By Raza Rehman Khan Qazi

Date:11-09-05

Source: The News

Of late, North Western Frontier Province is hardly talked about in the media without a mention of Talibanisation, terrorism, gun-running and drug-smuggling. This, however, should be no reason to conclude that the province is totally devoid of cultural and literary activities. In fact, Frontier once had been home to such literary giants as Patras Bukhari. In Khatir Ghaznavi, an award wining writer, the tradition somehow survives even today.

Peshawar-based Khatir started his professional career as a bursar at All India Radio, Peshawar. Later, after getting a master's degree in Urdu literature, he became a lecturer at the Peshawar University. But Urdu is not the only language he knows well. Having done his graduation in Pashto literature, he went to China on deputation to learn Chinese.

After his return from China, Khatir Ghaznavi set up a department for the teaching of Chinese language at the Peshawar University. Recalling those days, he says the university then had several foreign languages departments which were closed down on the flimsy grounds that they served as sanctuaries for fifth-columnists.

His last government job was a one year stint as the director general of Pakistan Academy of Letters. He has also worked as the head of Pakistan Studies and Urdu Chair at a Malaysian University where he had the opportunity to learn another language -- the Malayan.

Narrating the story of his literary journey, Khatir Ghaznavi says he -- along with Farigh Bukhari and Raza Hamdani -- started an Urdu literary magazine from Peshawar which had a section devoted to Pashto culture and literature. The magazine also had a special voluminous issue by the title of 'Sarhad Number' which carried detailed information about the Frontier. Both the Pashto section of the magazine and its special issue proved very popular in India and Pakistan.

Drawing comparisons between literary environment of Frontier in the past and what prevails now, he says: "There used to be an organisation called 'Idara-e-Adbiyat' set up by great literary figures of NWFP like Syed Zia Jafferi, Dr Nazir Ahmed Mirza Barlas, Farigh Bukhari and Raza Hamdani. Literary gatherings used to regularly take place at the organisation's office at Shahwali Katal in Qissa Khawani. Such was the literary environment of Peshawar that people like Hasrat Mohani, Seemab Akbar Abadi, Shahid Ahmad Dehlvi and many other literary icons from India used to visit 'Idara-e-Adbiyat' in Peshawar. But the only literary organisation now surviving is the Syndicate of Writers, with members from Pashto, Hindko and Urdu literati. The syndicate holds a monthly meeting. So, in terms of frequency of literary gatherings they are few and far between as compared to the past." It's no coincidence that the syndicate's office is located in his house. "Moreover, no Urdu literary magazine worth mentioning is published from Peshawar or elsewhere in NWFP."

Khatir Ghaznavi disagrees with the view that literature produced in NWFP during his youth was socially and politically more relevant than what is being churned out today in the province. "Even today there are people who are bringing in political thoughts in literature. For instance, in recent past it was Qalandar Mohmand in Pashto and Ahmad Faraz in Urdu, who have produced literature with political overtones. Though Faraz has been living elsewhere since long but he belongs to this land and has lived here for a long time."

Khatir raised quite a literary eye brows when he wrote that Urdu has its origin in Hindko. His thesis on the subject is published as a book by Moqtadara Qaumi Zuban. Explaining and defending his thesis, he says: "In reality, Hindko is a highly misunderstood language. It is thought to be a language of only Peshawar. No, it is not. Hindko is a mega-language, which contains elements of almost all languages spoken on both sides of the river Indus -- from Gujri to Gujrati and including Punjabi, Potohari, Seraiki and Sindhi. The era of Indus valley civilization which existed 5,000 years ago was a golden era. The civilization spawned two great nations -- Dravidians and Munda -- both of whom also founded important civilizations in Sindh. The Aryans destroyed these civilizations and displaced them. I have pointed out numerous words of Sindhi, Saraiki and Munda that are also common to Punjabi and Hindko. The language that used to be spoken along the two banks of the river during the times of great Indus valley civilization, was called Sindko. Hindko is, in fact, this Sindko as the word has changed under the influence of Persian. My thesis is based on the hypothesis that the dialect of any language changes after every 15 kilometers. The same thing happened to Hindko. A common proof of this could be that if some one from Hazara goes thousands of miles away to Sukkur and speaks his language, which is Hindko, it will be readily understood. Hindko, therefore, is not mainly the language of Peshawar as is generally thought of. It is in fact Sindko of the old."

Some critics of this thesis point out that it fails to explain as to why Peshawar became the centre of Hindko language. According to Khatir Ghaznavi's contention, Attock should have been Hindko's centre because it is situated on the confluence of the Indus and the Kabul rivers. According to some noted historians, Attock has rather served as a natural border between Central and South Asian landmasses. Moreover, Khatir Ghaznavi fails explain why Hindko should be the language of Peshawar, a predominantly Pakhtoon city.

But he claims his thesis is authentic because in it he has not only referred to the work of scholars from Pakistan and outside but also mentioned hundreds of words common to all languages spoken along the Indus.

"I have written another thesis entitled 'Pakhtoons and Urdu'. If you search, you would find out that the greatest contribution to Urdu's development in India is by the Pakhtoons. For instance, though India's ex-president Dr Zakir Hussain and his younger brother Yousaf Hussain Khan, also a noted poet, were Urdu speaking, they basically were Pakhtoons. They are in fact Afridis. I have a book entitled Yadoon Ki Dunya, written by Yousaf Hussain, in which he has written his family history. He tells how his ancestors migrated from the Frontier to fight in India and get large estates there."

Khatir further explains: "Another Pakhtoon family which contributed a lot to Urdu's development in India was of Josh Malih Abadi, who was also an Afridi. Josh's grandfather took his son to India who afterwards become a known Urdu poet. Akhtar Shirani is another Pakhtoon. Even his name shows that he belonged to one of the main Pakhtoon tribes, the Shiranis."

Asked why the inhabitants of the Frontier could not do well in literary terms while remaining in their ancestral abode, Khatir says it was the challenging literary environment of India which never failed to give a spur to the creative genius of a people like Pakhtoons, who always take up the gauntlet. "They would say if you do poetry we are equally good at it and they succeeded tremendously in it."

When asked what is literature's relevance in the current global scenario in general and NWFP in particular, he says: "In the Frontier culture is not given a chance to prosper. The provincial government has clamped a ban on drama, dance and song. The elite is having fun if and when it wants in their private chambers while the culture which should diffuse in the society through musical concerts and performances is being thwarted."

But he says the situation was different till the recent past. "There used to be a musical institution in the Frontier called lakhtai (literally, dancing lads), which now is banned. Though lakhtais were professional dancers, they did not involve themselves in any indecent activities. So it is strange that the institution which used to give healthy entertainment to to the entertainment-starved villagers is banned while prostitutes are thriving."

Khatir agrees with the contention that NWFP has become somewhat antagonistic to cultural activities. He says "on the one hand khattak dance is allowed and has full official patronage because it is part of military ceremonies but on the other hand all other traditional dances have been banned" which is unfortunate. "It is mere hypocrisy and nothing else." He goes on to say the society may or may not be antagonistic to literature and other aspects of culture but it is the politicians who are actively supporting every assault on culture in the province. So he complains: "Isn't it official tyranny and coercion that the land which belongs to the Abaseen Arts Council has been handed over to a lawyers' body by the Chief Minister because he wants to appease them?"

He also sees Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal's move to make Urdu the official language of NWFP as a mere eyewash. "The language has experienced no development with this announcement. Even government memos are still being drafted in English." He says the move is motivated by hypocrisy and self-interest because most of the MMA legislators do not know English. "Urdu is the best available alternative for them."

Khatir Ghaznavi is not quite optimistic about the future of literature in the Frontier. "There is nothing in the province which can attract budding literary students and enthusiasts."

He, however, is full of hope about the future of Pashto and Hindko languages because as according to him the two languages are being very well served by some well meaning people. For instance, he says, "Pashto Academy and Pashto Adabi Board are working a lot for Pashto. Both the bodies issue literary magazines which do not rely solely on publishing but also carry a number of critical essays. Many books in Pashto are also being published through the efforts of these bodies which is indeed a good sign for Pashto language and literature. For Hindko too there are bodies like Markazi Hindko Adabi Board, Gandhara Hindko Board etc. They are bringing out some good books in Hindko including a Hindko-Urdu dictionary prepared by me."

Khatir Ghaznavi also criticises the government for its indifferent towards the demands by Hindko literary bodies that a Hindko Language Academy be established on the lines of Pashto Academy at University of Peshawar. "If Pashto is developing and research is being done considerably on the language, why shouldn't Hindko be treated the same way because it is also a language of NWFP?"

Khatir, while dispelling the impression that Hindko literature does not have market value, says it rather has great commercial value. "When Hindko books were not being published, there was no market for them. Now when the books are being published, they have automatically created market for them with some of them selli9++ng many editions".

Khatir Ghaznavi has 45 books to his credit. Five of these are collections of poetry including a verse translation of Khushal Khan Khattak's poetry. Among his non-poetic works are Suba Sarhad Kay Rumaan, and a translation of Khushal Khattak's Dastaar Nama. He also has written books of literary criticism