Imran H. Khan

(Editors Note: This is the second of a two part post on the author’s reminiscences of growing up in pre-Cultural Revolution China. In the first part Imran H. Khan looked at the cultural and social aspects of the China that was and how they looked to a young Pakistani boy. In this, the second part, he looks at the political dimensions).

At times the course of human affairs takes on an intensity and complexity of such proportions that it takes decades to understand it. The Chinese Cultural Revolution was one such event, and I was lucky to see it from the front seat without being scarred by it.

Adil Najam

A cascade of horrible recent events, all involving an outpouring of violence – in thought, in words, in deed – and culminating in the brutal murder of Salman Taseer continues to haunt the Pakistani psyche. We are left numb in disbelief of a reality which we always knew: the dysfunctional divisions in society are not just a scar on the face of modern Pakistan, it is a bleeding wound that threats the very body politic of our fragile being.

The fanatical murder of Salman Taseer, and even more than that the reaction to it, has shaken us as we should have been shaken well before. As one tries desperately to make sense of the senselessness that surrounds us, this line from an old poem by Himayat Ali Shair – Abhi tou kuch nahiN hua – keeps coming back to hound one’s senses. Indeed, this, along with two other poems – Obaidullah Aleem’s ‘Meyray shehr jal rahey hain, mairey loug marr rahen hain’ and Ahmed Faraz’s ‘Aaj aisa nahiN, aisa nahiN honay daina’ – resound today even though all three were written inn very different times for different (but not unrelated) crises. They are all worth a listen again:

Himayat Ali Shair: Abhi tou kuch nahiN hua

Obaidullah Aleem: Meray loug marr rahey haiN

Ahmed Faraz: Aaj aisa nahiN, aisa nahiN, honay daina

Aisha Sarwari

(Editor’s Note: 2011 marks Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s 100th birthday. We will be carrying a series of posts on Faiz Sahib to mark this centenary).

The Faiz Foundation in collaboration with Bank Alfalah has just produced and will soon release a new CD of Tina SaniFaiz Ahmed Faiz singing . Along with Iqbal Bano and Nayyara Noor, Tina Sani is one of the singers who has sung a lot of memorable poetry from Faiz Ahmed Faiz and has become synonymous with it. It is a collection that Faiz lovers and Tina Sani fans are eagerly looking forward to and is sure to enthral them for long. Here is a first pre-glimpse from the coming album that demonstrates just what a wonderful treat we are in for: