Time for a command initiative

SINCE Oct 10, when the general election was held after three years of eager waiting and a good deal of hard work, the government of President Gen Pervez Musharraf seems to have retired into the wings to watch the burlesque centre-stage, apparently unconcerned.

The distinct low profiling of his image on the TV screens and the electronic media is also widely noted and commented upon. It speaks as eloquently of his deliberate choice to leave to the MNAs-elect to sort it out among themselves without official interference, as of an attrition strategy to wear themselves out and, in the end, return to him for adjudication.

Should that be so, he would be falling way short of his role and duty as the chief executive and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. To my mind, he has waited enough, and anymore waiting would only be at the cost of damaging much of his own legal and constitutional restructuring to give the country a stable democratic order. His only hope to save his system and prevent the country from drifting into yet another crisis is to act here now.

It should be much in the same way as he did on the fateful night of Sept 11, 2001. Even if impulsive and no less authoritarian, there was hardly an alternative to saying ‘yes’ to the US president’s poser whether he was for or against him.

A command initiative of that force, to call a halt to the changing political wranglings, would be absolutely in order. Instead of allowing his ministers to go about announcing tentative dates for the inaugural session of the National Assembly, he would do well to appear on the television himself to announce a firm date for the inaugural session and appeal the MNAs-elect to get together on the common platform of the assembly and sort things out there.

What is crucially important is to let the house come into being to stop, once and for all, the prevailing grinding sense of uncertainty overcasting the country’s political horizon. If only Gen Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan had done just that in March 1971, he could have perhaps saved the country from certain disaster and dismemberment.

It needs to be noted that yet another electoral exercise would not only be one in sheer futility but also potentially dangerous. The inter- and intra-party murderous confrontation would be many times worse than ever.

The president’s one-on-one meetings with the politician are noteworthy from the point of view of his government’s media management. Together with low media profiling of his own activities / statements, his principal spokesman and press secretary, the articulate Maj-Gen Rashid Qureshi, remains strikingly conspicuous by his absence from the media — national and international.

His place has been practically taken over by the irrepressible Nisar Memon, the minister for information and media development, the information secretary and PRO to the president, Col Hassan. It was the two last-named who, when contacted by the press ‘refused to confirm or deny’ the meeting between Sardar Zafarullah Khan Jamali, the president and a number of top militarymen at the GHQ.

Somewhat, unusually also, along the press reports carrying the story of Mr Jamali’s GHQ visit, there was no photo coverage at all — neither in the electronic nor in the print media. More or less the same treatment was given to Qazi Hussain Ahmad’s one-to- one meeting with the president on Nov 11. In the absence of a press-note, Qazi Sahib appeared to be sole witness and rapporteur of his ‘two-hour-long’ meeting with the president. His body language, optimistic on the TV screen, was not quite borne out by the indifferent reporting in a section of the press.

The best part of the media, specially TV, also happens to be its worst. It makes the presence of the person in authority felt as much through constant projection as his / hers absence because of lack or low profiling of it.

The president should be complimented if he has opted for a lower media profile to avoid the certain risk of overexposure. Should it, however, be a part of a strategy of attrition to wear the politicians out to return to him with ‘folded hands and bended knees’, it calls for a prompt re-appraisal.

Hopefully, by the time this piece goes into print, the National Assembly may have been summoned and would be in session after the formal swearing-in of the MNAs-elect. Considering the over-a-month-long post-election unseemly inter-party scramble and failure to reach a consensus on power-sharing in an stable national (federal) setup, the hope hangs by a slender thread.

The past five weeks of fruitless bargaining has widened, rather than narrowed, the yawning gulf of mutual distrust among the parties.

The three major groups — the Muslim League (Q-118 seats), the PPP (81) and the MMA (60) — account for 259 seats to make an almost two-thirds majority in a house of 342. Together, they may help the country reach the cherished goal of democratic revival and the formation of a government representing the brave spectacle of unity in diversity.

The writer is a retired brigadier.

LEAF does it a thousand times

KEEPING literary organization alive and arranging 1,000 functions on its behalf is no mean feat. In fact, it is an achievement anyone would be proud of, more so when he is handling its affairs singlehandedly. Muzaffar Ghaffar had his chest out last Thursday when hosting the one thousandth function of the Lahore Literary Forum (LEAF) in the auditorium of the Model Town Library and introducing the speaker of the evening, Dr Bushra Mateen who heads the women’s university college of Lahore.

Started over twelve years ago with art appreciation classes, LEAF has been expanding its scope. Its programme areas now include literature, classical and sufi music, philosophy, art, history, culture, science, etc.

There is no other organization in Lahore, perhaps even in Pakistan, with such an expanse of activities, or to have done a thousand programmes. Except for the Halqa-i-Arbab-i-Zauq, which is restricted to literary criticism, there is no other organization, however long it may have been operating, which has done as many programmes of quality. LEAF has invited every poet, writer, scholar, musician, philosopher, and others of worth to participate in its functions. Even literary worthies from other areas of the country and foreign-based scholars visiting the city have been invited.

The programme last Thursday started with iftar in which a unique cake shaped like the figure 1,000 was cut. Then came the talk by Bushra Mateen who has a doctorate in chemistry. She spoke on the environment, including the effects of various chemicals on our lives. She said if we took a little more interest in our surroundings, we could live more hygienic and environment friendly lives, and could contribute to alleviate fast deteriorating air and water quality, and noise pollution.

THE monthly meeting of Shahnaz Muzammil’s literary organization, Adab Serai, was held on Monday last. Besides the old ones, these meetings have started attracting some new faces as well. Nisar Akbarabadi has become quite familiar by now, but this time I noticed the face of Z. A. Zaidi, of the Bhutto lovers variety, and at one time very close to Munir Niazi.

Zaidi probably attended this meeting earlier as well, but Kanwal Feroz was definitely the first timer. He recited his popular ghazal: Koi wafa-parast heh, koi jafa-parast.

Zaidi was also impressive:

Ham reh gaey hein sirf sadaqat ke wastey

The function was very well attended. Starting before iftar, it continued for long after the prayers.

THE Pakistan Writers’ Guild held a function on Iqbal Day but it was poorly attended. However, a delegation of the guild did go to the mausoleum of the Allama to place a wreath. Later, the invitees gathered on the premises of the guild and held a meeting in memory of the poet.

Tainoosh, who was once very active on the literary scene, was there and was given the honour of opening the proceedings with a ‘tilawat’ from the Holy Book. Conducting the proceedings was the veteran, Raja Rasalu. He called upon Zubaida Haider Zebi who presented some verses of Iqbal and spoke about his contribution to shaping the destiny of the Indian Muslims. Robina Rajput, a visitor from Hyderabad, Sindh, also happened to be there. She paid tribute to Allama Iqbal in verse, while Ammara Shakir of the Gulberg College spoke on what Allama Iqbal required of a Mard-i-Momin.

The function was presided over by Shahid Bukhari.

THE last portion of my previous column was omitted, probably because of lack of space.

As such it is being presented again.

While commenting on the four short stories carried by the monthly Takhleeq, my contention was that the one by Tasnim Minto overshadowed all others.

Tasnim appeared as a short story writer probably in 1995 because it was then that I read her creative work under the heading, Salamat Raho. Later, she created such stories as Haltey Raft and another with an English heading, Useless. But much later she wrote another short story again giving it an English heading, Myth. In that she spoke of modern trends in which bonds of blood were considered nothing more than a myth. But in the story appearing in the latest issue of the monthly Takhleeq under the heading Hujum-i-Hamnafsaan, she operates on a totally different plane. She now talks of the bonds of love, the attachment which the elders have with their progeny, the present day trend of seeking jobs abroad, leaving the parents at the mercy of neighbours, and so on. She relates all this through the feelings of a person who visits his homeland after 30 years only to find himself a stranger in his own country. Tasnim ends the story by saying that after staying around for a few days, and constantly feeling as if he were an alien, he finally takes a return flight. As he boards the aircraft, a single tear falls from his eyes. — Ashfaque Naqvi

Homage paid to Jon Elia

KARACHI: A literary meeting to mourn the death of erudite poet Jon Elia, jointly organized by the Sadequain Institute of Art and the Halqa-i-Fikr-i- Jadeed, was held here on Thursday.

Presided over by Dr Hanif Fauq, it was addressed by Dr Mohammed Ali Siddiqui, Ali Karrar Naqvi, Ahmed Altaf and many others. There was a long row of poets and writers keen to come on the dais and pay homage to the memory of the great poet Jon, but as the Iftar time was drawing closer, many of them could not do so. However, those who recited couplets in the poet’s honour were Mubarak Ahmed, Jamal Ahmed Jamal, one of Jon’s many disciples who read out a brief paper as well, Amber Naqvi, Sibte Raza, Jon’s close friend, Javed Manzer, Ms Nasim Nazish, Yawer Aman and Ms Rehana Roohi.

Dr Fauq paid tribute to Jon Elia for his indepth study of history, literature and philosophy. He recalled that some years back when he joined the Urdu Dictionary Board, he found that most of the ground work had already been done by three persons, and Jon Elia was one of them. Two others were Shaukat Sabzwari and Maulana Shahidullah of former East Pakistan. Jon was a modern poet and writer because he had the legacy of a great academic treasure and had creative knowledge of poetry, past and present, he said. Jon was witness to the raging conflict between values, the two worlds torn apart and the time’s widening gaps between the cultures, Dr Fauq said, adding in fact all those conflicts he witnessed were found in his own tormented soul.

Dr Siddiqui, having fifty-three years of close relations with Jon Elia, had many things to say, but the few facts that he disclosed were quite revealing. He dispelled the opinion of a poet that Jon was not a man of action. He said most of his translations from philosophical volumes in Arabic literature, history and other literatures were lying unpublished due to paucity of funds. His first poetry collection, Shayad, compiled by his close friends and not much to Jon’s own liking, was a “compromise collection;” however his second volume, titled Yaani, was expected to appear soon. Some pieces of his long poem had appeared in different journals, but its total impact would be felt only after its publication in full. Siddiqui also vehemently denied the assessment of his poetry as “rich in ecstasy and gaiety,” as endorsed by a writer a day before, and said that Jon was all grief and pain, “a tormented soul.” He was a rare example of versatility - equally creative in writing ghazal and other forms of verses, poetry and prose, he said.

Jon was staying with Ali Karrar Naqvi, his close relative and breathed his last in Naqvi’s lap, who in his brief yet very touchy speech described Jon’s way of as simple living, his all-time engagement in academic pursuits, and discussing poetry and philosophical issues with friends from evening till next morning with least sign of tiring.

Ahmed Altaf remained very close to Jon and the rest of the family members and for years lived in their company. He found some sort of magnetism in Jon’s person and poetry. He, as also other speakers, expressed their sorrow over the fact that Jon was not acknowledged the way he should have been, while alive.

Ali Haider Malik did the compering.

Talking at a literary reference held at the Pakistan Arts Council to pay homage to the great poet, noted writer Mushtaq Ahmed Yusfi described Jon as a poet of Sarshari-o-sarmasti (ecstasy and trance).

The reference held on Wednesday was attended by most city poets and writers, including Dr Aslam Farrukhi, Prof Sahar Ansari, Dr Pirzada Qasim, Fatema Suraiyya Bajya, Fahmida Riaz, Wazahat Nasim, Anwer Shaoor and others. S. H. Hashmi and Saifur Rahman Grami spoke on behalf of the Arts Council. The former was all praise for Jon “as an important poet of the present times.”

“A poet who lived poetry,” was Dr Aslam Farrukhi’s opinion about Jon. There was hardly any poet around as popular as Jon Elia, he said.

Sahar Ansari said he was basically a romantic poet and desired to live in the world he had made for himself. He had altogether a distinct style and way of expression. He also admired his contribution as a linguist having command over many oriental languages.

Dr Pirzada Qasim remembered Jon as a loving person who had great admiration for the younger generation of poets and always encouraged talented young men. His impact on the minds of his junior contemporaries would last for a long time to come.—Hasan Abidi