Syed Qamar Abbas belongs to that class of politicians which earned fame because of its political struggle against military dictatorship and for the restoration of democracy in Pakistan. He began his political career as a student leader when in 1971 he was elected president of the National Students Federation, a wing of the Mazdoor Kisan Party. But even before that he had met the founding chairman of Pakistan People's Party, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, in Lahore during the party's first convention. In 1972, on Bhutto's advice, he formed People's Students' Federation in the Frontier and became its first secretary- general.