Faiz family has announced that 2011 will be celebrated as Faiz’s year. Hundred years back Faiz was born in 1911. Before the family could initiate the celebrations, senior journalist and writer Tanveer Zahoor and political activist and publisher Farrukh Sohail Goendi opened the year with a 200-page publication “Faiz and Punjabi”.

It was launched on Jan 3 and the brief launching ceremony was held at the office of Jamhoor Publications participated by prominent columnist and Punjabi poet Munnoo Bhai, former PPP Law minister S.M Masud, Prof Ahmad Aqeel Rubi, Islamic Cultural Centre director Qazi Javed, prominent artist Aslam Kamal, former Major and writer Aftab Ahmad, Abid Salman, Prof Ramzan Shahid and others.Apart from being the first rich tribute to the late poet from Sialkot, the book brings one of the most important aspects of Urdu writers belonging to Punjab most of whom remained unconcerned about their mother tongue and its rich literature and cultural heritage.

Those among them who somehow contributed something to Punjabi literature got more projection even from their relatives either did avoid to refer to their writings in Punjab or they just forgot to make this aspect the part of their literary career. One glaring example is the biography of the late Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi written for the Academy of Letters by the daughter of the departed poet and writer.

From that point of view Tanveer Zahoor’s effort is praiseworthy. He himself conducted two or three meetings which were held under the presidentship of Faiz Ahmad Faiz. One such meeting rather public meeting was held at the Nasser Bagh, a condolence gathering on the untimely death of musician Amanat Ali Khan. The function was arranged by the Punjabi Adabi Sangat of which Tanveer was secretary.

This was the early period of the regime of the elder Z.A Bhutto. Because apart from Faiz the late Ustad Daman was to preside over the function, the local administration was taking the meeting in political perspective with special reference to Ustad Daman who was some weeks before arrested by the government for writing a poem which the PPP government thought as anti-Bhutto.

Therefore, before the meeting was started Tanveer Zahoor was hauled up by the police. The charge was that the organizers had not taken due permission because Section 144 was imposed on the city. But the fact was that due permission in writing from the local administration was taken. The administration just wanted to harass participants. It may be mentioned that it was the first ever public meeting under the aegis of a literary organization in the city of Lahore.

The second occasion was another meeting at the now defunct Shah Husain College at Lawrence Road, the first-ever college in the name of any major Punjabi poet established by educationists like Prof Eric Cyprian, Prof Manzoor Ahmad, Prof Amin Mughal, all victims of the Anjuman-i-Himayat-i-Islam. Here again the meeting was arranged by the Punjabi Adabi Sangat and Tanveer Zahoor conducted the meeting.

Faiz came from Karachi to preside over the meeting and immediately left for Karachi without having tea to board the Karachi-bound flight. Tanveer says Faiz himself borne the expenditure. That was his deep association with Punjabi language and poetry.

It was during Yahya’s martial law that Air Marshal Noor Khan as governor was assigned to frame an education policy. In that response, the Sangat sent a memorandum to Yahaya, Noor and then education minister for introduction of Punjabi as medium of instruction in Punjab.

The memo was signed by some 500 writers from across the country, including Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Sufi Tabassum, Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi and Prof Eric Cyprian. The memorandum with the name of signatories was published in the special issue of monthly, Punjabi Adab on Education Policy. Faiz had sent his signed Performa from Karachi to Lahore Sangat.

Faiz in one of his interviews said that he in his childhood had heard the poetry of Waris Shah, Bulleh Shah and other Punjabi poets during his village life when in the evening village artists used to sing this poetry in the light of ‘Laltains’. Dr Imdad Husain in his book, An introduction to the poetry of Faiz Ahmad Faiz, writes, “He (Faiz) firmly believed that one’s mother tongue is the fittest medium for writing poetry…. these few poems of Faiz in Punjabi have the simplicity of our village life and reflect the deprivation and degradation of those who feed us with their hard labor…. Faiz felt that true poetry can only be written in one’s mother tongue… they (Punjabi poems of Faiz) are direct and unadorned, the mode of Punjabi poetry.”

Dr Imdad has included English translations of two poems of Faiz in his book, perhaps, the first in English on Faiz’s life and poetry published in 1989 by Vanguard, Lahore. One of the poems translated by Dr Imdad Husain was titled Rabba Sachia the last lines of whish follow;

O God I do not want my Kingship What I desire is bread earned with respect I do not long for palaces and property I only ask for bread for survival If you listen to me, I shall also listen to you I swear if I ever disobey you If you cannot grant my wish Then I should go and take for another God,

The contributors to the book compiled by Tanveer Zahoor, include Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, Quratul Ain Haider, Abdullah Malik, Hameed Akhtar, Qudratullah Shahab, Syed Afzal Haider, Sibtul Hasan Zaigham, Dr Eric Raheem, Dr Ayub Mirza, Ahmad Saleem, Mujahid Tirmizi, Hasan Rizvi, Ehsan Wyne, Muhammad Ali Chiragh and others.

The book also carries some photographs and eight-page paintings by Aslam Kamal who had illustrated the collected poetry of Faiz’s Nuskha hay Wafa during Faiz’s life. This is a rich tribute to Faiz with special reference to his Punjabiyat.