MUSHFIQ Khwaja (1935-2005) was one of those scholars who never flinched under any pressure and expressed their honest views on literary issues and litterateur. His literary columns that appeared in an Urdu weekly were known for wit and repartee with which he unmasked the quirks and quiddities of some of our contemporary literary figures. His interviews, too, are packed with his unadorned truths that reveal several unpalatable realities about our literary world and literary figures.
As many as 14 interviews of Mushfiq Khwaja, taken over a period of about 25 years and published in various magazines, have been compiled and annotated by Dr Mahmood Ahmed Kavish in a volume titled Musaahibaat-i-Mushfiq Khwaja. Surprisingly, this is the third edition, though we often lament the dwindling sale of books and it is a fact that serious works do not sell well. So, the third edition of the book is indeed a pleasant surprise. It also shows that readers want to know about eccentric behaviours of our literary figures. Mushfiq Khwaja’s aura and his literary columns, too, might have played a role in popularity of the book as the interviews included show Khwaja Sahib’s signature straightforward ways.
Some of the views that he expressed on literary organisations in these interviews are: literary organisations receive funds in the name of Urdu and waste them as some literary bodies were created just to accommodate some personalities (p. 80); giving the example he said, in Lahore, a playwright had been made director of a body working for science and at a Karachi organisation working on Urdu dictionary the chief editor had appointed his daughter-in-law (p. 171); Pakistan Academy of Letters should not waste money on conferences, instead these funds should be spent on publishing some serious books that commercial publishers do not want to publish (p. 86-87); literary bodies should publish manuscripts and not just reprint already published works (p. 152).
It seems that Khwaja Sahib was generally not satisfied with the working of our literary organisations. The only exception, he said, was Urdu Encyclopaedia of Islam [published by Punjab University] and the rest were mere publishing houses, not research bodies (p. 201).
But he was equally fed up with literary awards. Khwaja Sahib declined to accept Pakistan Writers’ Guild (PWG) award for his book and when the interviewer asked about this refusal he said: “I have never submitted any of my books for any award and PWG itself had submitted it. I cannot accept the award because most of the judges are my personal friends. Secondly, the judges for Dawood Literary Award are being presented with Adamjee Award and the judges for Adamjee Award are winning Dawood Award, which is absolutely wrong.”
In a reply to another question, he said: “Most of the awards by PWG are part of the preparation for the next PWG elections and, therefore, every group and every publisher has been granted an award.” He also narrated an interesting incident: on one occasion two prominent poets — Abdul Aziz Khalid and Qateel Shifai — were in the run for the award. Waheed Qureshi and Shaukat Sabzwari were the judges and both of them wanted to award one or the other poet because of some personal obligation (p. 120).
He believed that at our universities research was being carried out just to earn a degree and that was contributing to the falling standards of research (p. 176). He derided the PR exercise often carried out by writers and poets, especially in the form of a book launching ceremony. This self-glorification, he said, betrays lack of confidence in their own work and had the writers put in more time and efforts in creation instead of publicity stunts, it would have fetched better results as their creations would have improved (p. 181). He often emphasised the importance of compiling and publishing reference works, such as, biographical dictionaries and indexes, to enhance the standards of research.
Qudratullah Shahab was his friend, but Mushfiq Khwaja, telling truth plainly, said Shahab’s autobiography was a work of fiction (p. 258-259). He said Shahab “bought” writers’ loyalties and got articles written in support of President Ayub Khan for certain favours. Those who wrote such articles included, in addition to some others, Mushfiq Khwaja himself, Mumtaz Mufti, Shahid Ahmed Dehlvi and even Moulvi Abdul Haq (p. 257).
Published by Lahore’s World View Publications, this new edition has an additional interview and also includes an index. Mahmood Kavish, a scholar from Narowal, did his PhD on Mushfiq Khwaja and has many other works to his credit.
Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2026