Against odds, keeping Pashto poetry alive in Karachi

Around a month ago, around 40 Pashto poets and scholars at a literary event organised recently under the banner of the Pakhto Fikri Council, a Karachi-based literary outfit, in their poems and speeches stressed the need for restoring peace in Pashtun areas through the teachings of Sufism.

Prominent among them included Sagar Tanqide, Bakht Naseeb Khan, Habibullah Hamdard, Sarwar Shamal, Manan Baacha, Fazal Khaliq Ghamgeen, Haibat Khan Sherani, Hasrat Buneri, Tajbar Khan Tajbar, Azizullah Ghalib, Muhammad Imran Ashna, Fazal Aziz Buneri,Gul Muhmmad Mamond, Naimat Zada Maskeen, and Gul Badshah Ghariwaal.

The event was presided over by Pashto poet Sabir Khan Sabir.

The large number of people participating in the events shows that the Pashtun community living in Karachi is still enthusiastic about Pashto literacy activities, literary activists said.  

On self-help basis

Almost all Pashtun literary societies as well as individuals organising literary activities purely depend on donations from the community members.

Most of the activities take place in the city’s Pashtun-populated areas settlements in SITE and Baldia towns, Keamari, Hasan De Silva Colony, Landhi and Old Sabzi Mandi.  

Although there are several literary organisations in the city, the more active ones include the Ittefaq Pakhto Adabi Jirga, the Pak Pakhto Idabi Tehreek, Jaras Adabi Jirga, the Tor Ghar Pakhto Adabi Caravan, the Swat Pakhto Adabi Guloona and the Pakhto Adabi Kaltoori Tolana. 

The Ittefaq Pakhto Adabi Jirga Sindh is the oldest of them, founded by Dr Matiullah Nashad, Fazal Khaliq Ghamgeen, Shah Wali Khan Saiduwal, and Raza Khan Naatar in 1986. Currently, Sagir Tantiqe and Hasrat Buneri are leading the association.

Even in the 1950s, two Pashto poets Ghulam Qadir and Pir Muhammad Shariq published a monthly Pahsto magazine, ‘Abaseen’, in Karachi. 

Sarwar Shamal, a poet, said Pashto literary activities in the city were on the rise in the 1990s, but then a significant decline was witnessed. However, he added, in recent months, Karachi had again seen an increase in Pashto literacy activities. “We have also observed recently that many Pashtuns in the city have been having their wedding cards published in Pashto,” Shamal told The News.

Pashto poets in Karachi are mostly from the working class and gather on Sundays under the banner of their association mainly at a friend’s guest room or a park.

But for organising literary gatherings and book launch ceremonies, they face immense problems.

Poets are poor and cannot afford to book halls for such activities.

“There is no community hall in Karachi’s Pashtun areas,” said poet Sagar Tanqide. “We have to organise our gatherings on streets by setting up tents or sometimes we use the provincial office of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party at Baacha Khan Chowk in Banaras area,” he told The News.

He said the Baacha Khan Community Hall, located in the District West’s UC-15, was an ideal place for such activities but because of the government’s negligence, it was closed for several years.

Self-published books

Dozens of new Pashto titles were published by Karachi-based Pashto poets and writers in 2015, corroborating the rise in Pashto literacy activities in the city.

However, all of them are self-published and mostly based on the themes of conflict, the plight of the Pashtuns and the restoration of peace in their region. Many Pashto poets and writers in the city cannot have their work published because of financial constraints. 

Shamal recently had a collection of his Pashto poems published. He said he had spent Rs35,000 for having 500 copies of his work published.

“I collected money with great difficulties and spent it mainly for the survival of Pashto and poetry.”

He said even Pashtun community members and ethnic political parties did not purchase these books, discouraging poets and writers. “We mainly gift away our books,” he added.

The poets also criticised the Awami National Party, which was part of the previous government in Sindh and ruled SITE Town for four years, for ignoring Pashto literary activities. 

“They [ANP] only need poets to perform in their political gatherings. Even, in the party’s organisational structure, they appointed a non-literary person for the position of the cultural secretary. That shows their lack of commitment to language and culture,” said a poet who himself is associated with the ANP in Karachi. 

“The ANP doesn’t even support poets and writers in publishing their work or organising their activities,” he added. 

Culture dept’s attention

The Pashto poets complained about the discriminatory attitude of of the Sindh’s culture department towards them and appealed to the newly appointed provincial culture minister Sardar Ali Shah to help them in organising their literary activities.    

Tanqide said the Pashtuns in Karachi were now permanent residents of the province and playing an important role in the development of the city.

 “The Sindh culture department should also engage with Pashto poets and literary organisations to help mainstream them in province-level literary activities,” he added.

In 2013, the Pakistan Academy of Letters Sindh, under the management of the then resident director Agha Noor Muhammad Pathan, had inaugurated a Pashto literature section, “Tahir Afridi Corner” at its office at the Liaquat Memorial Library aimed at promoting Pashto in Karachi.

“In 2013, a number of Pashto poets – poor, needy and deserving – had submitted forms for a scholarship to continue their literary work,” Tanqide said. “However, none of them has received a scholarship so far. Only Sindhi and Urdu-speaking poets and artists have benefited from the programme."