A wrong precedent set by senior scholar

By Shafqat Tanvir Mirza

ROOP RANG research and critical articles by Dr Shahbaz Malik, former head of the Punjabi Department, University of the Punjab; pp 376; Price Rs400 (hb); Publishers Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture (PILAC), Punjabi Complex, Qadhafi Stadium, Ferozepur Road, Lahore.
Prof Dr Malik needs no introduction as a writer but the man to whom this book has been dedicated needs introduction in the field of language and literature. His name is Liaquat Ali Khan Niazi.
He is a senior DMG officer who has done some academic research on Shariat laws and has nothing to do with literature of any language. Anyhow being a part of the bureaucracy, he believes and has written that Urdu is the mother tongue of all the Pakistanis. It seems that his soul is under the control of those enthusiastic Punjabi journalists, writers and intellectuals who in response to the proposal of a former vice-chancellor of the Punjab University, Dr Chatterji, had declared that Urdu was the mother tongue of Punjabis and, in our times, Prof Fateh Muhammad Malik has strongly supported this view in his series of articles published in Nawa-i-Waqt, the standard-bearer of Nazria-i-Pakistan. Why a very senior Punjabi teacher and writer who has won President’s Medal for Pride of Performance and who is Professor Emeritus of the Punjab University thought it fit to dedicate his book to Dr Niazi. The only reason is that perhaps after a very long time Dr Malik could get this book published by the PILAC which was by that time headed by Niazi as director-general who was kind enough that in spite of the fact that the publication programme of the PILAC was suspended for two years, Niazi obliged Dr Malik by publishing this collection. The book has its merits and there was no need for Dr Malik to stoop so low. So far Punjabi language and literature is concerned, who is Liaquat Niazi and where does he stand? By this dedication, Dr Malik has set a very wrong precedent for younger generations.
Dr Malik has 34 books to his credit which have been cited in his five-page introduction followed by foreword which is an article on his research by an Indian scholar, Dr Dharam Singh, the chairman of Punjabi Adheen School, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, originally published in Gurmukhi script, transcribed into our script himself by Dr Malik who has added notes to the article.
Being a teacher of Punjabi at the university level, many articles included in this collection are basically meant for students. In these articles, a particular aspect of a poet has been explained and analysed. They are 17 out of 25. These are about Baba Farid, Shah Husain, Sultan Bahu, Peelo, Bulleh Shah, Waris Shah, Hashem Shah, Khwaja Ghulam Farid, Mian Muhammad Bukhsh, Sharif Kunjahi, Muneer Niazi, Baqi Siddiqi, Ahmad Rahi, Arif Abdul Mateen, Ishfaq Ahmad, Anwar Ali and another senior Sufi poet and prose writer Noshah Ganjbukhsh. Two articles are on Punjabi folk songs, one on Punjabi script and phonology, 50 years (1947-2000) of Punjabi literature — an overview, Punjabi writers’ contribution to Pakistan Movement, How Iqbal has been evaluated in Punjabi, Karbala and Punjabi literature and the earthquake of 2005 and Punjabi poetry. These articles are also related to the readers of Punjabi literature.
Dr Malik has done excellent job in preparing the bibliography of printed Punjabi books, pamphlets and booklets of which first volume was published by the Pakistan Academy of Letters while the second is being compiled by the author and it also includes the Punjabi books lying with Jhandair Library of Vehari. Dr Dharam Singh is of the opinion that Dr Malik’s critical approach or style is more impressionistic. Ideologically, he was very close to religious and national views of the late General Ziaul Haq who rejected the basic views of the founder of the country, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who stood for equal rights of all citizens (irrespective of their cast, creed and belief). He stood for socialism (Zia was against that although Allama Iqbal also used the same term — Islamic socialism).
Jinnah and Iqbal both were deadly against feudalism established by the British invaders but in political sense, Zia had given a new life to feudal elite of the country by all means. Because of these views, Dr Malik could not assess the new powerful trends on nationalism and resistance traditions introduced by Najm Hosain Sayed, Ali Abbas Jalalpuri, Ahmed Rahi, Sharif Kunjahi, Major Ishaq Asif Khan, Fakhar Zaman and Sibtul Hasan Zaigham. This liberal sensibility and spirit of Punjabiat has much appeal for the new writers.
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ATHHROO AAP DALEELAN by Javed Arif, pp 142; Price Rs170 (hb); Publishers Bazm-i-Maula Shah, 41-A, Chohan Road, Islamapura, Lahore.
Javed Arif started his literary career as Urdu ghazal writer and two years back he published his first collection, Veeran Parrey Hein Raastey from Okara. In the meantime he came under the influence of Fazal Ahmad Khusro, his brother Dr Moeenuddin and other writers of the area and Punjabi poetry attracted him. One is not clear whether he found more attraction in the fictional poetry, Sufi poetry or the poetry of ghazal initiated under the influence of Urdu, but the result is that he is trying to grasp the deep-rooted culture of Punjabi language and literature.
He repeats what happened to Heer and Ranjha and its major cause:-
And the following verse may remind the reader the foreign and development policy of the country.
Curtsy:DAWN.COM PUBLISHED SEP 11, 2010