Shafqat Tanvir Mirza
SAUDA QABRAN DA by Ilyas Ghumman; pp142; price Rs125; Idara Punjabi
Zaban Tey Saqafat, 24 Ameer Road, Bilal Ganj, Lahore.
I LYAS Ghumman is an engineer by profession. He holds a degree from
an engineering college in Karachi. During the period he was studying
there a popular slogan made the rounds in the Sindh capital:
Sindhi, mohajir bhai bhai Dhoti, naswar kahan sey aai This indicated
the venom some of the Karachiites were made to spill against Punjabis
and Pathans, fuelled by the then dictator Gen Ziaul Haq, who was trying
his best to fan provincialism and ethnic intolerance. The purpose was to
dampen the PPP�s popularity among Punjabis, and to create a rift between
Punjab and Sindh. Zia�s obsession with the PPP was so obvious that after
hanging Z A Bhutto, he wanted to crush his party which was then believed
to be the only party representing the downtrodden in all the four
provinces, particularly in Punjab where protest against the execution of
Bhutto was unprecedented.
Though the parliamentary PPP was dominated by feudals from Sindh and
from southern Punjab, people at a grass roots level had a significant
role to play. The local elections of 1979 presented the solid proof when
the Awam-dost candidates swept the poll, particularly in Punjab and
Sindh.
The hate campaign against Punjabis in Karachi and other urban centres
of Sindh turned the younger lot into nationalists and Ilyas Ghumman was
no exception. He, with collaboration from other Punjabi students,
compiled a Punjabi magazine,Sohni Dharti, a thick volume ever-published
from Karachi. That was his first love with Punjab and its language.
After completing his education, he came to Lahore, joined at
Wazirabad, his ancestral tehsil town, and started work for the promotion
of Punjabi language and literature. He was transferred to Lahore which
provided him a good opportunity to make contribution to the cause. He
established a publishing house, started publication of a monthly
magazine and special annual issues under the name of Sahit.
He also compiled and published some small books on science and
technology. Then he turned to literature and contributed three
collections of short stories to Punjabi. He also served as correspondent
of a Jallunder daily Ajeet.
He was hauled up by Pakistani intelligence agencies and tortured in
the traditional style. But nothing was proved against him and after a
week or so he was set free. In those days another Punjabi scholar, Syed
Sibtul Hasan Zaigham, also became the victim of the agencies. Ilyas
continued his crusade, and with this book he emerged as a polished
playwright � he had not touched the genre so far.
The play opens with a debate on the preservation of cultural
heritage, including the people�s language and literature. The pivotal
character of the play is Jamal Nasir Mufti, once a small land holder in
a rural area locat ed around a big city. He sold all his land for giving
higher education to his only son Sajid. In the process, he also worked
as a vegetable vendor. All his efforts came to fruition when his son got
a good job. But the son married Rubina, who belonged to a nouveau-riche
background.
Sajid and particularly Rubina, therefore, began refusing to adjust
with the Punjabi-speaking old-fashioned Mufti, who insisted that
children studying in a modern English medium school should not forget
their humble past and the language of the people. The old man remains
popular with his grandchildren, and that annoys Rubina who ultimately
succeeds in forcing Mufti to move out. Mufti has no place to go, so he
ends up living with the homeless in parks and other public places.
One fine morning the son and the daughter-in-law come to the old man
with the good news that a housing society has purchased all the lands
and residential quarters of their ancestral village except their
particular section of it, and for which the society is ready to pay Rs17
million.
Sajid tells the father that he has accepted a sum of Rs5 million as
seed money. Now old Mufti should sign the deed because it is his
property. Mufti is astonished at the deal because in the old �Ahata�
also lie the graves of the family elders, including that of Sajid�s
mother, Mufti�s wife.
He flatly refuses to sell the graveyard, and immediately thereafter
hands over the �Ahata� to a charity trust. This enrages the son. He gets
his father killed through the so-called �Pathhar� group criminals, while
the victim sleeps in a public park. Thus, the tussle between those who
want to preserve heritage and those who are ready to sell out even the
graves of their elders, comes to an end.
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Monthly Punjabi international, edited by Junaid Akram; pp100; price
Rs100; published from B-2, 125/3, Township, Lahore.
Monthly Savair International; edited by Jamil Ahmad Pal: pp84; price
Rs25; published from 7-A, Street 6, Kucha Muhammadi, Sultanpura, Lahore.
Monthly Pukheroo; edited by Ashraf Sohail; pp84; price Rs30;
published from Street no 64, Tajpura Road, Mughalpura, Lahore.
A LL these monthlies, and Lehran and Likhari are Punjabi magazines
which are being regularly published from Lahore. Punjabi�s no 35 is a
special issue on the renowned na�at writer, the late Prof Hafeez Ta�ib,
who died on June 12, 2004. The longest and very interesting, informative
article is by Ashgar Ali Nizami who remembers the visits of Hafeez to
Madina.
Jamil Pal has produced the 100th issue of Savair, which he started
some 12 years ago and has continuously produced quality paper adding to
the prestige of Punjabi literary journalism.
Pukheroo is a monthly magazine for children which is being
single-handedly managed by Ashraf Sohail for last 11 years. The issue
under review is devoted to poetry for children by prominent poet Abdul
Karim Qudsi.
Juniad Akram, Jamil Pal and Ashraf Sohail, all, with rare qualities,
are committed to the promotion of Punjabi.�STM