KARACHI: Speakers shed light on the life and work of poet and critic Ashfaq Hussain, who resides in Canada and is these days visiting Pakistan, at an event held in his honour at the Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi on Thursday evening.

Presiding over the event, poet Anwar Shaoor said that despite the longevity of the programme (speakers before him took some time to present their arguments) was not sufficient to know Mr Hussain. He claimed that the visiting guest is a multitalented person, who has a sound judgment (sa’ib-ur-ra’i). To support his claim he mentioned Mr Hussain’s book Faiz Ki Muhabbat Mein.

Poet Firasat Rizvi said the first thing that comes to mind while speaking about Mr Hussain is that there are basically three facets to his personality. The first is: he is a poet. He began his literary career by composing verses. Poetry is his first love. His second love is the legendary poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz.

“It was in 1974 that he [Hussain] did his MA in Urdu literature from the University of Karachi and wrote a thesis to obtain the degree. There are a good number of people whose MA theses have proven to be more important than their PhD research papers. For example, the book that Dr Farman Fatehpuri wrote on Urdu Ruba’i was basically the thesis that he wrote when he was in pursuit of an MA in 1958. Hussain penned his thesis on Faiz which was published by Idara-i-Yadgaar-i-Ghalib in the late 1970s. It was the first book of criticism on Faiz,” he said.

Firasat Rizvi says sometimes MA thesis work proves more important than PhD dissertation

Mr Rizvi said that subsequently Hussain wrote nine books on Faiz. “About one of his books, Faiz Ke Maghribi Havaley, Prof Sahar Ansari once said to me that he hadn’t read a better book on Faiz. And his last publication brought to light the researcher in him as well.”

The third facet to Mr Hussain’s journey that Mr Rizvi touched upon is his association with the Progressive Writers Movement. He highlighted the fact that throughout his life, Mr Hussain did not leave the ideology that he adhered to.

Ashfaq Hussain started his speech by talking about the guests who were present in the Haseena Moin hall of the council on Thursday, some whom he pointed out he has known for 50 years. He then went down memory lane when he used to live in Karachi, especially the time spent in Korangi. He also recited some of his poetry.

Shahid Rassam, Dr Sher Mehrani, Akbar Laghari, Mujahid Barelvi and Ahmed Shah also spoke. Shakil Khan, who exuded nervous energy, moderated the event.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2022