By Sajid Abbas

The Nation Lahore Edition

Two months ago, Lahore was the host to writers and speakers of the language Of the land centred around this loveable and ancient city and lovers of the Punjabi language from fifteen other countries of the world. The venue was the quaint and friendly century old yFalettils, Lahore, which has the distinction of being the host to a number of great personalities of the world, including the Quaid-e-Azam. A large number of intellectuals, authors, writers, poets, artists of the stage and screen an people connected wit. the Punjabi language age and letters, in one way or another, ad converged upon this focal point, last April to participate in the World Punjabi Conference.

There were a number of prominent men of letters and participants, such as, Fakhar Zaman, Tahira Mazhar, Munir Niazi, Malik Meraj Khalid, Dleep Kaur Tiwana, Dr. Harcharan Singh, present who spoke on various aspects of the Punjabi language and emphasised the significance of the message of the promoters of the language and thinking of this land. For instance, the ancient Sages stressed upon promoting peace and finding ways and means to encourage friendliness and goodwill, which incidently was one of the aims of the conference.

Listeners considered themselves to be lucky enough to listen to the speakers and their works. It seemed that many of the speakers had carefully planed their forceful narratives and statements. The gamut of their arguments was large and every writer seemed to have a distinct manifesto to profess. Each author had his or her own view of life.

The speaches seemed to show the independence of ideas of the writers. Their themes varied and covered diverse aspects of life. A number of them seemed to be impressionable and creative. They seemed to have a certain knack of making their words understandable and skilfully made their presentation. The balking heap of social problems and the manifold enigmas and riddles that many writers see in the society seemed to provide them with plenty of material and inspiration. This scribe had the good fortune of meeting Fakhar Zaman, Chairman and Organiser of the Conference, who, besides other matters, disclosed that never before such a big gathering was held to discuss matters concerning the Punjabi language. It outweighed all other forums, so far, related to the Punjabi language and literature. Readers might be interested to learn that Punjabi happens to be the tenth most spoken language, in the world and its origins could be traced back to almost seven hundred thirty years.

Participants in the Conference had come from far and near, from countries of the Gulf and the Middle East, from South East Asia and the Far East, from Canada and other parts of North America, from the United Kingdom, from Scandinavia and diverse countries of the European Continent, even from Russia and of course there was a large group of close to two hundred from an alienated part of the land, across the border, where the language is spoken.

The conference, co-incided with the 'Year of dialogue amongst Civilisations'. The business that took place in the various sessions of the Conference, highlighted the modern trends of development in the Punjabi language since those who normally Speak Punjabi and whose mother tongue it happens to be, can now be found practically all over the world, especially as influential communities in comparatively advanced countries.

The Punjab is the home of one of the oldest civilisations of the world. Its people display habits and emotions that have helped shape the relationship of Man with Nature. Such relationship is apparently revealed by their arts, music, literature, poetry and so forth. Their poetry reflects their attitude towards life.

The poetry of the Punjabis, generally exhibiting the usual throb, makes a great impact. The message is always marked. This is especially true of the message of the Sages of the region of the Punjab and its periphery. In that particular kind of poetry one can feel a strong influence of spiritualism, something that would convey the listener, mentally to a superior plane. The message of the Punjabi Sages may be just a line or two, terse or otherwise, or a lengthy discourse unveiling a strong influence of the saintly howsoever transcendental it may be. For example, the message of Bhulley Shah which in essence is the same that has been repeated over and over again by a long line of Sufis of the Punjab, was simply that, the closer Man approaches Allah the more complete a person he becomes. To do that one need only to take a peep in one's self, for, Allah hop ens to be present there. The same has been upheld by the Scriptures of the world where it is mentioned that Allah is within everybody He is closer to a person than his jugular vein. Bhulley Shah was a Sufi and a poet of revolutionary ideas, as such he was not liked by the clerics who declared him a heretic. Bhulley Shah remained at odds with the clerics who ignored the humanistic and spiritual side of Islam and had a different interpretation of the faith. His view about them are well known. Is it not ironic that the body of Bhulley Shah was not allowed to be buried in the town's graveyard and space had to be found for him outside the city, but over the years the habitation of the city has gyrated closer to his last resting place.

Apart from spreading the message of love and tolerance, of the old sages, such as, Bhulley Shah, Shah Hussain, Waris Shah and others, the Punjabi language needs promotion without grudge. The Punjab stands out as a beacon of light to the compact communities of the dozen and a half or so countries of the world, where sizeable communities of the Punjabies exist.

The World Punjabi Conference which went on for only a limited number of days, discussed comradeship, literary and other mundane matters, did generate enough heat but outside where, temperatures soared high, besides the fall out continued for much longer. But, that could be due to intelectual dishonesty or a paranoic attitude of certain quarters.

One thing is quite apparent that anything the Punjabis, may do, they are prone to jealous criticism even by those who, on the surface, claim to be closer to them and with whom the Punjabis, do not hesitate to share whatever material or spiritual assets they have. One should take note of the silly accusations which are heaped freely upon them by others, when ever they get an excuse.

Those who point a finger at the Punjab, its cuture, its language, its people forget that Punjab is a land of a unique nature that differs widely a land of differing climes, which, though, mild or harsh, is always tolerable. Such variety has shaped and moulded the nature of its people and has established the Punjabis, as the inheritors of one of the oldest civilisations of Man. They have created patterns and seem to have documented the progress made over a period of time in their environment. They show a maturity that they seem to have acquired, as evidenced from their work done at different times.

People of the Punjab, especially the intelectual, would like to see a world free of all worries and fears. One may dub it as a kind of idealism, but that is what the Sufis of this part of the world have been striving for. They are not against other linguistic or artistic activity such as, music, even the one that would tranquillise the listener and transport him psychologicaly to a higher plane. Take the example of the Qawwali, an excercise that borders on spiritualism, something close to the world of the mystics or Sufis.

Nevertheless, Fakhar Zaman, had a peice of advise for those elements who would not spare a chance to oppose the Punjab, its language and its culture, for no rhyme or reason. That, he said, is no way to contribute to the progress of the country or its share of peace in the world.