LAHORE: Dr Tahir Kamran, chairman of the history department of the Government College University, says the real story of Pakistan began after the passing of Muhammad Ali Jinnah who was in favour of all-inclusive politics.

He was talking during the session, Sibte Hasan: Shaping Our Minds, on the second day of the Faiz International Festival at Alhamra on Saturday. Poet and columnist Harris Khalique moderated the session.

Dr Kamran said decades of the 1930s and 1940s were very important from historical point of view and great names in literature that Pakistan produced were product of that time. When that generation vanished, the society faced a period of vacuum caused by being the ideological state status, he added.

“The biggest precedents of ideological states are Hitler and Mussolini. New rational vistas can’t open without alternative thoughts and pluralism.”

Mr Kamran pointed out at greater relevance in the current times of Sibte Hasan and other scholars who wrote in Urdu. The 1930s had been studied only politically, it should also be studied from historical point of view.

“Most of minds in society have been constructed by Naseem Hijazi’s novels. Sibte Hasan and others come after him. The Two-Nation Theory and the Objectives Resolution stood dominant in the school of thought that appeared after 1947.”

The other side had people like Faiz, Sibte Hasan and Sajjad Zaheer but the progressives had a problem of legacy as books of these writers and scholars could not be introduced in schools and colleges, Dr Kamran lamented.

Hoori Noorani of Maktabai Danyal, a publishing house from Karachi, talked of her memories of Sibte Hasan who was friend with her parents. To a question, she said Marxist literature had a bad patch after the fall of the Soviet Union.

“There is very little being written in Urdu. However, a lot of books are being published in Sindhi language.”

WRITING FAIZ: A session called Her Qadam Hum Nay Ashiqi Ki Hay: Writing Faiz had a discussion by Dr Imran Zafar and Mazhar Jameel, moderated by Ali Madeeh Hashmi. All three of them have written books on Faiz and his life.

Imran Zafar said Faiz and his works, especially poems, needed to be explored more. When asked about the negative aspects of Faiz’s personality, he said he had collected almost 100 sketches of the poet but could not find any negativity in him except one piece that he rejected for being ill-founded. “Faiz had laziness and forgetfulness. When his friend Majaz asked him to write foreward of his book, he could not do it somehow and Majaz dedicated the same book to him.”

Mazhar Jameel, who has written biography of Faiz, said the poet had nothing against any person or society though he was a lazy man.

“He voiced his opinion when he liked something but never expressed his feelings if he disliked. He had no opponents (among writers) but some people were against him due to his popularity.”

Mazhar said Faiz had widespread influence, 17 books had been written on him in Sindhi language while all his works, including important books on him, had been translated into Sindhi. He had been translated into even Bangla and Malayalam.

Ali Madeeh said Faiz’ own letters to Alys Faiz from jail gave glimpses into his personality and they also showed what dynamics formed his personality.

He said Faiz had got popular in college days in the Government College after he read a ghazal in a mushaira which could not be preserved. However, he quoted the only couplet preserved from the ghazal which Faiz himself recited in an interview recorded in 1974. The couplet is “Lub Band Hein Saqi Mujhay Ankhon Say Pila Day/Woh Jaam Jo Minnat Kash-i-Sehba Nahi Hota”.

WOMEN IN TV, FILM: A session on Portrayal of Women in TV and Film was moderated by Navid Shehzad. The participants were Samina Peerzada, Samiya Mumtaz and Simi Raheel.

To a question about script written by men about women characters, Samiya said she had read more sensitive scripts by men where women characters were more multilayered as compared to women writers like Umera Ahmed whose characters were stereotypical and fake.

“Their women are either very cunning or very pious and they are shallow. We do many characters that are only oppressed. We are sick of it all as are the audience. ”

Samiya said she resisted against commodification of women in almost every project I did. “I am asked to pluck my eyebrows or have makeup even when it’s not even the demand of the character.”

Samina Peerzada said in the current era the actors and directors were not that important as everything had been taken over by the owners of the media channels.

“They decide which stories the audience wants to watch. They only pay attention to ratings. No real issues of women are being depicted in drama,” Samina lamented.

Simi Raheel said an actor could mould herself according to her own conscience during her performance. However, she stressed on good stories. She said she recently got script that was written by a 21-year-old girl from Sargodha who lacked any exposure to literature, society or the world as was evident from her script.

Published in Dawn November 20th, 2016