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review Watchmen
of the night and of a troubled day A
word about letters
Westward Bound -- Travels of Mirza Abu Taleb Translated by Charles Stewart Editor: Mushirul Hasan Oxford University Press, 2005 Pages 346. Price 495. By Sarwat Ali It is said that the earliest travel writings of Indians visiting Europe were in Persian. The writers of these travelogues were Munshi Itesamuddin, who wrote 'Shariful Naghamai Vilayet' in 1765, Deen Muhammed's account of his travels in 1793-4, and Mirza Abu Taleb's more famous 'Masir i Talibi fi Bilad i Afrang', based on his visit to Europe between 1799 and 1803. This Persian original was edited and published by his son Mirza Hussain Ali in 1812, while an English translation by Charles Stewart was published a little earlier in 1810. The much talked about Yousaf Kambalposh, probably one of the first Indians to have visited Europe and surely the first to have written, in 'Ajaibaat e Farhang' or 'Tarekh e Yousafi', about his travels in Urdu, had undertaken his journey much later in 1837-38. Mirza Abu Taleb's family had migrated two generations ago to Awadh from Isphahan, seeking refuge from the tyranny of Nadir Shah. He entered the military service of Safdar Jung and later of Muhammed Quli Khan, but due to bickering and intrigue within the ruling factions, had to flee again to Muzaffar Jung's court in Murshidabad. For some time he worked as an amildar (revenue officer) and made frequent incursions between the Ganges and the Yamuna to enforce the collection of revenues, and while on duty also came in contact with the English. His superior Alexander Hannay admired him and Natheniel Middleton, the Resident, enlisted his services to suppress the rebellion of a recalcitrant chieftain, Raja Bahadur Singh. Despite his ability and connections, he languished in Calcutta for years before captain David Thomas Richardson offered to bear his travel expenses for a trip to England to establish a Persian Language Institute at Oxford. He accepted the invitation to go to England, but failed to set up the language Institute. Instead he made a name for himself as a keen observer of European society in general and the English in particular. Starting his voyage in 1799 from the Calcutta port, he finally reached London in 1800 and in 1802 began his homeward journey. Shortly after his arrival in England he composed a poem in praise of the city of London and its women. But as his writing discloses, he did not content himself with being pleasantly shocked at the freedom which the European women enjoyed compared with the confinement of his women folk in purdah back home, but looked more closely at the entire system and society, which was quite different from the one in his own country. Being quite objective he dispelled the idealised representation of women in Europe and argued that European women did not possess so much power as Asiatic women. The Muslim women had a greater advantage over their Christian counterparts, owing to the inheritance rights secured to them by the Koran. In England the Married Woman Property Act was completed only in 1882, while a Muslim wife had to be dowered by the bridegroom and all gains secured to her to legalise the marriage. At the same time he wrote fearlessly on the virtues of monogamy, where the progeny's being of the same stock left no room for the contentions and litigations which too often disturbed the felicity of a Muhammadan family. He came to be known as the Persian Prince in England, and recounting how it happened he said, "I declare I never assumed the title , but I was so much better known by it than by own name, that I found it in vain to contend with my godfather." Nearly half a century before him, people in England were attracted to the robe and turban of another Indian traveller Itesamuddin, who went as an emissary of the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam (1728-1806) to petition George III over the mounting difference on tax and revenue between the Nawab and the East India Company. Unlike the metropolises of the Middle East where the appearance of men with different costumes and unfamiliar faces was commonplace, in England Itesamuddin was accompanied by crowds and the people in the bazaar thrust their heads out of the windows and gazed at him with wonder. The children and the boys took him for a black devil and kept their distance. After attending music and dance evenings he remarked -- "It is singular that I who went to see a spectacle, became myself a sight to others." Mirza Abu Taleb uncovered the roots of British maritime power and established the connection between the Industrial Revolution and economic prosperity. He was the first to attribute Britain's economic superiority to Napoleon's Empire to industrial technology. He was also one of the first to notice the multidimensional nature of the transformation in the industrialised West and commented on its worldwide impact. As to why the industrial revolution broke out in Britain, he identified various factors, one of them being the system of government and its orderly procedures that included rules for succession to the British throne. On reflection Abu Taleb realised that the English did not accept any divinely revealed law to guide or regulate their lives, and therefore enacted their own laws in accordance with the exigencies of the time, their own dispositions and the experience of their judges. Abu Taleb was receptive to the some of the new ideas from the West, but he also derived inspiration and strength from the values he inherited in the late eighteenth-century Awadh society without of course sharing the skepticism of some of his contemporaries towards the western institutions that were being gradually introduced in India. As was the case of the first generation reformers in the Arab world who became prominent during the 1860s, Abu Taleb became acquainted and conversant with the literature of Europe. At the same time he was conscious of belonging to an Indian community that included Muslims and non Muslims. He was fully aware of Islam as a universal religious civilization extending over three continents and enjoying a rich and diverse culture. It encompassed a sophisticated urban society extending from the seat of ancient Egypt and the Fertile Crescent to the cities of Turkey and Iran. He knew that Muslim civilization valued learning, prized scholarship, maintained great libraries, and preserved works of ancient writers and thinkers. He was the one of the first few Muslim scholars to show his distrust for western orientalism. He criticised the Persian Grammar by William Jones as occasionally inaccurate. By the end of the eighteenth century the West was in control of Central Arabia, and the Persian Gulf; a little later they had sacked Karbala and occupied Hejaz and were threatening Damascus. The nineteenth century was the age of European hegemony, owing to the largescale industrial production, changes in the modes of communication, expansion of the European trade and the increase in the armed power of the European states. Muslim states and societies could no longer live in a stable and self-sufficient system of inherited culture. Their need was how to generate the strength to survive in a world dominated by others. In South Asia Abu Taleb recognised this before many others.
Fettered Freedom By Zamir Niazi Publisher: Pakistan Study Centre Karachi, 2005 Pages: 213 Price: Rs. 400 By Kaleem Omar Published by the Pakistan Study Centre of the University of Karachi and compiled and edited by Syed Jaffar Ahmed, 'Fettered Freedom' is a collection of 18 articles written by Zamir Niazi, the author of 'Press in Chains' (1986), 'The Press Under Siege' (1992) and 'The Web of Censorship' (1994) -- three seminal works that chronicle the trials and tribulations faced by the press in Pakistan at the hands of successive governments. 'Fettered Freedom' is another work in the same vein. As Dr Ahmed notes in his introduction to the book, "The late Zamir Niazi spent more than five decades of his life in the field of journalism. However, for him journalism was not just a profession; it was his passion. His association with journalism was overwhelmingly intellectual and emotional. As long as he lived, he not only upheld the best traditions of journalism but also personified them." Ahmed writes: "Perhaps, it would not be wrong to say that he was the most knowledgeable person in our country about past events and developments pertaining to the field of journalism. Even in the last few years of his life when he was bedridden and severe pain inhibited his movements, he tried to keep himself abreast of whatever was going on in the world of news both within the country and without." As Ahmed notes, "Mr Niazi had an extraordinary appetite for news about newspapers, the developments taking place within the four walls of their offices, the problems faced by working journalists, their struggle, the technical advancements being achieved by the print media, changing values of journalism, anecdotes and gossip emanating from behind the desks ñ in short, anything having a bearing on journalism." Over the years, Zamir Niazi amassed a huge collection of books, journals and periodicals on the themes of literature, journalism and political history. Says Ahmed: "His personal archives contained hundreds of thematic files of newspaper clippings that were organised meticulously and methodically by him without external support." His modest house was a treasure trove of such material. After migrating to Pakistan from India in 1953, Zamir Niazi worked briefly for an Urdu newspaper, 'Nai Roshni', and then joined 'Dawn' in 1954 and worked there as a sub-editor till 1962. He was the chief sub-editor and editorial writer for Karachi's 'Daily News' from 1962 to 1965, when he joined the 'Business Recorder', retiring from that paper in 1992 as Magazine Incharge. He also worked briefly as editor of the monthly 'Recorder' and the weekly 'Current'. After retiring from journalism, he devoted himself full-time to research and writing on journalism. 'Press in Chains', his first book on the subject, was published in 1986, during the days of the Zia regime, and became an instant best seller, running into several editions. At about this time, his health began to deteriorate and he became seriously ill. Despite his ill-health, he succeeded in producing two more books on journalism in English: 'The Press Under Siege' and 'The Web of Censorship', and several collections of his Urdu writings on journalism: 'Hikayat-e-Khunchakan', 'Unglian Figar Apni' and 'Baghbani-e-Sehra', In his introduction to 'Fettered Freedom', Dr Ahmed tells us that Zamir Niazi had several other book projects on the anvil at the time of his death. One was to be a book titled 'Books in Chains, Libraries in Flames'. He also planned to compile his scattered articles on journalism and literature and bring out revised editions of his previous books. "His death in 2004 ended all these plans," says Ahmed. Ahmed tells us that Zamir Niazi had "exceptionally close contact" with the Pakistan Study Centre, University of Karachi. He donated his library to the Centre and "personally supervised the transfer of his books and periodicals to the Centre." He also allowed the Centre to publish the second edition of his 'Sahafat Paband-e-Salasal' (the Urdu translation of 'Press in Chains'). "'Fettered Freedom'," Dr Ahmed writes, "is being published with the consent of Mr Niazi's family." Ahmed writes that Niazi's widow, Mrs Maimoona Zamir Niazi, "has taken personal interest in bringing this book out." She spent hours sitting with Dr Ahmed to sort out Niazi's papers and to "compile the present book from his published and unpublished manuscripts." Ahmed tells us that 'Fettered Freedom' had in fact been planned by Zamir Niazi himself, who had had nine of its essays "composed by his grandson, Daniyal." Niazi had also chosen the book's title. The rest of the articles were obtained from Niazi's files. Zamir Niazi's earlier books about journalism were chronicles of the high-handed acts perpetrated against the Pakistani press by successive governments and various unruly pressure groups, and were meticulously documented accounts of the struggle launched by journalists for press freedom. 'Fettered Freedom', by contrast, as Dr Ahmed notes, "is more of an insightful analysis of all these events, very ably chronicled and preserved in the previous books." Pakistani officialdom has tried to stifle the press for decades, using every sleazy tactic in the book -- from bribing journalists to toe the government line to the promulgation of such black censorship laws as the infamous Press and Publications Ordinance of 1962 to the roughing-up and incarceration of outspoken journalists. In General Zia-ul-Haq's time, some journalists were even flogged for daring to criticise the military regime. Through all this, however, many brave Pakistani journalists have continued to speak the truth and expose wrongdoing in high places. Many years ago, the British press baron Lord Northcliffe was once asked: "What is the news?" "The news," he replied, "is what somebody somewhere is trying to hide. The rest is propaganda." It is the journalist's job to ferret out what wrongdoers are trying to hide and expose it to the light of day. In a sense, journalists function as ombudsmen on behalf of the people -- exposing injustice and fighting the cause of the voiceless, the exploited and the downtrodden, "News is the first rough draft of history," said Ben Bradlee, editor of the 'Washington Post' in the early 1970s, when two of the paper's young reporters -- Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein -- wrote a series of stories exposing the Nixon administration's involvement in the break-in into the Democratic Party's presidential campaign headquarters in the Watergate Complex in Washington. The Post's expose created a furore in the United States and eventually led to President Nixon's resignation and the indictment on criminal charges of many White House officials and members of the Republican Committee to Re-Elect the President. It was American journalism's finest hour. Pakistani journalism has had no such finest hour. Censorship has been its bane for over half a century. As Zamir Niazi notes in one of his essays in 'Fettered Freedom', "Hardly thirteen months after the birth of Pakistan, with the sad and sudden demise of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah, some of his successors played havoc with the destiny of the nation, ruining all democratic institutions one by one, including the press, 'the watchman of the night and of a troubled day'. It was forced to suppress truth, to ill-inform and misinform, giving birth to tyrants, usurpers and their trains of shamans and sycophants." Amidst this sorry scene, however, journalists like Zamir Niazi, Razia Bhatti (the late founder-editor of 'Newsline' magazine) and I. A Rehman shine out like icons of integrity, courage and journalistic excellence: watchmen of the night and of a troubled day. By Kazy Javed A novel idea In an article published in the current issue of Jan Kashmeri's literary magazine 'Qirtas', Professor Ehsan Akbar has discussed some important aspects of the nature, trends and possibilities of Pakistani novel. He has also posed a question that has claimed the notice of some critics and students of literature. If a novel, he asks, is supposed to tell a story, then what is the justification of drawing a line between novel and some genres like dastaan and short story that are also based on storytelling? Dr Anwar Sadeed has taken up this question in one of his recent newspaper columns. He says that although Professor Ehsan Akbar is a noted poet, he is not known to have written any novel or short story. Therefore, in his long article, he has looked upon novel merely as a reader or outsider who has never undergone the creative experience of composing a piece of fiction. The first job of a novelist is to create unity in the chaos that we find in life. He makes sense of life to the feelings. He needs a consistent point of view which can also be described as philosophy of life. Without such a philosophy, experience, like landscape, cannot be ranged in any kind of order. Dr. Anwar Sadeed is of the view that a novel portrays the whole of life. It is based on social research and reflects the life of a society. Short story, on the other hand, presents only a slice of life, while dastaan depicts not real but a fanciful and fictitious world full of supernatural characters and events. He has also referred to a survey regarding the best Urdu novel of the twentieth century conducted by the 'Zahain-e-Jadeed', an Urdu literary journal published from Delhi. According to the result of the survey, majority of readers and critics rated Abdullah Hussain's 'Udas Naslain' as the best Urdu language novel of the past century. Quratulain Hyder's 'Aag ka Duriya' was accorded the second position. Both are usually considered great novels. But now another recently-published novel is being greeted with unusual acclamation. It is Shamsurrahman Farooqi's 'Kai Chand they Sur-e-Aasmaan'. Farooqi, a former Indian civil servant who is known as critic and researcher in the literary circles, has given us a fine novel. Dr Tabasam Kashmeri, who is a renowned teacher, critic and historian of literature, regards it as the best Urdu historical novel. Ghulam Hussain Sajid, another noted teacher, poet and critic, is also singing the praises of the book. But Shamsurrahman Farooqi has also given a jolt to our literary world by announcing the closure of 'Shab Khoon', a literary magazine that he had been bringing out for the past forty years from his city, Allahabad. The last issue of the journal has appeared. It is spread over 2600 pages divided in two volumes. Shab Khoon's publication started in 1966. Like almost all the other Urdu literary magazines, it was an individual venture and remained so despite the passing of forty long years. So its publication wholly depended on Mr Farooqi who now, at the age of 72, and in failing health, finds it difficult to continue its publication. However, we should start preparing ourselves for yet another bit of bad literary news. The fate of Ahmad Nadim Qasmi Sahib's Journal 'Fanoon', too, seems to be uncertain. The odds are that it will not survive it founder's demise. New books I have not forgotten the pleasure that I got while going through Ishfaque Bokhari's 'Chenab Club' some three years ago. The book narrates the story of Lyallpur, which is probably the most culturally emasculated city of our region. But Bokhari has told its story in such a charming style that when you start reading it you find it hard to stop short of the last page. Two of the main characters of Ishfaque Bokhari's story of Lyallpur are Sidney Webb and his wife Beatrice Webb, who were famous members of the Fabian Society and together authored many standard works on the socio-political problems of their times, the first half of the past century, the most monumental event of which was 'Soviet Communism -- A New Civilization'. The two were also co-founders of the London School of Economics and Political Science. They visited Lyallpur in 1912 and stayed at the Chenab Club. Iftikhar Bokhari's love for his adopted city did not subside with the publication of his book. He has now come out with another volume on the city that was unfairly deprived of its name in the 1970s and is now known as Faisalabad. Published under the title 'Halqa-e-Arbab-e-Zauq Lyallpur', the book carries a sort of literary history of Lyallpur with special reference to the activities of Halqa Arbab-e-Zauq. The Halqa was established there in 1972. Poorab Academy of Islamabad has published Professor Wahab Ashrafi's 7-volume 'Tareekh-e-Adabyat-e-Aalam'. Probably it is the first book written in Urdu on the history of world literature. The 2700 pages of the book carry detailed chapters on literary traditions of almost all the major languages. It begins with the Egyptian literature of pre-historic period and ends with contemporary Urdu literature. Prof Wahab Ashrafi is the chairman of the Urdu department of the Indian University of Ranchee. His book is something of a publishing event. A must-have for the serious students of literature, the book should also be read by those who have any interest in the history of civilization. Sang-e-Meel Publishers of Lahore have published NJ Nusha's maiden collection of short stories. Titled 'On the Edge', it carries seven pieces. The characters of these stories are imaginary but they are no strangers to us, we find them around us in our daily life. The writer has been teaching in Pakistan and abroad and has also worked in some Arab countries. The vast experience of life has enriched her with an insight into our social life. Her stories are about human suffering and deprivation. They tell us about the women who are physically and emotionally exploited. Nusha wants us to realise the role that we have played in bring about this unjust society.
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