KARACHI: “The purpose of the Faiz Foundation is to carry on with the mission of Faiz Ahmed Faiz which is to uphold the cause of human rights, democracy and equality. In that connection we have undertaken a project in collaboration with the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in which we have published two books. Their purpose is to communicate the message that there exist religious minorities or marginalised communities in Pakistan which have contributed greatly to the country and which deserve the same respect as other (majority) communities.”

This was said by Moneeza Hashmi, daughter of distinguished poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz and a trustee of the foundation at the launch of two books Leading Lights and Beyond the Other at the Karachi Press Club on Tuesday afternoon.

Introducing Leading Lights by Bushra Sultana, Ms Hashmi said it was available both in English and Urdu. She said the people mentioned in the book were Pakistanis, belonged to marginalised communities and had contributed to Pakistan’s progress. Some of the names she took on the occasion were: Cecil Chaudhry, Justice Dorab Patel, Justice Cornelius, Bapsi Sidhwa, Dinshaw Avari, Indu Mitha, Gulji and Jimmy Engineer. She said the book was published after painstaking research. She said the foundation’s gesture was to highlight ‘inclusiveness’ so that we could know how significant the contributions of individuals belonging to religious minorities was.

Ms Hashmi said the project was also launched in schools because it was felt there were certain thoughts and mindsets which should be formed from school days. She said there were four books in English and four in Urdu published for children.

Ms Hashmi said Beyond the Other was written by Haroon Khalid (its Urdu version was also available). She said the author had proved by virtue of his research how close the different religions in our part of the world were. She said the writer had written about our old relations, cultures and festivals which had now developed cracks.

In between her conversation, Ms Hashmi showed three video films, one on the Faiz Foundation, another on individuals belonging to religious minorities and one on the different festivals celebrated in our part of the world.

Media person Ghazi Salahuddin was the other speaker at the launch. He said society was formed when people from different backgrounds lived together in harmony. He said the project talked about how the tradition of living in harmony was disrupted. He said Haroon Khalid’s book was important because it told us that we were not the kind of people that we had now become. He said it seemed as if we were afflicted by some disease because of which today we saw so much intolerance and extremism around us. He said if we were to put an end to it, we needed to think where these things (violence and extremism) came from.

Mr Salahuddin said a debate had raged on after a recently published story in Dawn that what national interest was. He said extremism was the result of the way our rulers had interpreted national interest. He said unless we changed our ideas about national interest as espoused by our rulers, we could not accomplish the goals that the Faiz Foundation had set out to achieve. He said the liberal segment of society was under attack and getting depleted. He said the survival of liberal elements was the country’s survival, and in that connection there was no voice bigger than Faiz’s. He said the two books being launched were part of the movement of survival of Pakistan as a modern society. He said it was necessary to go to the young people to make them understand the benefits of peace.

Ms Hashmi in the end spoke on the Faiz International Festival to be held on Nov 18, 19 and 20 in Lahore’s Alhamra Halls. She said the festival was first held last year which turned out to be a huge success. She said many sessions would be held during the event, including book launches, music concerts, debate on politics etc. She said this year the festival was tilting towards the idea of the state of Pakistani film — revival or rebirth. She invited everyone to take part in the festival.

Published in Dawn October 19th, 2016