| 06 October 2004 | Wednesday | 19 Shaban 1425 |
Drainage plan opposed
It was a breezy and pleasant evening at the Arts Council on Saturday (Oct 2). Even the heat generated by a debate on the usage of a particular word could not dampen it.
Naqqash Kazmi was conducting the proceedings of the monthly Mehfil-i-Naqd-o-Nazar, Prof Manzer Ayyubi was in the chair, and the guests included two visitors from India, Dr Anwer Moazzam and his spouse, the famous fiction writer Jeelani Bano.
The attendance was low, and certainly more people would have come to listen to the Indian couple had the weather not been so uncertain and city roads-less inundated.
When Ghalib Irfan, author of three poetry collections, read out his ghazal, Sarver Javed objected to the use of the word jageh (place). "Even its wrong pronunciation could not save the line (misra) from falling from the metre," he contended.
Even otherwise he expressed a low opinion about the ghazal. But Jamiluddin Aali was there to defend the poet. He said it was correct and in this age of advanced literary tastes, one should not be so dogmatic about form and should instead concentrate on the content. But Sarver Javed refused to accept Aali's view about the contentious word. Both sides were adamant and the heated controversy seemed endless till the compere asked poet Himayat Ali Shaer to intervene.
As Shaer could not convince either of the two sides, an 'ustad' in the classical mould, Kavish Umer, gave his verdict. The word, in whatever way you pronounce it, he said, was not correct. Someone whispered: "Alas, Tabish Sahib is not here when he was wanted most."
Next came Mian Aftab to present his short story Lal Kurti, a story of prostitutes residing close to cantonment areas during the British rule. The story was a fascinating narrative, and the prose crisp and idiomatic. It was liked by everyone.
Another story was read out by Irfan Abedi, who said 75 per cent of it was true and based on facts. But the story could not attract much attention.When Jeelani Bano came to speak, she admired the level of debate and the audience's involvement.
The Urdu short story had developed in India, she said, as had stories in South Indian languages. By Urdu afsana, she said, she meant stories written in the "Urdu script."
This point was further stressed by Dr Anwar Moazzam, who said that Urdu without its own original script would lose its identity. This comment triggered another controversy when Himayat Ali Shaer, a frequent visitor to foreign shores, said the Roman script provided access to Urdu literature for most Muslim families living in the West, particularly the younger people. But Dr Moazzam, who has been engaged for many decades in the script controversy, said Urdu in its original form would always live, but agreed that the number of Urdu speaking people was on the decline.
The fault, he said, was of the Urdu-wallahs themselves, who did not teach Urdu to their children. The Devnagri script had an edge over the Urdu script because Hindi was the official language of India.
Dr Moazzam further explained that every Indian state had its own language while Hindi was the link language. The supporters of Hindi had another advantage, since they claimed every material printed in Urdu as Hindi by transcribing it in the Devnagri script. As such, they considered Ghalib as a poet of all the Indian languages.
Dr Moazzam told the audience that some efforts were being made to popularize Urdu in India. For example a daily newspaper, Siyasat, had launched an Urdu teaching project and had till now taught Urdu to around 700,000 persons.
There were Urdu medium schools in Karnatka, more than in any other state. He further disclosed that there was an Urdu TV channel run by a Hindu gentleman, broadcasting programmes that included news in Urdu. The programme concluded with brief comments by Prof Manzar Ayyubi.
* * * * *
The Sham-i-Afsana at the Irtiqa Adabi Forum held on Sunday (Oct 3) was attended by Jeelani Bano and presided over by another eminent writer, Hajra Masroor. It was in many ways a memorable evening.
Shahnaz Shoro, a promising writer, read out her story Marajeyat (back to the past) and Zaheda Hina her story Kum Kum bohat araam say hai (Kum Kum is quite at peace with herself).
Jeelani Bano's story spoke many home truths about the social life in India, the culture of the dirty rich, of electoral politics, and compromising journalists. Dr Mohammad Ali Siddiqui was asked to comment on the presentations.
Dr Sidiqui first briefly introduced Dr Mulk Raj Anand who recently breathed his last in Mumbai. He was the last of torch- bearers of the Progressive Writers Movement, who in 1935 had created a stir with their new writings and held the famous writers conference in Lucknow in 1936.
Dr Anand was the first among the progressives to write about the poorest of the poor - sweepers, coolies and others. He was a great realist as his half- a-dozen novels prove and he continued to write till his death at the age of 96. Dr Siddiqui presented a resolution of condolence.
Zaheda Hina's story recalled the war over Afghanistan, and an Indian doctor's experience working at a hospital in Kabul with wounded Taliban boys, normal human beings like other Afghans.
The doctor remembered those Kabliwalas who would travel from Kabul to Kolkatta, selling dry fruit and making friends with the children, which inspired Tagore to write a memorable short story about them.
Hajra Masroor briefly referred to the rise of the short story in India and Pakistan and the role of publishers and in later years of TV producers, discouraging writers by denying them their due share of royalty.
The evening ended with a speech by Iqbal Alvi, secretary of the Irtiqa Institute of Social Sciences. At the outset, Jamal Naqvi read a paper introducing the forum and the guests of the evening.
Drainage plan opposed
Kawish writes that representatives of farmers and water experts of Sindh, who took part in a recent consultative workshop on the Master Drainage Plan, also attended by a World Bank mission, rejected the project aimed at draining out saline and polluted water of three other provinces into the sea through Sindh.
The cost of the project, which includes remodelling of the Left Bank Outfall Drain and the Right Bank Outfall Drain, is estimated at Rs300 billion. The World Bank will provide a loan of Rs60 billion and the rest will be paid by provinces and farmers will provide manpower.
The daily argues that planning has a basic role in the execution of a project and a faulty plan does not only to waste of money but may also prove to be counter-productive.
The LBOD as well as the RBOD are glaring examples. When the LBOD was being planned, farmers and water experts of pointed out the faults in its design and warned Wapda of the disaster the drain network would invite. But their warnings were ignored and now the LBOD is proving to be a disaster for the coastal areas of Badin. Similarly, the RBOD has caused an ecological catastrophe by turning the Manchhar Lake into a reservoir of highly contaminated water.
Despite all this, the executive agency for both the projects, Wapda, has not been held accountable and it has now come up with a proposal of remodelling the drain networks as part of the Master Drainage Plan. But, keeping in view the past experiences, it is being feared that this project may result in and the catastrophe for Sindh.
Awami Awaz writes that Sindh has been crying about theft of its share of water for years and recently the federal government also has admitted that 30 per cent of the province's share recently disappeared between the Chashma and Guddu barrages. The government has asked the Flood Commission to conduct an inquiry into the matter through the satellite system.
It was earlier stated that the water theft would be curbed by installing a telemetry system at different water works but the experiment has failed to produce result. Now, the daily says, a fool-proof system should be adopted to detect and curb the theft and to provide relief to the water-starved Sindh.
Referring to the killing of a newly-wed girl in police custody, Ibrat says the incident proves that the force has not only failed to protect girls who are persecuted by men of their families for marrying men of their choice. The paper says that unless the 'criminal alliance' between police and killers of women is broken, there can be no hope of justice for women in the feudal society.