Death is but a temporary fading
We shall go on after taking a breath.
-Meer Taqi Meer
In the medieval morality play of the same name, the title character Everyman is visited by Death who informs him that it is time. Everyman pleads for mercy, protests that he is not ready but to no avail, Death informs him that he must make the journey but tells him that he may take a companion with him.
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Recently a spate of publications on primary level education sector in Pakistan have highlighted the facts that a) percentage of children going to private schools in Pakistan has risen rapidly to about 1/3rd of total by now, b) private schools are not just in urban areas but in rural as well, and c) private schools are not just for the rich and even the poor can afford fees of Rs 50-100 per month. read more…
In this article Ali Hashmi talks about the Progressive Movement in the IndoPak and the role of Faiz Ahmad Faiz in it. The article is written in Urdu and can be accessed through the PDF download below.
My high regard for our national cricketing hero and philanthropist, Imran Khan declined a few notches when a friend forwarded me an article written by him (or in his name) called ‘Why the West craves Materialism and the East sticks to Religion’. This has apparently been circulating for a few months and is prominently posted on several Islamic websites. No wonder, since the essay is an unabashed (and ill informed) defense of religious orthodoxy with some awkward, and factually inaccurate, jabs at Science and Reason. read more…
6. The Break
Recent books have suggested that Faiz dissociated himself from the organization after just a few years but this is incorrect since even after Pakistan’s inception (i.e. more than ten years after the formation of the PWA), Faiz was still involved with what had, by then, become the All Pakistan Progressive Writer’s Association, helping in organizing meetings and vigorously defending the association from vicious attacks by Mullahs in the editorial pages of the dailies Imrooz and Pakistan Times. He himself described the event that led to him finally distancing himself from the organization. It was at a meeting of the organization at Mazhar Ali Khan’s house. Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi read a paper zealously attacking Allama Muhammad Iqbal and his poetry. Faiz, whose father had been a friend and colleague of Iqbal, and who was a great admirer of Iqbal’s poetry was saddened and angry. He protested forcefully arguing that this was ‘meaningless extremism’ but was over ruled. This broke his heart and from then on, he stopped going to the meetings concentrating on running Pakistan Times. read more…
5. Pakistan and the PWA
It should also be pointed out that members of the Halqa not only admired Faiz’s poetry but published it regularly in their journal ‘Adabi Duniya’ although NM Rashid once commented with biting criticism that he did not believe that literature required a ‘music director’ or adherence to a certain set of beliefs.
Both groups admired the others’ works and even helped at times. Thus the unofficial leader of the ‘modernists’, NM Rashid wrote the foreword to Faiz’s first published collection and dedicated his collection ‘Mavra’ to his friend and ideological rival. The foreword to ‘Mavra’ was written by none other than the leader of the Punjab section of the PWA, Krishen Chander. Upendranath Ashk, another stalwart of the PWA, dedicated one of his short stories to Rashid. read more…
