‘Literature can bring about social change’

AHORE

A writer has to be a fighter because literature basically is an instrument of social change. A true writer has to protest, resist and question the establishment especially in the times of dictatorship, fascism and religious bigotry. 

In that way a writer, for that matter all creative artists are destined to be anti-establishment and the oppressive decadent and dehumanising status quo, this was said by the celebrated writer Fakhar Zaman, former Chairman of Pakistan Academy of Letters, while talking to a group of young writers of Urdu, Punjabi and English who called on him at his residence. 

Citing the examples of writers like Pablo Neruda, Lorca, Hemingway, Andre Malraux who fought for democracy against fascist forces in Spain, were predominantly spurred by the thoughts that no writer can be a lackey of dictatorship. Even the romantic poet Byron fought with the people in Greece. Zaman said that the history of writer movements is dominated by the sacrifices of many other writers like Turkish writer Nazim Hikmet, Hungarian writer Petofi, Persian poet Quratulain Tahira and Nigerian writer Ken Saro-Wiwa were tortured to death simply because they held aloft the flag of revolution in an oppressive and despotic society. Fakhar while talking about Pakistani writers stated that one category comprised opportunist, hypocrites, and coward who believed in bowing before dictators. 

The other category was who spoke truth, were flogged, put into torture cells but they failed to compromise with the establishment, he said, adding that any conscientious writer cannot accept civil awards by the dictatorial regimes and they should return them to maintain their dignity and social commitment. He said it was the saddest narrative of the history of Pakistani literature that a large number of prominent writers attended the meeting arranged by Ziaul Haq only one week after the judicial murder of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. This gathering of the opportunist gave the ruthless dictator a credibility which he wanted desperately. Fakhar Zaman said that in the present day literature of all languages of Pakistan, the best one is being created in Punjabi language both in Pakistan and India. On a question by one of the young writer, Fakhar Zaman said that literature for literature sake is simple nonsense, because literature is only for the people. He said that these are not the times to write on the “Gul-o-Bulbul” , boy meets girl stories and useless romantic, shallow and pseudo writings. To another question, Fakhar replied that the Pakistani literature had to be translated into English and made available on Internet so that people across the globe could read the marvellous progressive literature of Pakistan. 

He said, during his two tenures as Chairman Pakistan Academy of Letters, he published the selected 16 Sufi poets of Pakistan into eight languages of the world. Similarly, he added that contemporary short story and poetry from all national languages of Pakistan from 1947 to 2008 were translated into eight languages of the world and these books, he said, were available in respective translations in Russia, China, France, UK, USA, Iran, Middle East and Spanish world. The translated writings of Sufi poets and Pakistani writers; therefore, are available in the libraries of major languages. 

To another question, Fakhar Zaman reiterated the need for declaring all languages spoken in Pakistan as the national languages of Pakistan and Urdu as the official language of Pakistan. About the state of affairs of Punjabi language in Punjab he regretted that the present government and its bureaucracy is anti-Punjabi language and Punjabi culture as their priorities are metro orange trains and flyovers, not the finer sensibilities of human beings. On a question about the revision of textbooks of languages in Pakistan, he said that the textbooks were archaic and unrepresentative of social, economic and political changes. There is a mafia who would like to include the reactionary and retrogressive literature and distorted facts about the history of Pakistan. He exhorted the young writers to read the book, “the murder of history”. 

A young participant asked Fakhar Zaman about his views about the literary festivals and conferences being held in Lahore and Karachi to which he replied that all such gatherings are important to bring writers into the mainstream by demarginalising them. However, he said, that they should be careful about the background and commitment of writers because many of them are the harbingers of reaction and have been consistently supporting the dictators and getting awards from those regimes. While urging the young writers he said that they should go for new visions. Let there be new metaphors, new similes and new symbolism to effectively express the kaleidoscope of modern diction and new mindset motivated by cyber phenomenon. However, he concluded that the literature and all fine arts should be cared towards the amelioration of the wretched of the earth.  Fakhar Zaman said that he was great admirer of the youth of Pakistan and hoped that they would not repeat the mistakes we had been committing. Write new literature, do new painting and create new music for the people and people alone.

Zaman said, in a charged voice, that he is very fond of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda’s saying “I was a romantic but when blood oozed from the guitars of Spain, I migrated from the South of romanticism to the North of resistance”. So my dear boys and girls the migration is your destiny.