Fakhar Zaman has been writing in Punjabi for the better part of the last half-a-century. He has penned novels, short stories, criticism and poetry in the language but also in Urdu, and occasionally in English as well. His work has attracted a great amount of readership (and following) on both sides of the border, as well as amongst the Punjabi speaking diaspora over the world. Fakhar’s literary journey has been a labour of love. Along the way he came under the spell of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and was inducted by the charismatic leader as one of his close advisers. Usually mixing politics with poetry is not a good idea. Fakhar stayed clear of this pit fall, yet, let his writings turn into a voice of protest and resistance, never mind a deep stamp of ideology. For a while after the fall of his mentor, and later his tragic death at the hand of a ruthless dictator, Fakhar was part of a heroic political resistance, a rarity in those dark days. In that grim and inglorious era, he penned some of his master pieces, chief among them being the Bandivan (the Prisoner) and Ik Maray Ho’ay Banday Di Kahani (The Tale of a Dead Man.) These works were both a metaphor for resistance as well as also a political statement of allegiance to an ideology, which forever marked his personal identity as well as literary persona. Those were the street fighting years too. In that time lapse of an eerie quiet and a graveyard like silence, men like Fakhar, and some women as well, kept the flag of resistance flying against a totalitarian system of the worst kind this country has ever experienced in its long, checkered history.
Writers of resistance literature have always refused to accept fiction for facts, myth for history and challenged present powers for showcasing alternate narratives in place of the truth. Habib Jalib, Fehmida Riaz, Ahmad Faraz and several others can be quoted as examples, besides of course, Fakhar himself. They deserve a role of honour for standing up to the wrath of dictators and refusing to become part of the listless crowd who either sing praises of the oppressors, or prefer to remain in a state of denial.
To conclude this brief review of his book You or I, as also his life’s work in general, the man and his mission is best summed up in one of his own poems:
Will Endure No More
Endured too much but will
endure no more
There is some limit
to bear agonies, pains, excesses
You butchered us with blunt knives
With relishing pleasure
You cut our tongues
Blinded our eyes
Poured molten lead into our ears
To sum up, you did everything within your power to finish us
Now we will pay with stone for every brick thrown by you
Are you ready? Then here comes the first one.
Published in Daily Times, November 16th 2017.
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