KARACHI: The Karachi Gymkhana’s Library and Literary Sub-committee organised the launch of not one, but two anthologies by former senator Javed Jabbar titled Steams and Shade & Light in its Sapphire Hall on Thursday.

Speaking on the occasion, Associate Professor at Iqra University, Dr Erum Hafeez, said Senator Jabbar had been her teacher, boss and mentor. “He is also my inspiration,” she said, adding that he writes on serious issues with persistence. “I share his articles with my students. His articles give me hope for the future.”

Novelist and writer on national affairs, Taha Kehar, said that Senator Jabbar had given 52 years to pen and paper. “He is a critical thinker, his writing is discerning,” he said.

“There are writers who may pen 10 or so articles for various publications and then compile those pieces in the form of a book. But those articles are not really well thought out and may be dated by the time the book comes out. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find how Senator Jabbar was able to talk with foresight and insights. Every piece written by him fits in beautifully like a musical composition,” he added.

Two anthologies by former Senator Javed Jabbar launched

Writer and art and culture scholar Dr Durriya Kazi said that Senator Jabbar’s two books depict the range of his writing. He has written 21 books from 1971 to 2024 with five or so quite years in the middle when he was making documentaries and films. “The books are written in a thematically relevant way. What stands out in his writings, and also his talks, is an old-fashioned optimism, an unshaken faith in humanity, that there is a pathway from darkness to light,” she said.

“Senator Jabbar shines a spotlight on all obstacles, and he also shows us how to overcome all those obstacles. In doing so he always holds on to the tool of truth. He has this compulsion to get to the truth,” she said.

When it was his time to speak, Senator Jabbar thanked his publishers, in this case Paramount Books, his parents and his better half and children.

He said that his mother, Zain Mahal Khursheed, made him sit down at the age of nine and told him to write and that his father, Ahmed Abdul Jabbar, had opened the doors to reading for him. As for his better half, Shabnam Jabbar, he said that she is the one who brings sanity to his life, as do his children Mehreen and Kamal.

He also said that as far as anthologies are concerned, the writer is himself the biggest beneficiary. “You are able to look back at what you wrote several years ago and are able to reassess your experiences. I find all these experiences, melting and meshing together to produce ultimately the paradox of duality,” he said.

“We are privileged to be living in an era of unprecedented increase in the number of global, regional and national laws. The United Nations has the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, an extraordinary achievement. There is endless, meticulous attention paid to telecommunication, the freedom to navigate the oceans, conservation, this huge wealth and treasure of law, rules, processes, and at the same time there is a complete disregard for them. One power can impose sanctions, like that on Iran or China, and break all rules without even bothering to get the consent of the United Nations. Whether they invade a country, whether they bomb a country, there is no regard for the law,” he said.

“We also have in our neighbourhood the world’s largest democracy and they are busy plotting cross-border assassinations. They have the impunity to sit next door to us and target someone sitting in New York or Canada. And then you have a war criminal, who is answerable for the slaughter of 40,000 people in Gaza, who is given a standing ovation by the world’s most powerful democracy,” he said.

Coming to Pakistan, Senator Jabbar spoke of the recent elections.

He said that in every election there is the party and the candidate who look for the vote. But on February 8, Pakistan set a world record because the voters were looking for the party and the candidate. “The citizens — literate, semi-literate, illiterate — produced more votes, despite the bizarre symbols that the Election Commission had come up with, than the parties with known election symbols,” he reminded before saying that he would like to conclude by saying that there are no conclusions.

The evening was moderated by Secretary-General of Religions for Peace Pakistan, Huma Ikramullah. Dr Muhammad Nafees of the Karachi Gymkhana also spoke.

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2024