Daily Times

An event was held to pay tribute to renowned literary figure late Sibt-e-Hassan at Lok Virsa, Islamabad on Friday. The event aimed at acknowledging his work, especially his writings on culture and civilisations.

Poet and writer Nazir Mehmood said Hassan defined difference between cultures and civilisation through his prestigious writings and work with solid arguments.

Speakers shed light on the life of Sibte Hassan and said that he was one of the most distinguished left intellectuals and a comrade-in-arms of many of the leading writers and poets of the Progressive Writers Movement, like Manto, Ismat, Krishan Chander, Faiz Ahmad Faiz Along with the late Sajjad Zaheer. They added that Sibte Hasan was Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s closest friend, confidante and comrade.

Sibte Hassan’s 32nd death anniversary was observed on April 20, 2018. The speakers said his work on culture had largely been neglected, adding that it is time to revive the values he stood up for. They said that his work as an activist and intellectual needs to be re-introduced to a new generation of young researchers, scholars and activists.

In his major work on culture titled: ‘Pakistan mein tehzeebon k Irtiqa k addwar’ beginning from a holistic definition of culture, Hasan traces the people’s history of Pakistani culture from the ancient Indus Valley civilisation through Aryan; Greek, Saka (Scythian) and Kushan; Arab; Turkish and Persian influences through to a discussion of Mughal culture in the mirror of contemporary Western culture and then Pakistani culture in our own time.

Hasan’s work is a vital corrective to history-writing in Pakistan since he convincingly shows us that our history is not merely a catalogue of the activities of kings, rulers and their courts but an ordinary person in day to day circumstances is present throughout the history with his mind and his hands. Critical appreciation of the role of Sibte Hasan as a people’s historian and the continuing relevance of his contribution to a people’s history of Pakistan amidst a continuing crisis of Pakistani state, society and culture in the era of globalisation in the 21st century is of paramount importance.

Sibte Hassan was a promoter of civilisation and worked in-depth on this subject and he was the sole writer in this belt who was a well literate and make difference between culture and civilisations through his in-depth analysis and broad view. The financial issues faced today by the writers were also faced by Sibte Hassan but he did not compromise on his work even when he was imprisoned repeatedly.

Another keynote speaker on the occasion was social scientist Raza Naeem.

Raza spoke about book of Sibte-Hassan ‘Musa se Marx tak’. He said that Sibte Hassan was the sole writer of this soil who understood culture and civilisation and contributed toward its betterment through his writing.

Published in Daily Times, May 13^th 2018.