September 19, 2004

IN 1966, Prof Dr Shafiq Jullundhri, a former head of the mass communication department of Punjab University and also then the secretary of the ‘Bazm-i-Adab’, arranged a meeting of students with Ashfaque Ahmad, the story writer, at the Islamia College where around 20,000 Faisalabadis almost gheraoed him. More than the story writer, Ashfaque Ahmad was popularly known as Talqeen Shah then, who used to appear in a radio talk show. His popularity among the masses through his famous radio talk was almost unbelievable.

According to Prof Shafiq, a small news item appeared on the itinerary of the meeting in a local Urdu daily in which Ashfaque was identified as the famous radio compere, Talqeen Shah. The day of the meeting people started pouring in against an invited capacity of around 500. So much so that the venue proved too small and the college staff had to shift the event to the spacious college hall. As people still kept pouring in, the administration panicked and announced on the mike that Talqeen Shah had cancelled his arrival and that the short story writer, Ashfaque Ahmad was coming. They tried to dissuade the uncontrollable crowd by the announcement but by then the audience knew the real person behind Talqeen Shah.

Though the principal considered calling the police to help control the crowd before the distinguished guest’s arrival, he was wisely advised by one of the senior staff members to yet change the venue to another location, this time the hockey ground. Before he arrived, the number of the audience had risen to 20,000. Students sat on the grassy ground waiting for the man who used to talk about their problems in their own dialect close to Haryanvi, also spoken in the Hoshiarpur district. Ashfaque was warmly received by the crowd, which listened to his short story and the speech which he delivered on topics close to his heart, one of them being corruption in society. A sizeable crowd then accompanied Ashfaque Ahmad to the railway station to see him off to Lahore.

Ashfaque Ahmad’s leadership qualities could be traced right back in his earlier years. He once narrated a story about a procession taken out by students, particularly the Sikh and the Muslim students, on the death of Allama Iqbal. Ashfaque was then studying in class IX in a school in Ferozepur. It is believed that Ashfaque himself was leading that mourning procession, of course under the guidance of some staff member.

This role suited well with his trait as the storyteller (dastango). He put this role of his to use at the refugee camp of Walton where he was employed to record the whereabouts of the incoming refugees from the Indian Punjab. He was not only assigned to record the names of the refugees but also make announcements on the mike. Mumtaz Mufti, then a well-known short story writer, was also working in the camp and was all praise for Ashfaque’s role as an announcer.

Later, Mufti came to know about Ashfaque’s keen interest in Urdu fiction and confessed having read his stories, such as “Aapa”. Ashfaque had also to his credit, “Toba”, the short story published in the famous Urdu magazine Adabi Duniya by Maulana Salahuddin in 1942. It was widely appreciated.

Mumtaz Mufti, who was much impressed with Ashfaque’s knowledge and potential, asked him to work with him on Azad Kashmir Radio, Tararkhel. It was a mobile unit and required people who could produce programmes at a minute’s notice. Ashfaque was considered suitable for the job. This experience of his at the refugees camp provided ample food for the stories written by him later in life.

Ashfaque in those days worked hard to be recognized as a storywriter. Prestigious literary magazines like Nuqoosh, Adab-i-Lateef and Savera were in those days tightly controlled by progressive writers and it was very difficult for him to find his way into these magazines. With the support of Intizar Hussain, A. Hameed and other comparatively lesser known writers, he did his best to break the hegemony of the Progressives. In due course, the government of Punjab closed down these magazines temporarily to reform their editorial boards. During this period, Ashfaque and others churned out the best of their pieces including his story “Gadaria”.

Ashfaque continued writing good short stories but was also interested in writing dialogue more than narrative write-ups. He engaged himself more in story telling (dastangoi) rather than story writing. Besides his potential as a powerful storyteller, he was also fascinated with the electronic media in which he carried on his role as a reformist and this mattered most to him. From Azad Kashmir radio scripts down to TV Zavia, he was a forceful narrator, which won him tremendous accolades.

Ashfaque Ahmad was a man of many dimensions. He always wanted to prove his worth in many other fields as well. Scripting films, managing publications, and also imbibing the sufi tradition, a school of thought that he shared with two other fiction writers, Mumtaz Mufti and Qudrat Ullah Shahab. Later, he took up the editorship of the weekly Lail-o-Nihar after the takeover of the Progressive Papers Limited (which published the Pakistan Times, Imroze and the weekly Lail-o-Nihar from Lahore) by Ayub Khan’s military regime. Earlier, the paper was edited by Faiz Ahmad Faiz and by renowned progressive scholars, such as Syed Sibte Hasan, who was imprisoned by the khakis.

Ashfaque was considered apt for the job because of his experience with a monthly magazine, Dastango with the support of the famous artist Aazer Zubi. He was also made head of the West Pakistan office of the Pakistan Writers Guild during Ayub’s dictatorship years but it didn’t last a long time. Both the projects were not his cup of tea and he was next appointed to the Taraqqi-i-Urdu Board where he served for almost a quarter of a century.

Ashfaque proved his mettle again by giving the publications of the Board a major uplift and revamping the dwindling financial situation. He raised a beautiful building for the Board from its own resources and also had published the best history books on the subcontinent written in Persian. They were also translated by many eminent scholars and teachers. He reproduced many of the rare dictionaries compiled by British scholars and also a Haft Zabani Lughat with the single purpose of enriching Urdu and bringing it closer to local languages.

Because of his interaction with the sufis and the common people, he recognized the need to write also in Punjabi and contributed features and plays to the electronic media. They were quite well received by the people. “Tahli Dey Thhalley” was one of the first ever collection of radio plays in Punjabi. When a master’s programme in Punjabi was introduced in Punjab University, Ashfaque prepared the curriculum and taught Punjabi with other eminent professors like Qayyum Nazar, Asghar Saleem and Dr Faqir Muhammad Faqir.

Ashfaque Ahmad was undoubtedly a leading fiction writer but his real mettle was proved in his eloquent speeches made to spellbound audiences. Now as many obituary writers have sadly said, Khamosh ho gaya hay chaman bolta hua.

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