By Zaki Shah

The FridayTimes : June 8, 2016

Fakhar Zaman’s book in Urdu with sections in English, is a comprehensive document about the history, political movements, kisan agitations, heroic traditions, the national question and the miserable situation of the Punjabi language and culture. It is perhaps the most authentic work produced so far on the subject. It lucidly puts into perspective the role of Punjab vis-à-vis the smaller provinces and oppressed nationalities. The author is very clear that any chauvinistic or jingoistic mindset on the part of Punjabi politicians, bureaucracy and establishment has harmed the harmonious relations between different units of the federation. In his book, he has condemned the puerile slogan put forward by Mian Nawaz Sharif in the past, namely “Jag Punjabi Jag Teri Pug Nu Laga Dagh”, declaring it as an empty slogan, which has done more harm than good when it comes to relations between different provinces. Zaman has clearly come out against the Punjabi elite when he says that the four Supreme Court judges who held ZA Bhutto guilty were all Punjabi judges, whereas the remaining three belonged to the other three provinces. He is very clear about the definition of “Punjabiyat”, which basically upholds the culture of tolerance, dialogue, brotherhood and love, as taught by the Sufi heritage of Punjab. He has also traced the roots of why Punjabi has not been given its rightful place in Punjab, by putting the blame on Punjabi politicians, bureaucrats and the elite. Zaman is a known protagonist of declaring all languages spoken in Pakistan as national languages, whereas Urdu is the link language or lingua franca. He has clearly said that we admire literature in Urdu language, for which Punjabis have played a major role, mentioning Iqbal, Faiz, Munir NIazi, Zafar Iqbal, Sadaat Hasan Manto, Krishan Chander, Balwant Singh, Rajinder Singh Bedi, Abdullah Hussain and many others. Fakhar has severely criticized the present Punjab government, which is anti-Punjabi for not declaring Punjabi as a medium of instruction at a primary level, establishing the first ever Punjabi University in Lahore and giving jobs to 10,000 unemployed MA Punjabi degree holders. He has cited an interesting example of when Benazir Bhutto was the PM and Mian Nawaz Sharif was CM of Punjab, some representative of unemployed MA Punjabi degree holders came to the author with a request for employment, to which he said that it was in the jurisdiction of the provincial government to give them jobs so they should go and see the Punjab CM. Interestingly, when they came back after meeting the Punjab CM, they told the author that Mian Sahib had declared that he was a Kashmiri and had nothing to do with Punjabi.

Fakhar Zaman has also included the full text of a writ petition, which was filed in the Lahore High Court against the proscription of his five books by Ziaul Haq’s military regime; it was filed by Atizaz Ahsan. After 18 years of litigation, the ban was lifted by the Lahore High Court in 1996. Meanwhile, the author’s banned books, which were forcibly lifted and burnt publically have been translated into many major languages. Right now, many Phd and M-Phil theses have been written on his writings, which are prescribed at a master level in all universities of East Punjab and Delhi. A letter he wrote to the provincial legislature members to speak in Punjabi is also included in the book. The book under review has given the details of the World Punjabi Congress history, since its establishment in 1985 till date, and also brief declarations and proceedings of international conferences held under the WPC auspices in Pakistan, India, Austria, France, The Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Estonia, UK, USA and Canada. Admittedly, it is a long journey and credit goes to the WPC organizers as to how they managed the finances, because they had decided not to ask for any financial assistance from the government. It is a dynamic organization run by energetic and devoted members under the leadership of its chairman, Fakhar Zaman.
Fakhar Zaman’s style is very objective, no slogan mongering and no blame gaming. He admits the fault of Punjabis, be it when it comes to East Pakistan or other Pakistani provinces. The one thing that the reviewer found lacking is that the author, who belonged to the Pakistan People’s Party, had been a senator and a minister and twice chairman of the Pakistan Academy of Letters, has not mentioned the indifference of his party when they were in power in the center and Punjab. One thing he has vehemently emphasized is that there is a mafia of literary fundamentalist and purists who are making this language irretrogressive and a reactionary tongue. He has also exhibited his deep concern over the one sided Punjabi textbooks, out dated curricula and has come hard on the caboodle of reactionaries heading institutions teaching Punjabi language. He has suggested that there should be a radical change in the curricula because Punjabi language basically is a forward looking and progressive language. The author has dealt with in detail the heroic movement of Punjab like Dullah Bhatti, Ahmed Khan Kharal and Bhagat Singh. To him, heroism is not limited to one geographical territory, rather it transcends all borders. We hope that this book will go along in clearing the cobwebs about the Punjab and more such books will come up in future.