THIS is with reference to the overall coverage by Dawn of the Karachi Literature Festival (KLF) which was informative and interesting. However, perhaps because of space constraints, some sessions were left out, like the ones related to a couple of remarkable books.

First, it is the extraordinary work of fiction in English by a Pakistani author, who sadly passed away eight years before the book’s launch in 2023. His son, Khayyam Mushir, with editor Peter Coughlin’s crucial help, and of others, lovingly steered the manuscript to publication.

One refers to A Piece of the Moon (Folio Books, Lahore) by Mushir Anwar. Some excerpted comments, as featured in the book and some as spoken in the session, reflect its excellence. “A literary masterpiece”, Sarmad Sehbai; “A magnum opus”, Zakia Khwaja”; “… superb novel”, Harris Khalique; “Supremely creative work”, Prof Nomanul Haq; and, “Subtly critical magical realism”, Peter E. Coughlin. As part of the panel, I found it to be a rare, wondrous epic.

Mushir was a distinguished, unduly modest, self-effacing, veteran journa-list and writer of great merit. Born in Moradabad in 1937, he secured a master’s degree in English literature from Gordon College, and later joined Pakistan Times. He subsequently served as chief publications officer with the Economic Affairs Division, where he later oversaw the publication of the annual Economic Survey until 2000. His association with the state did not affect his independent, progressive and liberal values, which also reflected in his editing of the journal Pakistani Literature for the Academy of Letters.

He rendered a masterly translation into Urdu of Isaac Singer’s novel A Young Man in Search of Love. This writer had the pleasure of enjoying his gracious hospitality and of his wife who he loved passionately. Both passed away within a few months of each other in 2015. A Piece of the Moon is a glittering legacy.

The second book, already launched in 2022 but awaiting deserved media coverage, was The Equitable Tax (Ushba Publishers, Karachi) by Shamim Ahmed. A former, widely respected chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Shamim is the author of two earlier books, each having a distinctly individualistic approach to its subject.

The first was Torment and Creativity: A Psychoanalytic Study of Literature and Literati (2014), and the second was, Z.A. Bhutto: The Psychodynamics of his Rise and Fall (2019). His third book, in only 96 pages, represents an unusually concise yet comprehensive narrative on how direct income tax effectively collected from all those eligible to pay, instead of indirect taxes which tax the poor and the rich equally, is the long overdue imperative for Pakistan.

In his foreword, the then FBR chairman, Dr Ashfaq Ahmed, warmly applauded the book’s theme and its constructive suggestions. Along with the need to introduce federal direct income tax on agriculture, and the inclusion into tax collection of millions of units in the vast retail trade, as also professionals like some doctors, clinics, lawyers, etc., that evade documentation, the author has stressed that if so implemented by using specific strategies and methods, the country could virtually end its dependence on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other creditors.

He has pointed out that Bhutto had introduced in January 1977 a draft legislation to levy federal direct income tax on agriculture. But the events that occurred after the elections of March 1977 and Bhutto’s ouster in July 1977, prevented that draft from ever becoming a permanent law. Presently, the provinces collect only about Rs2 billion from agricultural income tax whereas the potential is at least about 30 times or more.

The KLF session on the day attracted rather surprisingly a large number of enthusiastic attendees, including Shabbar Zaidi, himself a former FBR chairman.

Former Senator Javed Jabbar
Karachi

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2023