LAHORE: Critic, editor and writer Asif Farrukhi says that many people have this misconception that Intizar Husain was apolitical as a writer though he was very political and his political sphere spanned over a long period of time.

He was remembering Intizar on the last day of the Faiz International Festival in a session titled, Yeh Shehr Itna Udaas Tou Nahi Tha: In Memory of Intizar Husain, on Sunday. The session was moderated by Kishwar Naheed.

Farrukhi pointed out five aspects of Intizar Husain -- a writer, novelist, critic, playwright and columnist -- and explained each of them in detail.

“Whenever I used to land at Lahore airport, Intizar Sahib used to start calling me constantly, asking me where I was and with whom. I always found him a jolly and happy person whenever we used to travel abroad together.”

When Internet and email appeared, Farrukhi said, Intizar Sahib asked him to manage it for him and he was surprised to see the emails that were received from places like Hungary and Czech Republic where his stories were being translated into languages of these countries.

Farrukhi said when south American writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez died in 2014, Intizar Sahib called him and broke the news. Intizar Sahib felt more related to Marquez because he too had learnt magical realism from his grandmother like Intizar himself, he added.

Arfa Sayeda Zehra said the beauty of Intizar’s writing was that the story was too strong and it used to dictate the writer, not the other way round.

“Intizar Husain once said that he learnt magical realism from his maternal grandmother. Women in his stories are not deaf and dumb. There are not many women in his fiction but wherever they are, they are more prominent than those in the works of many other writers who wrote more on women.”

Kishwar Naheed said Intizar Husain in one of his novels described the scene of hanging of an underage boy during Zia regime which took place near his house where people had come to see it. “He could not bear to see it all and described the whole scene in his novel.”

SINGING FAIZ: Music composer and actor Arshad Mehmood, Tina Sani and Salman Ahmed participated in a session on compositions on Faiz’s poetry. The session was called Koi Unka Geet Gaen: Singing Faiz.

Arshad said it was always heartening to see people responding to compositions based on Faiz’s poetry and realising that there were many others in society who were like-minded.

“I always try to keep the intent of Faiz Sahib in mind while composing music on his poetry and I consider myself successful if I can do that. I have been trying to make a composition on his poem, Yeh Raat Uss Dard Ka Shajar Hay (Mulaqat), for years but I am unable to do that despite many attempts.”

Arshad said that once somebody told him that his composition on “Bol Keh Lub Azad Hein Teray” was not that good as there was no stress on “Bol” in it. “I replied to him that I never heard Faiz Sahib reading the poem with stress on the word, Bol”.

Tina Sani reminisced that she sang Meray Dil Meray Musafir composed by Arshad, first time in 1985.

“When I sang it first time in public I was so scared because Arshad had told me that the Lahorites were straightforward in expressing their opinion if they did not like anybody singing on stage. However, the audience liked the song and gave me a standing ovation.”

MUSTANSAR: Mustansar Husain Tarar, in a session on 50 Years in Media, shared his memory of working with PTV and how he ventured into acting, writing and compering.

He said he did not like acting in the beginning and started doing it after losing a toss (bet) with a friend.

Mustansar remembered his acting days and how he started writing plays and then began hosting a live morning show.

When Gen Zia’s plane crashed, Mustansar said, he was asked to comment about the news during the morning transmission. “I told the producer that I had no soft corner for him (Zia) and could not say what I did not feel. So I asked the producer to give me in writing what he wanted me to read during the live telecast.” He did it to show that they were not his words.

Two days later, an order appeared that Ziaul Haq would be called Shaheed everywhere in the state-run media. “Again I read what I was given, saying that an order has been issued that Zia would be called Shaheed.”

Mustansar told the audience the episode which made it impossible for him to work for TV and he resigned. He was called in the Presidency and indirectly told that president Farooq Leghari wanted to be interviewed by him in his morning show. He was ‘forced’ to agree with it and when he reached the PTV station, the then managing director got annoyed with him for it as Leghari had issues with the then prime minister Benazir Bhutto. At this, he said, he decided to quit hosting the morning show.

PUNJABI: Punjab poet Mushtaq Soofi said Punjabi resistance poetry had a long history and all the classic poets from Baba Farid to Khawaja Farid resisted the establishment which is reflected in their works

He was speaking in a session, A Tribute to Punjabi Resistance Poetry. Munnu Bhai, Anjum Qureshi and Usman Peerzada were other participants in the talk hosted by Sughra Sadaf.

Soofi said modern poets like Amrita Pritam, Ustad Daman and Ahmed Rahi had also elements of resistance in their poetry.

“Baba Guru Nanak recorded, in this poetry, the massacre, carried out by Mughal emperor Babur at Aimanabad, near Gujranwala. Najabat, in Nadir Shah Di Var, depicted the atrocities of the attacker from the North and Shah Husain danced at Taxali (Lahore).”

Munnu Bhai said the change in society would be inspired by Bulleh Shah and Baba Farid and not by Mian Sharif, Nawaz Sharif or Imran Khan.

“The Ideology of Pakistan was formed by those forces who were against creation of Pakistan and those who had issued fatwas against Quaid-i-Azam. The same ideology divided Pakistan. The remaining Pakistan would also be devastated if there would not be any resistance.”

Anjum Qureshi read out a poem inspired by Faiz’s Punjabi poem.

Published in Dawn November 21st, 2016