It seems that the world has finally begun to follow us. As has happened to Pakistan for decades unending — with a few illusory interludes — many other countries in the world are increasingly witnessing a ghettoisation of ideas. It is not only promoted systematically by the custodians of these governments or states, but is also being encouraged from within these societies by self-deceptive, conservative opinion makers.

People are encouraged to remain insulated from any narration of facts or independent thought that may prod them to think beyond the make-believe world created by selective political and religious populism. The recent onslaught on media and intellectual freedoms — posed by both commercial challenges and political repression — will accelerate the process of ghettoisation, paranoia, denial and inwardness across many countries, including those of South Asia.

Democracy and pluralism are on a definite retreat. However, some countries with better evolved political systems still possess a chance of bouncing back. Ours may well be a different case, with longer, harder battles to be fought in the realm of ideas and in the sphere of politics. In these circumstances, it is all the more important to create repositories of information, knowledge, thoughts and opinions from the best among us, to challenge the false accounts of history and politics dominant in the present. For posterity, such repositories will leave a bright trail of ideas and insights, which those with the benefit of hindsight may well be able to draw upon.

Zaman Khan has created one such repository by amassing more than 60 interviews of people — his contemporaries, younger or older — who have either enriched us or provoked us with their ideas during the latter half of the 20th century and the first two decades of this century. This compendium of interviews, Alternative Vision: Voices of Reason, is spread over 576 pages and has been published by Badalti Dunya Publications, a non-profit, ideologically motivated, progressive publishing house in Islamabad.

Khan did these interviews for the local English-language press over the last many years. It was just about time that he should have compiled these into one book. He is a well-rounded man when it comes to his appreciation of art and literature, a passion for ancient and contemporary South Asian history and a profound involvement in politics, fundamental rights and peace movements. He has neatly divided his book according to his integrated, but varied interests.

Khan has lived a full life as a student leader, trade unionist, political worker, peace activist, writer and human rights campaigner. He has served prison sentences and paid fines imposed by martial law regimes in the past. The issues that continued to haunt him all along his unquiet life included class discrimination, the lack of peace between Pakistan and India, cultural and linguistic rights of his native Punjab, and the partition of British India followed by the enormous suffering of common folk across the dividing lines. To an extent, his concerns get conveyed through the choice of some — not all — of those he interviewed and some questions that he has asked them. But he has retained his intellectual integrity by being honestly curious and completely self-effacing when asking questions. Neither is there any attempt to tamper with the answers of interviewees. I say that with some confidence because of being familiar with Khan’s ideological views and convictions, made available to us through his own writing and speeches.

In the first section of the book, that contains 24 interviews, we find Khan speaking to some major artists and writers, from Amrita Pritam and Abdullah Hussein to Afzal Ahsan Randhawa and Shamsur Rehman Faruqi. We get to learn so much from many important contemporary writers in languages ranging from Sindhi and Urdu to Swedish and Bangla, living and writing across continents. There is also an interesting conversation with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who also happened to live in Faisalabad like Khan himself.

In the next section of the book, from Hamza Alavi to Romila Thapar and from Jean-Luc Racine to Tatiana Oranskia, 20 leading historians and social scientists from South Asia, France, Britain, Sweden, Turkey, the United States and Russia give illuminating interviews about their academic explorations and the inferences they did or did not reach. I particularly liked the interview of American professor of history Audrey Truschke on the inherent link between literature and history and her own work on cross-cultural exchanges between Sanskrit and Persian. She is also the author of Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth, which has generated debate in both Pakistan and India.

The last section of the book has 21 interviews with politicians and human rights campaigners from Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Austria and the United Kingdom. The Pakistani politicians whom Khan has interviewed largely subscribe to a progressive ideology, but hold divergent views on matters of federalism and national rights. One exception is a short interview with Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the then Amir of Jamaat-i-Islami, about his views on women. Other interviewees range from Aitzaz Ahsan to Imam Ali Nazish and from Asma Jahangir to Gunther Rauz, a minority rights activist from Austria who is based in Italy. You find a particular zest in his questions when Khan speaks to the Pakistani and Indian Marxist politicians. His deep desire makes its presence felt — the desire to see us free from the hegemonic and ruthless capitalist order under which we live.

What remains my favourite is the first section of the book. It may well be because of an obvious bias that I carry towards art and literature. But more so it is the authenticity of emotion with which these artists have spoken. Something remarkable that poet Nasreen Anjum Bhatti said warrants a mention. When Khan asked her about how she views the cultural milieu of Pakistan, she quipped: “We are talking about a country where camels and horses can dance, but human beings cannot.”

The writer is a poet and essayist based in Islamabad. His latest book is a collection of verse No Fortunes to Tell

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, July 19th, 2020