KARACHI: Although Syed Mazhar Jameel’s book, Aashob-i- Sindh aur Urdu Fiction, did not pull a big crowd at its launching at the Nipa auditorium on Friday, but all those who attended the ceremony seemed to be committed people listening to quite a large number of speakers for full three hours.

Dr Jameel Jalebi presided over the deliberations and the speakers included Rasheed Amjad who had specially come from Lahore, Dr Mubarak Ali, Saleem Agha, Zahida Hina, Saba Ikram, Firdaus Haider, Mustafa Karim and the author. A paper by Saher Ansari, who somehow could not attend the function, was read out on the occasion.

Dr Jalebi in his paper advised the writers and intellectuals to put their minds on the study of the problems besetting the country. Peace is the essential demand which must forestall the dangers of war, he said, and praised Mazhar Jameel for recording the changes occurring in the socio-cultural and political environment of the country, including the variations in the thinking minds.

Dr Jalebi, who has lived in Karachi for 55 years, said he was witness to the changing shape of the city in a tremendous proportion with stories found in every nook and corner looking around for writers to record them.

Dr Rahseed Amjad said the agony and malaise of Sindh were not confined to this province alone but were found in the entire country and will remain so as long as the present class system, based on human resources exploitation, disparities and preferences, existed.

He said: “what we witness today is a struggle going on between those in power and the oppressed people, and that our salvation lies in freedom of the masses.” The author has tried to demolish the wall of hatred erected between the people, and defined a new method of evaluating fiction.

Dr Mubarak Ali discussed the contents of the book in their historical perspective and narrated as to how local Sindhis with the coming of others in the province in a large number found themselves foreign in their own country. The basis of Sindhi nationalism was language and culture, he said. The local culture could not absorb that of the migrant population and both, in the course of time, had to reconcile with the existing conditions.

Agha Salim admired the book but regretted that the agony of Sindhis, their grief and loss in different ways, could not be recorded. For example, Qurratul Ain Hyder wrote about the mohajirs of Pir Elahi Bux Colony, but could not look at the ‘Jhuggis’ - dwellers of local people. Similarly, Mohammad Khalid Akhtar had narrated the panoramic beauty of Thar without finding a place in his travelogue for the ‘thirst of the Tharis’.

Agha had a long tale of woes of the Sindhis to relate, but cut short his discourse by suggesting that a truth and reconciliation commission should be formed to find out the facts. His suggestion was promptly seconded by Muslim Shamim who was compering on the occasion.

Saba Ikram found the book as research-based and the writer, Jameel, an “unbiased and multi-dimensional critic”.

Zahida Hina, while admiring the author, suggested the writer to write the truth and make their readers to accept “nothing but the truth”. Mr Jameel had presented the contemporary cultural life of Sindh in a collage form while quoting colourful pieces from different stories.

Mustafa Karim praised the book, but pointed out some lapses in describing history and inclusion of such pieces which were not up to the mark. He said it was wrong to compare the War of Plassey with the war fought at Miami in Sindh, since, he observed, the former had far-reaching consequences of greater magnitude than the latter.

Firdaus Haider described the agony of the common people of Pakistan without any discrimination and maintained that the rule of law and justice must prevail.

Mazhar Jameel in his paper while narrating the events of the last fifty years, asked a question to think about by the writers: “Should the malaise of Sindh be taken as a compulsion of history or it is due to the oppressive and exploitative feudal system?”

Jaafer Ahmad at the outset read out a paper on the contemporary history of Sindh and praised the writer for surveying the writings of 103 authors, taking literature as the primary source of social study. Jameel’s approach towards his subject was historical, he observed.—Hasan Abidi.