LAHORE: Faiz Foundation Trust chairperson Saleema Hashmi on Saturday narrated how she as a child and her small family were harassed by the authorities when her father was imprisoned in the Rawalpindi conspiracy case, recalling how courageously the poet and other co-accused braved the case.

The memories were part of a session at the Faiz Festival at the Alhamra Art Center gallery.

Former Punjab University Fine Arts Department chairman Shahnawaz Zaidi enthralled the audience by reciting verses of Faiz which he wrote during his imprisonment and which he and other jailed co-accused used to recite in the Hyderabad Prison to while away time.

The session “Prison Interlude: The Last Eyewitness Account of the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case” was based on the book written by Mr Zafarullah Pohsni , also a co-accused, enlisting how he and others spent days in prison together and separately.

A clip of Mr Poshni introducing his book and how he wrote it was also shown. He said he did not have any regrets. In fact, his days with Faiz defined and fashioned his personality.

Ms Hahsmi said the imprisonment of her father greatly impacted her mind. She learnt many lessons of life in her childhood including the concepts of friendship, loyalty and betrayal when many close people abandoned the family while some continued to stand by it. She also learnt about shortcomings of life that helped her understand those of her students.

Mr Babar Sattar said the country could not rid of the circumstances under which Faiz and others were arrested in the conspiracy case.

Same were the conditions and the mindset here even now, he said.

He said people had been hearing of the Rawalpindi conspiracy case but no one knew what it was about. There was no stated reason under which Faiz and others were imprisoned or tried.

Even the reported minority opinion of a judge of the trial court was missing. The convicts too had no right to appeal against their punishment.

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2019