Ahmed Shah has Mars in his 10th house. He has taken along with him the institution that he has run for over a decade — the Arts Council of Pakistan in Karachi. With all the projects, initiatives and departments, and the major artistic, cultural and literary events that it holds, the Arts Council shines with the same glow of success as his own.

Shah has an unusual background to be heading this vibrant cultural institution which is autonomous and registered as a non-governmental organisation, although it does receive government grants. Shah hails from a family originally belonging to Abbottabad. He spent many years of his life in the real estate business, land development, civil works and contract management. But his passion for appreciating the arts turned him into an outstanding promoter and publicist of cultural activities.

We know that it is never about an individual alone. You need seasoned experts to advise and committed workers to assist in making any endeavour worthwhile. But it does take an individual to lead and organise, structure and convene, listen and choose, contemplate and act, before any idea is translated into reality. Shah must have committed many mistakes in this journey. He has also faced hostility from various vested interests and political parties. But he continues to steer through the obstacles and add new colours to the lives of the citizens of Karachi — and those who attend from all over Pakistan and abroad — with the events that he and his team organise every year.

Promoting theatre, fine arts, music and literature in Karachi is the mandate of the Council which has permanent academies working on its premises for this purpose since decades. What makes it widely known in the country and abroad are the festivals and conferences it organises regularly on themes such as drama and dance. However, the signature event for the last 10 years has been the Aalami [World] Urdu Conference. The 10th edition this year was spread over five days and the sessions were as comprehensive and inclusive as possible. It was a star-studded affair and the who’s who of literature and performing arts participated. The speakers were not only those writing in Urdu; many leading poets and writers of Sindhi and other languages participated and contributed. Punjabi verse was also shared in the mushaira. The delegates came from 10 different countries. From understanding and analysing the state of creative expression in the present times in categories ranging from poetic genres and prose forms to film and television, music and theatre, print journalism and electronic media, school curriculum and education policy, the papers read and the discussions held were both critical and rich. The discourse generated at the conference was not limited to the exposition and critical appreciation of creative literature being produced. There were debates on social and political movements, identity and nationalism, religious extremism and cultural pluralism.

One important session focused on our historic and current social and intellectual situation and the role that could have been played by Pakistani languages since independence in 1947. This also included an exploration of the current relationship between these languages. It was refreshing because the issues were explored purely academically for a change, owing to the debate taking place among scholars, linguists, poets and writers such as Ali Baba Taj, Nasir Abbas Nayyar, Anwaar Ahmed, Qasim Bughio, Syed Mazhar Jameel, Imdad Hussaini and Iftikhar Arif. They were primarily concerned about the pre-eminence of the English language and the marginalisation of the majority population that is perpetuated as a consequence.

The panelists also elaborated on the evolving functions of Urdu over the last 300 years. Currently, Urdu is seen as both a unifier in the civilisational sense and a divider in terms of language politics. However, the speakers agreed that there is no legal or constitutional hitch in using all our languages for education and governance at different levels. But the elite consensus in favour of English is what comes in the way. For our indigenous languages, unfortunately, Mars is not in the 10th house.

The writer is a poet and essayist based in Islamabad

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, December 31st, 2017