In recent days and weeks, the deaths of Ardeshir Cowasjee, a journalist and intellectual of world class; Shafqat Tanvir Mirza, an intellectual who put up a tough battle to get due place for his mother tounge, Punjabi, in his native province; Inder Kumar Gujral, former Prime Minister of India, known for his Gujral Commission mooting the proposals for development of Urdu in India; and former Senator Iqbal Haider, who will be remembered for his services that he rendered for the cause of human rights, should be looked at from the point of view of the difference that all of them and many others of similar concerns have made in this world. They have also shaped our views about society and the literature, which should provide an appreciation of services rendered to our society. The protagonists of literature, more so of progressive literature, have to accept the fact that it is individuals like them who shape our worldview; they became unobtrusively the framers of their sensitive and outward looking generation to keep on modifying their tastes - including their literary taste, which admits continuous updating by blooming old leaves of autumn out of our intellectual courtyard in order to deal with fresh leaves and hence ideas. The supersession of the absolute modes by the essentially new ones is the demand of nature none of us can wish away. Literature is truly an interdisciplinary pursuit that is based upon a rich literary heritage.
I would like to discuss in particular, Ardeshir Cowasjee's, Inder Kumar Gujral's and Shafqat Tanvir Mirza's roles in making a difference in our lives. Ardeshir Cowasjee was able to criticise the sordid state of Pakistani society in democratic days of Nawaz Sharif's and Benazir Bhutto's governments alongside General Musharraf's and President Zardari's administrations. He was a patriot to a fault asking us to look at his writings from the standpoint of a selfless stakeholder. There are people who could criticise him for some plausible reasons but his strong perception of Pakistani society couldn't earn praise from those who are responsible for its decay and decline. No wonder then we find ourselves going past the stages of a 'weak' and 'failing' state and, at the moment, being pushed to the stage of a 'failed' state. Some people would call me an old-fashioned patriot for shutting off my eyes to a stark reality.
Inder Kumar Gujral, former Indian premier from Jehlum, West Punjab, would be remembered for his love of literature. Himself an Urdu writer, he authored a book 'Inder Kumar Gujral ke Mazaameen'. It was also published in Pakistan. He headed a commission on Urdu language, honourably acquitting it of blame for the creation of Pakistan and rehabilitating it as the great heritage of Indian culture in line with Dr Tara Chand. Widely known for his humility, he was a pupil of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, but he would always introduce himself as Faiz's devotee.
And now to my dear friend, Shafqat Tanvir Mirza, who died of cancer in Lahore, fighting his case for the redressal of legal claims of the employees of Progressive Papers Limited and refusal to accept any 'bounty' from the People's Party he and his wife tirelessly worked for.
I differed with him on his stand that 'Seraiki' was a dialect of Punjabi and not a language in its own right. In my columns I have always honoured his work that he carried out towards elevating the status of Punjabi. It was a great fight which many Punjabis didn't like. Even Urdu-wallas didn't like his views because he didn't want Urdu to be owned by the Punjabis.
In Punjab, it is a historical fact that the Sikhs favoured Punjabi with Gurmukhi script, the Hindus preferred Hindi with Devtagi script and the Muslims opted for Urdu before the 1882 Language Commission. After heated discussions all the three communities agreed on the consensus resolution which became operative in the then Punjab and in Kashmir on same grounds because Hindus and Sikhs of the valley couldn't agree on anything else. There is more of administrative convenience in the acceptance of the language formula in the British Punjab. Our friend Shafqat Tanvir Mirza accepted it but wondered what prevented the post-Partition Punjabi to accept the Punjabi as Punjab's official language.
Shafqat Tanvir Mirza went to the extent of quoting Khawaja Gulam Fareed as a Punjabi poet. He derived strength for his argument from his letter through which he had affirmed himself to be a Punjabi poet. Perhaps he disregarded the fact that it could be more of a geographical expression than a linguistic statement.
Any how the writers who want respect for every Pakistani language as a medium of instructions in educational institutions are correct. There is no doubt that justice should be done to all languages and no language should be allowed to supersede the mother tongue of common masses in the best interest of country's integrity.