THE Majlis-i-Taraqqi-i-Adab is now in a state of crisis. Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, who was acting as its Director, has tendered his resignation in protest against the Punjab bureaucracy’s treatment meted out to him and the Majlis in general. This should be a cause of concern for all those who are aware of the services of the Majlis in the academic and literary spheres.
The Majlis had come into existence in the early years of Pakistan, under the patronage of the Punjab government, for the preservation of our literary heritage and the promotion of literature, in general. Syed Imtiaz Ali Taj acted as its first director, under whose supervision a large number of classical works, both in poetry and prose, were published after being properly researched and compiled by able scholars.
After the death of Syed Imtiaz Ali Taj, Prof Hameed Ahmad Khan took charge of Majlis. And after his death, Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi became director of this esteemed body.
During this whole period, the Majlis stuck to its original programme as laid down for it, and went on publishing classical works which were not available in the market. In fact, we are indebted to the Majlis for the availability of most of the classic works in Urdu.
But trouble began to raise its head during the tenure of Qasmi Sahib. Mainly, the reason was that the Punjab government turned indifferent to the Majlis. The idea for the preservation of our literary heritage had no attraction for the new rulers of the province. Their priorities were different. The meagre sum of the annual grant, which was about Rs500,000, hardly allowed the Majlis to carry on its programme of publications. Most of the fund was spent on the maintenance of the office and the payments of the monthly salaries of the staff. For carrying on the programme of publishing books, the Majlis had to make appeals for funds to different bodies in the country. Under these conditions, the publications programme suffered badly.
But the bureaucracy has its own thinking. Qasmi Sahib told me that the officials who are at the helm of affairs, while taking him to task, argued that a cloth merchant’s shop made profit and in due course of time developed into a big factory. Why, then, had the Majlis failed to do likewise? And as Qasmi Sahib told me, these pragmatic officials made a precious suggestion: better publish books of public interest than waste money on high-flown academic work.
Such was the line of the official argument. Poor Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi could not convince them that the Majlis-i-Tarraq-i-Adab was not a cloth merchant’s shop, that it was a non-commercial body meant for publishing books which had the status of national heritage and sell them on a no-profit basis, that it is not a business but a mission. Nor could he convince them that books of public interest don’t need a Majlis-i-Taraqqi-i-Adab. They are already big business. And as he could not convince the ‘big’ bureaucrats, he had to resign.
I have before me a copy of the resignation letter addressed to the chairman of the Majlis. Qasmi regrets that an august academic body enjoying international repute has been linked to a cloth merchant’s shop. “I don’t feel myself competent enough to carry on this ‘shop’. You had better yourself take charge of the ‘shop’.” And he adds, “Old age doesn’t allow me the luxury of first educating the ignorants and then work with them.”
So such is the end of a great beginning. As stated before, the Majlis was constituted in the early years of Pakistan. Those were years of idealism in our national history. Even in the bureaucracy, there were those who aspired to see Pakistan finding an honourable place in the comity of civilized nations. They had the awareness that literature, art and academic pursuits were among the ingredients which went to make a nation civilized. They helped in the establishment of bodies, which aimed at preserving and promoting out literary, artistic and academic heritage. But growing deterioration in our political life affected the administration, too. And that hit government-aided academic and cultural bodies. In some cases, the administration found in these conditions a pretext to close down such institutions. Is the Majlis, too, going the same way?
At least one thing is obvious. The administration has decided to rein in the Director. The Majlis was almost an autonomous body in the sense that the Director, along with its governing council, was all in all. It was the prerogative of the director to call the meeting of the council in his Majlis’ office and decide after their consent the programme of publishing books. Official participation was just a formality. But now the chairman called the meeting of the governing council in the secretariat and the Director was informed in the nick of time. This shows which way the wind now blows.
Perhaps this was the last straw on the camel’s back which compelled Qasmi Sahib to realize that he had been robbed of the little authority that he had, and that now he had better resign.
THE Majlis-i-Taraqqi-i-Adab is now in a state of crisis. Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, who was acting as its Director, has tendered his resignation in protest against the Punjab bureaucracy’s treatment meted out to him and the Majlis in general. This should be a cause of concern for all those who are aware of the services of the Majlis in the academic and literary spheres.
