LAHORE: Three sessions in the conference on the ‘contemporary literary trends in Pakistan’ that concluded at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (Lums) brought into focus the issues and conflicts of languages in Pakistan that the state has always tried to downplay and suppress.

The two-day conference was organised by the Gurman Centre of Languages and Literature of the university.

In a session on Punjabi literature, short story writer Ijaz started reading his paper on ‘modern Punjabi fiction in Punjabi language’ when he was interrupted after some time by Parveen Malik who was presiding over the session to ask him to read out his paper in Urdu. Ijaz did as was asked and he translated the rest of his Punjabi paper into Urdu. When the turn of Prof Saeed Bhutta came, he raised the issue, saying he would avoid the conferences where he could not speak his language, insisting on addressing the conference in Punjabi. When the organisers explained to him that there were people from other provinces who would find it hard to understand his language, Bhutta said Parveen could explain his main points in Urdu after his talk. However, at the end of his talk when Parveen Malik asked the audience whether there was any need for explanation, the audience said they understood the gist of Bhutta’s talk. Later, Sarwat Mohiuddin spoke Urdu.

Talking about the modern Punjabi fiction, Ijaz said Rigveda was written in the area that’s now called Punjab while Panini also wrote the earliest book on grammar in the same region. He traced Punjabi literature to at least 1,200 years back while saying that it’s hard to say anything about the exact time when poetry writing started in the language. However, prose writing went back to the sixteenth century before that religious writings were written. Modern Punjabi prose writing started in 1860, he said, mentioning Bhai Pir Singh among the earliest writers of those times. “After the partition of 1947 when Punjab was divided into two parts, many of the Punjabi writers migrated to Indian Punjab.” Among those who kept writing in Pakistani Punjabi included Sajjad Haider whose short story, Udaari, is considered the first short story published in western Punjab after the partition.

“Afzal Ahsan Randhawa and Saleem Gimmi were among the earliest fiction writers of Punjabi in East Pakistan after 1947,” Ijaz said and added that the contemporary writers made the social and political issues subject of their works.

Prof Saeed Bhutta discussed the criticism written in Punjabi language. “The earliest work of criticism was done in East Punjab and Gurmukhi books are not available in our part of Punjab that’s why he could not talk much about it,” he said.

Bhutta talked about psycho-analytical criticism in Punjabi language. He said Sharif Kunjahi was the earliest writer who took on the subject of psychology but his focus was not Freud but Adler and his theory of inferiority complex. Safdar Mir’s essays had some elements of Carl Jung. “The other big influence in criticism was Marxist criticism after the Russian Revolution as Punjabi writers and poets followed it. Pareet Larri provided space to publish Marxist literature.” Bhutta termed Najam Hosain Syed a Marxist critic, saying that Syed interpreted the folk romances of Punjabi and gave meanings of his own but his criticism was limited to classical poets and not modern or contemporary literature.

Sarwat Mohiuddin had to talk about contemporary poetry and blend of tradition and modernism in it; however, she remained stuck in classic Punjabi poetry and gave only just a passing reference to contemporary poetry.

Later, addressing the concluding session, Parveen Malik said Punjabi activists and writers had been trying to get Punjabi implemented as compulsory language from primary classes to graduation since long. She said “our intentions should be not be looked at with suspicion from friends” as relationships between speakers of different languages should be strengthened.

Seraiki poet and novelist Rifat Abbas retaliated, saying languages were not part of any ‘oneness’ or Sufism as the people of every region had their own language. He said if unity was required, the languages spoken in any region and its writers should be recognised. He said many other things had been dumped behind the ‘oneness’ of Sufism. “Seraiki people love their Punjabi neighbours and love Lahore but we should be not sacrificed for sake of oneness.” Rifat said Seraiki poets should not be declared Punjabi and given Punjabi awards, a reference to himself as Pilac had declared an award for him some years back.

Nasir Abbas Nayyar, the organiser, tried to play the role of a mediator, saying, “we should accept that there are distances among different languages, which are not only geographical but cultural and psychological.” He explained that differences occurred due to the lack of communication that resulted in hatred and added that the speakers of one language in Pakistan had complaints against the speakers of other languages and these complaints should find an expression for solution to problems. The conference was held to break the silences regarding language, he declared and added that the writers of languages from Gilgit-Baltistan were heard for the first time here.

Asghar Nadeem Syed said there had been some mistakes in understanding each other historically, politically and socially and the people had been separated. “All languages of this region are the languages of Hindustan and they are influenced by other languages but civlisation is beyond politics.”

Ameer Haider from Gilgit-Baltistan said that writers from all GB languages should be represented in such conferences and similarly languages of KP besides Pashto should also be represented as only Pashto scholars are invited. In his reply, Abasin Yousafzai said languages of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa should be represented but not at the cost of Pashto as its speakers made up 80pc of KP before the inclusion of tribal areas.

In an earlier session, the writers and scholars from GB complained that their languages, even those spoken by majority of population, were dying though some of them were spoken in China, India and parts of Central Asian countries.

A session by Dr Tariq Rehman on effects of non-linguistic elements on literature was also interesting.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2023