An accident at Faisal chowk on the Margalla Road in Islamabad on December 26, 1994, cost us the life of Pakistan’s foremost blunt feminine voice in Urdu poetry, Parveen Shakir. Inclement weather could not stop duty-bound Shakir to leave for her office but she could not reach it. Her body was taken to the house of her boss Parveen Qadir Agha, a senior officer at the Federal Board of Revenue, at Bazar Road (now known as Begum Sarfraz Iqbal Road) in G-6/4 for last rituals. The news of her death had spread like a jungle fire. In no time, her friends, colleagues and fans had gathered at Ms Agha’s house to mourn her death. Since then, Ms Agha has proved to be a genuine and sincere friend to Ms Shakir by assembling and leading the group of friends to take care of Parveen’s son and her poetic work.
Just a few days before her death, her column on death was published in Jang, an Urdu language daily. She had shown her fascination and love for the ultimate phenomenon that every living creature has to pass through one day and yet, is unknown. The couplets she mentioned in her column were the reflection of her inner gloom – the agony of solitude and physical aloneness, the partial and biassed behaviours, and life’s tug of war. Her columns were immensely popular among the readers because of their rhythmic flow and poetic flavour.
Ms Agha was the only social and professional safety shield for Ms Shakir, not only at the office but as a guide and a mentor in her confusions too. In the last 27 years, Ms Agha has proved that a sincere friend is an asset. She gathered Ms Shakir’s other friends to form the Parveen Shakir Trust (PST) in 1994 that had two premier objectives. Firstly, to take care of her son Murad and her unpublished poetic verses. Later, the PST launched an annual Aks-e-Khushboo Award in 1996 and published two best books of poetry to mark her death anniversary. Some years back, the award-only ceremony was shaped up to a full-length literature festival.
We shall congratulate Parveen Qadir Agha, Ra’na Seerat, Mazhar ul Islam, Anwar Jahangir, Seema Majid, Majid Qureshi, Ambassador Qazi Humayun, Rafaqat Javed, Nafeesa Satti, Rukhsana Usman, and Riffat Haider for taking up the Parveen Shakir Urdu Literature Festival to its peak on December 28, 2021, with a heavily loaded day-long event. Without having Parveen Qadir Agha, Ra’na Seerat and Mazhar ul Islam leading the PST Urdu Literature Festival selflessly from the front, it could have not been a big success. Ironically, it has no patronage from the government, foreign donors or any corporate sector giant. Dedicated friendship is an asset indeed that makes great things happen.
Dedicated friendship is an asset indeed that makes great things happen.
A three-day-long festival was curtailed to a day by shrinking the sessions and omitting some of the very important discussions and launchings solely because of the paucity of funds, not COVID-19 SOPs though mostly they were observed. Some eminent poets and writers of the country came all the way from different cities to attend the festival. Ms Shakir’s fans and literature lovers remained attentive in the hall for 12-hours marathon sessions.
It is heartening to see the PST literature festival growing to the level. It is the country’s only private sector annual literary event that also recognizes and appreciates the good literary works with prestigious awards with cash. On the last weekend of 2021, as many as 14 awards were given away. The winners included poets Shazia Akbar, Dr Asad Naseer, Rehman Faris, Shaheen Abbas and short story writers Shoaib Khaliq, Muhammad Jamil Akhtar, Tahira Iqbal, Dr Shahida Sardar, Dr Muhammad Amin, Saeed Ahmed. Amjad Islam Amjad was awarded with the lifetime achievement while Mustansar Hussain Tarar and Asghar Nadeem Sayed for their best books.
A Turkish scholar and writer Dr Davut Sahbaz was recognised for his book, “Mazhar ul Islam – Life, Style and Selected Stories.” It was the author’s PhD thesis work at the Ankara University that culminated in a book. His translations of Mazhar ul Islam’s short stories have been published in Turkish literary journals. The good news is that many Turkish natives are taking interest in reading, writing and understanding the Urdu language. We are only limited to some translated Turkish drama serials into Urdu. Our national literary and cultural institutions shall enhance literary and cultural ties with Turkey and other friendly countries in the region. It would promote bilateral people-to-people contact and political understandings too.
Parveen Shakir Trust and Parveen Shakir Urdu Literature Festival are commendable examples of remembering a friend, and promoting the tradition of friendship for a cause – promoting Urdu literature and literati. Every district of our country shall have a person’s achievements and work of whom shall be remembered and celebrated. Look around your city to find a name to gather your friends and his/her fans to establish a trust in his/her name and launch a literature festival. Great things happen with you taking the first step. Dare to take it now.
The writer is an Islamabad-based policy advocacy, strategic communication and outreach expert. He can be reached [email protected]. He tweets @EmmayeSyed