The surrealistic Faiz Ahmed Faiz

Faiz Ahmed Faiz whose, birth centenary is being celebrated across the world, including in Pakistan was not a traditional progressive poet governed by the “party line.” Despite having close relationship with stalwarts in the communist party, he was independent and to a certain extent surrealistic.

Faiz was not only one of the best poets of our era; he was also a leading journalist. He was Editor, Pakistan Times and weekly Lail-o-Nahar, owned by Mian Iftikharuddin, one of the most respectable opposition leaders in Pakistan. He also wrote beautiful prose. His editorials in Lail-o-Nahar will bear testimony to this and would probably make for a huge guide for students of Mass Communications if compiled in the form of a book.

He had command over English, Urdu, Persian and Arabic and drew his strength from the vast and rich literature in these languages. No wonder his poetry inspired enlightened people across the globe.

Essentially he was a thinker and pondered a lot before writing something. He was amongst the young poets contacted by Sajjad Zaheer, the doyen of Progressive Writers Association (PWA) when a group of enlightened and progressive Indians studying in England drafted the manifesto of PWA but Zaheer was amazed to find that Faiz had not only read most of the important writings of that time but also organized a progressive group in Amritsar where he was a lecturer of English literature.

In his book “Roshnai” that Zaheer wrote in Mach jail in Balochistan in 1951, he lovingly narrated the event. Zaheer also made the acknowledgment that the seeds of Progressive Writers Movement in the subcontinent were indigenous, not alien.

Faiz was a shy person and a man of few words. Zaheer has written that Dr. Rasheed Jehan, who made waves in the Subcontinent when she contributed a short story in a collection called “Angarey”, became furious when they had a meeting with Faiz in Amritsar because Faiz wouldn’t utter a word. “Aangarey” was a small collection of short stories very vocal for those times. Amongst others Dr. Rasheed Jehan, Sajjad Zaheer and Prof. Ahmed Ali contributed stories for that collection.

Despite his timid nature, Faiz had been deeply immersed in the troubled waters of Pakistani politics. In April 1951 Faiz along with Zaheer, Syed Sibte Hasan, Maj. Gen. Akbar Khan, Captain Zafarullah Poshni and some other people were implicated in the infamous Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case although they had not conspired.

Faiz was in Lahore when the military junta, under the leadership of Gen. Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan initiated an operation in former East Pakistan. Anti Indian sentiments of the worst kind raged in Punjab and mullahs threatened Faiz and urged him to return his Lenin Peace Prize. He refused to return the prize but issued a statement against former Soviet Union apparently out of fear. When Zaheer asked Faiz why he had made the comment, he started crying. “Sari umr tumharey kehne pe chala hoon. Aaak ghalti ho gae to mauf nahein karo ge? (All my life I did what you said. Won’t you forgive if I made a mistake?)” he said.

Faiz remained in self-exile from time to time, sometimes in London, at other times in Beirut where he edited “Lotus” but his love for Pakistan always compelled him to return home. He was often so engrossed in thinking that he would forget returning calls of dearest friends. He never cared for money although the so called “Faiz Lovers” made big money from his poetry.

I met Faiz in 1970 at a function organized by communist leader Anis Hashmi. Hashmi had been sacked from the erstwhile secular National Awami Party (NAP) and established a small library and reading room at Nazimabad Chowrangi that was called “Socialist Forum.” It was hardly a mile from my house and I would often go there in the evening. Since I was the youngest at that meeting Hashmi sahib asked me to sit in front row.

After Faiz had delivered his lecture questions were invited. I vividly remember I asked Faiz sahib: “What is the primary contradiction in Pakistan society? Is it between the masses and civil and military bureaucracy or between the masses and Jamaat-e-Islami?”

“It’s with both!” was Faiz's surreal and perhaps a little evasive reply.