written quite extensively on Pakistan and the role of Muslim Salariat who initiated the process of separatism among the North Indian Muslims, living in UP and Bihar. He considers Muslim League as a representative of Muslim Salariat's interests. In the early 1940s, All India Muslim League was hijacked by the landed aristocrats. And after Pakistan came into being, Muslim League had virtually become subservient to the landlords and protected their vested interests in whatever policies were adopted.

He has written about the overdeveloped state structure of Pakistan -- the civil and military bureaucracy being its chief components. He also unveils the role of the planning committee, comprising all federal secretaries. It was this committee that called the shots instead of the cabinet and was answerable to the Governor General (Quaid-i-Azam) but not to the cabinet or the Constituent Assembly. These facts speak volumes about the marginalised status that politicians were reduced to, right from the very beginning.

Similarly, his analysis of the role of the army is quite revealing. Its 'behind the scene' method of controlling policies as well as resources of the state is Hamza's main area of focus. The Martial Law regime of Ayub Khan and the most trumpeted industrial progress made during his regime too was not of much consequence to Hamza. He thought the industrial bourgeoise and the industry set up under the military dictator could not bring any positive change in Pakistan.

Hamza blames both the civil and military bureaucracy of the overdeveloped state for most ills that Pakistan has been plagued with. He brands both of them as agents of metropolitan bourgeoise and not at all concerned about the worrisome state Pakistan is in. He believed, till the end, socialism as a panacea to all problems humanity has to contend with.