The poet: a 'landscape painter'

Ishrat Aafreen, the young poet who rose to fame in the mid-80s, was at Irteqa on Sunday. She has been in the United States during all these years and may return there after a brief sojourn in Karachi.

At the literary sitting, Dr Mohammad Ali Siddiqui critically examined Aafreen's verses and found her creative poetry, including ghazals, highly evocative, progressive in thought and artistic in treatment. She had managed to recall and capture the minutest details from her life spent in the suburban town of Malir.

Aafreen was born and brought up in Karachi, graduated from the Allama Iqbal College and did her MA in Urdu from the University of Karachi. Her first collection of verses Kunj peelay phoolon ka was published in 1985. She married soon afterwards and went abroad in 1998.

Writer Zaheda Hena read out an essay on Aafreen's poetry and underlined the poet's spiritual links with the great classical poet Mira Bai on one hand and Mir on the other, Ghalib being her intellectual guide.

She is opposed to the unjust and oppressive system of society and refuses to accept male domination. A feminist poet, she does not, however, suffer from self-pity.

Aafreen herself read out a long poem depicting the environment of her village some decades back with photographic details. It was fascinating. She later described the scene as she found it at present and lamented the loss of a vibrant and enlightened society dead and buried.

The poem was like a landscape done in multicolours and strong strokes. Her description of Muharram and the recital of Shahadat Naama by Usman Baba was vibrant and living.

Aafreen dedicated her first poetry collection in the following words:

Mera qad, meray baap say ooncha nikla
Aur meri maan jeet gai

A second collection is under print.

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Urdu in recent days has suffered a major shock due to the passing away of three eminent figures - Jagan Nath Azad, Dr Fahim Azmi and Sahab Qazalbash. What was common among them was a commitment to their chosen field of literature.

Qazalbash was a story-writer, poet and broadcaster, Dr Fahim, editor of his literary magazine widely known for promoting modern critical theories, and Azad, an acclaimed poet and an ardent admirer of Allama Iqbal, Urdu and its classical values.

He was also a great supporter of the peace movement in South Asia and elsewhere. Qazalbash, daughter of the prominent poet and disciple of Daagh Dehlavi, Agha Shair Qazalbash, had joined All-India Radio in the mid-40s.

She was fortunate to have worked with such luminaries as N. M. Rashid, Krishan Chand and many others, who patronized the talented teenager from a middle class family who was in the process of shedding her inhibitions and showing great self-confidence and sense of humour.

She later joined Radio Pakistan, and went as a broadcaster first to Iran and then to London where she was to spend most of her life. Her collection of sketches, Mera koi maazi naheen, focuses on the lives of many eminent poets and writers like Raashid and Faiz.

Dr Fahim Azmi was totally devoted to fiction and philosophy, but had also studied religion and had developed a broader world view. Speakers at a condolence meeting held at the Arts Council remembered him for his tolerant and liberal ways towards opposing views.

Some speakers felt depressed at the prospect that his paper, Sareer, may not appear again after the publication of its forthcoming annual number. A suggestion to bring out a special number on the life and work of Azmi was warmly welcomed by the writers present at the forum.

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Karachi Gymkhana last week sponsored a dialogue on Muashra aur Sahafat. Mujahid Barelvi, a journalist hooked to a TV channel, lamented the role of authoritarianism which had over the years hampered the healthy growth of media and society.

If the newspaper industry wanted to strike a change in society, it must stand on its own feet, not on the strength of other forces, for instance, the government, said Sajjad Mir, editor of an Urdu daily.

He contented that the electronic media was now shaping public opinion. Democracy had become an artificial term and the electronic media in the West, particularly in the US, had been turned into a weapon of war, as witnessed in Iraq.

Mr Ghazi Salahuddin agreed with the claim that the press in Pakistan was now free and yet 'worthless'. When you expose the wrong-doing of an important government functionary and the wrong-doing remains unattended, press freedom loses its meaning.

Mr Nasim Gandhi complained about the rising menace of intolerance and wanted to play its role in this regard. He contested the notion that newspapers were not widely read. A paper in a household was read by at least 20 persons, he asserted.

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Young writers at the Arts Council known as 'Naqeeb-i-fikr-i-Nam' celebrated their silver jubilee last Monday. They were happy to have completed 25 literary sittings, qualifying for a silver jubilee. It was a well-managed affair, and a provincial minister was there to share in cutting the cake and awarding Talent Awards to five budding writers.

Prof Raees Alvi, himself a poet, Naqqash Kazmi, secretary of the Arts Council, Yawer Mehdi and some others jointly gave an award for literature for the year 2004 to the young activist, Shaukat Ali Anqa.

Another award of Rs25,000 came from the minister to keep the show running. Asghar Zaidi donated some books to encourage the young writers. Verses were written for the occasion by Tashna Barelvi and others.

The Arts Council should publish some presentable writings produced by the talented young boys and girls and thus establish their merits. Otherwise the celebration would look like an exercise in self-praise and eulogising each other.