AN Urdu typewriter, after travelling long distances and passing through different hands, has eventually reached Lahore for being preserved in G.C. University as a precious relic reminding us of Manto. Iftikhar Arif, chairman Academy of Letters came from Islamabad to hand it over to the university, where the vice-chancellor Dr Khalid Aftab received it with thanks in a ceremony held on the occasion of 50th death anniversary of Manto.
It was a historic ceremony as the university received a number of valuables for its newly-established museum. Javaid Tufail, son of Mohammad Tufail of Naqoosh fame, reached here with some precious handwritten manuscripts under his arms. They included a few short stories of Manto, Ashfaq Ahmad’s Gadariya, and a number of letters from Ameer Minai. Javaid Tufail presented them as a gift to the said museum and promised to give much more from the literary wealth Adara-i-Naqoosh has in its possession.
Academic and cultural institutions in Pakistan don’t enjoy in general a very good reputation in respect of the preservation of our cultural possessions. How has this university been able to win the confidence of the givers in the brief period after its birth. Credit for it should first be given to vice chancellor Dr Khalid Aftab. The Urdu Department is now headed by Prof Suhail Ahmad Khan, who seems trying to provide a wider perspective to Urdu teaching. The other energetic soul associated with this department is Asghar Nadeem Syed, who can take credit for organizing literary activities in a new way.
Credit should be given to this Urdu Department to commemorate Manto’s 50th death anniversary in a way which befits a university. It arranged a function which brought for us the good news of the establishment of a museum in the university. And the two chief guests invited here Iftikhar Arif and Javaid Tufail came laden with precious gifts for this museum. The spirit of generosity shown by Javaid Tufail on this occasion augurs well for this newly-born museum.
As for the gift of the Urdu typewriter, it has a history of its own. Perhaps it was during years of his stay in Delhi as a Radio artist that Manto had purchased this type-writer. A large number of drama scripts were then typed on it. But at some stage for reasons unknown to us, Manto decided to dispose it off. Noon Meem Rashid, who was posted on Delhi station in those years, offered to purchase it. Rashid deserves our thanks and our praise for preserving the machine with him unto his death keeping in view its value because of its association with Manto. That tells about Rashid’s deep regard for his distinguished contemporary. In accordance to the will of Rashid, his wife handed over this typewriter along with his books to Saqi Farooqi, who handed it over to Iftikhar Arif with the request of presenting it as a gift to G.C. University.
The Urdu Department also brought out on this occasion a special volume titled as Sadat Hasan Manto, Pachas Baras Bad. G.C’s journal Ravi has been in the practice to get contributions from known writers, not necessarily belonging to their own educational institution. As opposed to this practice, this journal, compiled by two students Shamsher Hayder Shajar and Naveedul Hasan, has taken care to see that contributors are exclusively the students and teachers belonging to their own educational world. These articles taken together may be seen as an attempt of a reassessment of Manto, now when 50 years have passed since his death.
Of course, it appears quite difficult to make an assessment of a writer soon after his death. Personal prejudices for and against him are still alive. Moreover, the tragic event of death creates an emotional atmosphere which hardly allows an objective study of the writer. Of course, in the case of Manto, old prejudices still linger on. Even then, half a century is sufficiently a long period allowing critics to study and judge him in a dispassionate manner. What is encouraging in the case of this study is the fact that student writers in particular appear seriously engaged in the study of Manto. Different aspects of Manto’s fiction, including his experimentations in symbolic mode of expression have been covered in different articles.
Along with these short critical studies is an article by Mohammad Saeed, who has chosen to study in a researching way the period when in post-partition years Manto was at his height in his creative journey and was at the same time under heavy attack because of his individual approach to human problems arising out of bloodshed and migration on the eve of partition. He was under fire on one side by the progressives and on the other by the rightists. Mohammad Saeed has, however, concentrated on his battle with the progressives. He, in this respect, has probed in all kind of writings, including personal letters of writers involved in the controversy and has brought into light Manto’s ideological differences with the progressive movements and his bitterness against those progressive writers, who at one time were his friends. Instead, a new relationship is seen emerging both on the level of thought and on personal level. It was Manto’s relationship with Mohammad Hasan Askari. It too has been discussed in a researching way along with its literary implications.
AN Urdu typewriter, after travelling long distances and passing through different hands, has eventually reached Lahore for being preserved in G.C. University as a precious relic reminding us of Manto. Iftikhar Arif, chairman Academy of Letters came from Islamabad to hand it over to the university, where the vice-chancellor Dr Khalid Aftab received it with thanks in a ceremony held on the occasion of 50th death anniversary of Manto.
