THE STAR
Faiz Ahmed Faiz talks to Sajid Jafri in Lahore
Faiz Ahmad Faiz. A living legend. A poet of three generations. The trendsetter of Urdu poetry. A man with three-quarters of a century within him. A man who writes what he sees.
Faiz Ahmad Faiz. A controversial name. A Russian agent. Anti-Islam, too. The man who left his country when the gravest crisis came. The man who has been misleading millions of minds for a long time. Koi Hai Jo Ussay Rokay. Why has he come back to Pakistan?
Contradictory images and impressions flashed through my mind when Alys Faiz led Azhar (our photographer) and me into his study at his Lahore Model Town residence. In a moment a smiling Faiz joined us. For his 72 years (which he will be on Feb. 13 next) he is quite active and alert. Good health. Red, lined face. Deep eyes. Gray hair. No trembling hands. Bold. Frank. Like a friendly elder.
“Please remind him to lock the main door from inside when you leave”. Alys asked me as she left the house to the three of us.
Need
Faiz was smiling at me. No questions, sonny. Too tired to be interviewed. I wondered what would happen to my prepared questions. I mustn’t give up. And so, it happened.
S.J.: You shouldn’t have left your country, why did you?
Faiz: (A big grin) I left for sight-seeing. Actually, I thought I had done what I could in Pakistan. There were other things on my mind. I felt it necessary to roam around the world. People don’t know much about Pakistan. They think we’re always fighting. There was a need to tell them we can also feel and write. We’ve got our own literature, culture, poetry, traditions, and history. (A grin again) Yahan Reh Kar Konsa Teer Mar Rahy Thay. Yahan Bhi Sher Likhtay Thay Wahan Bhi Likhtay Rahay.
Q. Then why did you come back?
A. Pakistan is my home, for God’s sake. I had never adopted “Pardes” forever. I feel I’ve done my job abroad. I’m too old to stay without my family.
S.J.: You are also called a Russian agent. Why?
F.: I really don’t know why. I’ve been visiting the Soviet Union. True. I talk of friendship with the Soviet Union. Also true, but these are no reasons to label a man a Russian agent. Almost all our heads of state have frequently talked of friendship with the Soviet Union. Many of them have visited Moscow. Are they Russian Agents? And those who visit the United States and talk of closer ties with that country. You don’t call them American agents, do you?
S.J.: It was said that you were mediating between Pakistan and the Soviet Union?
F.: Who am I to mediate between two governments. What do you think I am? I’m just a poet. No political career for me yet.
Editor
S.: What did you do as an Adviser for Art and Culture during the previous government?
F.: I was not an adviser. Not even a regular employee. I was just a consultant, with no powers. A few of my suggestions were accepted, a lot were not. A few recommendations implemented were setting up of organizations like the Pakistan National Council of Arts and the Institute of Folk Heritage. I am happy they are working very well.
S.: You had been the Editor of The Pakistan Times and are now editing the quarterly ‘Lotus’. How do you feel journalism in Pakistan is progressing?
F.: I’m afraid our journalism hasn’t yet recovered from the shock of its nationalization by Ayub Khan. A lot of good journalists left the profession. Today journalism in Pakistan is short of good professionals. What today’s journalists are doing they are a better judge of. Sahafi Khud Apnay Gareeban Mein jhank Kar Daikhain Woh Kiya Kar Rahay Hain. Are they really doing what they are supposed to do?
S.: Did you and your contemporaries do exactly what they were supposed to do in the Pakistan Movement?
F.: (A grim smile) We wanted to do a lot. We thought independence would be the worthiest event to celebrate. We had thought all of us would live in peace and would progress. But it didn’t happen so. (Keh Intazar Tha Jiss Ka Yeh Woh Sahar To Nahin…. and…. Yoon Nah Tha Mein Nay Faqat Chaha Tha Yoon Ho Jaey) Horrible bloodshed and the miserable transaction of millions were thrown upon us. It’s hard to blame any single person or group for it.
But actually, both the natives and the British Rulers were responsible. They were supposed to maintain law and order which they didn’t. Local leadership was expected to take precautionary measures in time but it was not done. Mountbatten had promised that there would be no massacre at all. When the bloodshed began, Nawab Mamdot, Hameed Nizami, Sardar Shaukat Hayat and I went to the Lahore Army Commander of the British Boundary Force. We asked him why they couldn’t stop the massacre when they had managed to defeat the Nazis. He said he had no orders to open fire. The great massacre created hatred among the 18cal population. It also produced big problems. As big as Kashmir. Yet to be solved.
Anyway, attempts are being made, and let’s hope there would be an early settlement.
Issue
S.: You are also a witness to the massacre of the Palestinians. Do you agree with the contention that after their physical extermination from the Middle East the issue is over?
F.: Well, the issue has now begun, in fact. First, all the Palestinians have not been exterminated, only the militants. Second, the real picture of the Palestine issue was never clearer before the world than it is today. Israel has lost a lot of its supporters in the West and even in Israel, there is resentment against the brutal killings of the Palestinians. True, the Palestinians have lost militarily, but politically they are stronger. They had to leave Lebanon because they didn’t get help from those who were supposed to help them. Then it was promised that their families will not be touched. But the promise was not kept. You know what happened in Sabra and Chattila. But it has also exposed the real face of Israel. Now the Arabs will have to give a second thought to the whole matter. Their own future is at stake now.
S.: Let’s talk of your poetry. Do you think your work is Islamic?
Claim
F.: I have not done anything un-Islamic. Poetry is not against Islam. And if a poet is a Muslim, his beliefs naturally reflect in his poetry. You can’t separate religion from culture and art. But still, you also can’t label intellectuals according to their religious beliefs.
S.: Critics say you are a “statemental poet’. You only describe issues in nice words and get away without commenting.
F.: I’m afraid it is correct to some extent. “Jo Dil Par Guzarti Hay Raqam Kartay Hein”. I’m not an adviser, reformer, or a political observer. I never claimed to be so. I write what I see. Describe things as I understand. It depends on people how they take it.
S.: Do you know you disappoint a lot of people?
F.: People are not to be blamed. Most of our ‘Bazurgs’ claim to know everything and to be infallible. So, the people attach a lot of hopes on these so-called ‘mini-gods’. Well, I’ve no such claim. I’ve always been against ‘But Parasti’ whether it is worshipping a government or a scholar.
S.: What did you discuss with the President when you met him during your last visit?
F: Nothing special. It was just a formal meeting. He desired to see me and I visited him.
S.: What about poetry in Pakistan today?
F.: I couldn’t read much of it for the last five years. Now when you leave, I’ll resume studying as that is what I am doing these days.
It was time to leave, I realized. I reminded Faiz to lock the door as Alys had asked me to and came out in the cloudy December evening.