PESHAWAR: Speakers at a function while paying tribute to noted progressive writer late Ahmad Shah aka Farigh Bukhari (1917-1997) have termed him a strong voice of the downtrodden masses and a committed harbinger of peace, humanism and a just society.

Shedding light on various aspects of life and struggle of late Bukhari, the participants said he always advocated peace, humanism and respect for universal social values in his writings.

The Anjuman-i-Taraqi Pasand Musanifeen (Progressive Writers Association), Peshawar chapter, in collaboration with Khwendy Adabi Lakhkar conducted the event at Rahman Baba Cultural Complex hall here on Saturday. Poets, writers and family members of late Farigh Bukhari were among the attendees.

Speakers say he was a strong voice for downtrodden people

Khawaja Mohammad Khan Hoti while addressing as chief guest at the function said Bukhari’s philosophy could never die and would always remain in the hearts of masses. He said that Bukhari was an academy in his own right and people remembered his vision and unflinching struggle for promoting the cause of progressivism.

Saleem Ahmed, a senior Urdu writer, pointed out that Bukhari never detached politics from literature and would always blend both together to motivate and educate masses on their social and political issues. He promised to bring out his research and literary works in next six months if provided with his manuscripts. He said Bukhari’s book on Bacha Khan was a master piece on his political views and struggle.

“Unfortunately, Bukhari’s nine poetry collections have been out of market for the last over four decades and should be republished along with his other books for the knowledge of young generation,” he said.

Prof Dr Nazeer Tabbasum said Bukhari had a mastery over several branches of knowledge. He said progressive thought was his big tool through which he wanted to bring about a substantive change in the behaviour of the people around him. He said Bukhari’s maiden Urdu poetry collection ‘Zairo Bam’ had come out in January 1952 and on the very first day of its publication police raided his house in Peshawar and arrested him on a strange allegation of ‘having a formula of explosives named ‘zero bomb’.

Prof Rashid Hussain in his paper said Bukhari being a revolutionary had suffered many hardships, including imprisonment, torture and exile, only to raise his voice for equality and dispensation of social justice. He said Bukhari had motivated a host of young poets, writers and politicians to fight for the cause of a pluralistic society.

Research scholar Saleem Raz in his paper stressed the need for revival of progressive ideas to pave the way for permanent peace and tranquility. Kulsoomzeb, chief of Khwendy Adabi Lakhkar, said late Bukhari was prominent in all of his works. She said his first fiction book was titled ‘Aurat Ka Gunah’ (a woman’s sin) which showed he had a great regard for womenfolk. She said Bukhari’s literary works should be researched and republished.

Azhar Khamosh, Aziz Ejaz, Mushtaq Shabab, Zaitoon Bano, Salma Shaheen, Anwarzeb and Khawaja Wasim also spoke at the event. Later, Mr Hoti distributed Farigh Bukhari Peace Awards among the winners.

Published in Dawn, December 31st, 2017