A word about letters
By Kazy Javed
Poet of seven languages
My participation in the Sachal Sarmast National Conference provided me with the rare opportunity to meet a number of poets, fictionists and intellectuals who came from various towns of Sindh. The conference was organised by the Department of Culture of the Government of Sindh at the Daraza Sharif village about forty kilometres from Khairpur, to mark the 188th annual urs of Sachal Sarmast. Daraza Sharif is the place where Sarmast -- who composed poetry in seven languages including Punjab, Hindi and Persian -- was born three decades after the death of Aurangzeb Alamgir in 1703. He is also buried there.

In search of solutions:

An autobiography of Mir Ghaus Bakhsh Bizenjo

Edited by B. M. Kutty

Publisher: Pakistan Study Centre of the University of Karachi and Pakistan Labour Trust

Pages: 270

Price: Rs400

By editing and preparing for publication Mir Ghaus Bakhsh Bizenjo's autobiographical notes, B. M. Kutty has made a significant contribution to Pakistan's political literature. Bizenjo, one of the most clear-headed politicians that Pakistan has had, occupied for many years a prominent place among the nation's leaders and his life and work offer a great deal of valuable material to students of Pakistan's political history. Besides, he was a witness to and often an important player in events that determined Pakistan's course during 1947-1989. His account should contribute to a better understanding of some of the most controversial developments especially those that made a deep impact on the Baloch's political outlook.

After a difficult childhood and a brief stint as a keen footballer, Bizenjo was claimed by politics while still young, as an important member first of a radical Kalat party and then of the All-India State Peoples' Conference. Although his views on Kalat state's right to independence were quite clear, contrary to a common impression he could not get along with the Khan of Kalat, mainly because of the latter's antipathy towards the democratic elements in the state. But from the day he started taking part in Pakistan's national politics, Bizenjo became a tireless advocate of a democratic federation and of Balochistan's dignified place in it.

While Bizenjo's account of developments during 1947-1964 will help the readers gain essential information on the beginning of Balochistan's alienation from Pakistan, it is with the presidential election of January 1965 that his narrative starts putting quite a few twists of history in a correct perspective.

Bizenjo adds to the already sizeable material on Maulana Bhashani's support to Ayub Khan in his bid for re-election as president although he was a member of the opposition alliance that had put up Miss Fatima Jinnah as its presidential candidate. The matter is important because it touches on one of Pakistani political analysts' common errors -- the use of a dictator's policy as an argument to justify or at least defend his regime. Bhashani was misted into backing Ayub on the ground of his policy of befriending China. The echoes of his fallacious plea continue to be heard till today, e.g., support to or praise of Musharraf for this policy or that.

Bizenjo's election to the National Assembly from Karachi's Lyari constituency, throws light on a classic fight within the Ayub camp. Ayub Khan wanted Habibullah Pracha to win this election but Governor Kalabagh and Mahmud Haroon (a West Pakistan minister then) decided that Paracha must lose, and they made sure that he did.

This affair brought the rift between Ayub and Kalabagh into the open. More significantly it revealed the feudal class's refusal to allow an outsider's bid to dislodge them from their hereditary constituencies.

In 1971, Bizenjo and Wali Khan were in Dhaka while Yahya-Mujib talks were going on but they were not in a position to do anything. Bizenjo's account of those days only confirms the view that over a decade of military rule had made Pakistan's disintegration unavoidable.

It is the chapter on the NAP government in Balochistan, its dismissal and the trial of NAP leaders at Hyderabad that has the greatest relevance today. On the one hand it attempts to set the record on several issues straight and on the other hand it reveals Bizenjo's commitment to a federal Pakistan even when his comrades of long years had started thinking differently.

The accord the PPP signed with NAP and JUI leaders in March 1972 offered possibilities of strengthening a democratic federation but it was not honoured by the central government and Bizenjo is bitterly critical of Bhutto. Bizenjo's account of the reforms carried out by his party's government is no doubt a statement in self-defence but it cannot be brushed aside on that count alone. It was not an ordinary matter that Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri moved a resolution in the provincial assembly recommending abolition of the sardari system but the centre did not perform its part of the job.

Similarly, Bizenjo's explanation of the shishak levy, the Pat Feeder issue and the showdown between the provincial government and the rebellious elements of Lasbela throw much useful light on the growth of Balochistan's grievances, besides demonstrating the advantage the centre has enjoyed by virtue of its hold over the means of communication.

Finally, Bizenjo recalls the discussions the Balochistan leaders had in the Hyderabad jail on the issue whether they should seek salvation within Pakistan or whether this had become impossible. His colleagues had come to the latter conclusion and Bizenjo attributes this to their "subjectivism." Bizenjo himself believed that the "aim of our (Balochistan's) mobilisation should not be predicated on Punjab-bashing and secession. On the contrary, we should unite and fight for the political and economic rights of different nationalities within the framework of Pakistan." One wonders whether Bizenjo would have upheld this view even after what has been done to Balochistan since his death in 1989.

Valuable though this book as an aide to understanding Balochistan's mood today is, it is only a fragment of Bizenjo's life story. Quite in keeping with his character, he has refrained from referring to his wounds caused by his own party colleagues. Not a word has been said aloud the party's rejection of the Bizenjo-Bhutto understanding or about the young extremists who derisively called him "Baba-i-Mazakrat." One wishes Bizenjo had had time to explain his differences with NDP (NAP's successor-party), his views on PNA's and his colleagues' decision to prefer the military to Bhutto, his decision to form the Pakistan National Party (PNP) and his theory about Pakistan being in a pre-party stage.

Nevertheless this publication should enable the readers to recognise Bizenjo as one of Pakistan's mature statesmen whom the powers that be chose to persecute instead of benefiting from their talent and experience. In Bizenjo's case too by not heeding his counsel Pakistan lost more than him

Finally there's a novel about short people, a narrative that situates the idea of shortness at the centre of the Luong sisters' lives. The novel contains chapters named after Van and Linny. After we learn in the opening chapter that Van Luong's husband Miles (a fourth-generation-Chinese-American) has moved out, very little happens in the following pages. Linny has been having an affair with a white man, Gary, who is married to a white woman, with two little children. The Luong sisters have grown diametrically opposite to each other's personality. That sets the tone for an émigré novel.

The novelist offers two extremes of the immigrant experience. If Van is the geek, Linny is the slut. If Van is shy, self-conscious, unconfident, insecure, Linny is aggressive, daring and flirtatious. If Van is political (learning Arabic so she can help deportees, is aware of the anti-Middle Eastern wave), Linny is only sexually alive, creative (helping her employer with ideas for new dishes). Van lives in suburbs, understands the system, its ruthless inequality. Her interest in becoming a lawyer began in college "when she first learned about Vincent Chin, the Chinese American who had been beaten to death in 1982, by an autoworker and his son who ended up serving no jail time." Linny doesn't buy into the system, can't stand suburbs. But as Toni Morrison says: "Everything is political."

Vietnamese immigrants carry a unique cross in the US. Most arrived as refugees, a status that resulted straight from their colonial tragedy. They first defeated the French, later the Americans as they tried to keep Vietnam shackled. The French and later the US tried to crush the will of a people. Just as the West created the Mujahideen out of Afghan refugees, the Western powers created a fifth column in Vietnam. Though the two narratives turned out different, the price the two populations paid was similar.

So here is the fix: you are a refugee, but refuge is in the country that waged a decade long war on your people, killing over 3 million. The world acknowledges the US as the aggressor; modern scholarship holds America guilty of genocide, not to mention the unimaginable destruction of land, culture and families. That's the context in which the Vietnamese entered the US, first as refugees, later immigrants and finally as citizens. This novel shows a daring break from silence as it fleshes out a different narrative at the risk of being called ungrateful. The novel doesn't simply highlight difficulties faced by immigrants but is critical of the US foreign policy. When Miles questions his wife regarding her insecurities and nervousness, her answer that their first home -- the refugee camp -- faced a prison complex, is not only painful but deconstructs the American Myth.

The un-political Linny, too, feels the burden of the affair. As Nguyen explores the relationship, Gary becomes a metaphor for America. The well-off Gary, married to a tall, good-looking Prentice, only seeks a sexual relationship, rendezvousing at motels and odd places. Linny has never dated a Vietnamese man, grows uncomfortable of the affair, assessing the psychological implications. While she feels demeaned, her lone consolation is that she has never allowed Gary into her apartment. Her bedroom is uncontaminated. But, then, he forces his way into her safe refuge, and sleeps with her. The politics built into this scene reminded this reviewer of an Urdu classic, Anandi, suggesting you can banish prostitution from the city, but you can't kill the city inside prostitution. The bedroom scene is multi-layered, not just hinting at a possible rape but at how difficult it is to fight off the influence of American imperialism. You may be attracted to its hugeness, its whiteness or repulsed by its aggression, its greed; it is there in your face. At least, as an immigrant.

As the non-linear narrative unfolds, the reader learns of the sister's relationship with their father, Mr. Luong, an inventor, deeply aware of his short stature. Worried about the shortness of his daughters and of others, Mr. Luong invents the Luong Arm that can reach longer distance, the Luong Eye that can see above and beyond a taller person's head, and the Luong Wall with adjustable height. While his girls have manoeuvred their way out of his patriarchal grip, they feel affection for him, who, despite having risked his life moving to America, has never applied for the US citizenship, up until now.

The narrative builds itself towards the Citizenship ceremony. Miles was expected to accompany Van to the party afterwards. But the split is permanent. Miles is gone, gone for someone who's the opposite of Van, in terms of personality attributes, someone who, like Miles, is Chinese American and carries the confidence of the third or fourth-generation American, is tall, elegant, and graceful. In fact, her name is Grace. When alive, their mother had said, "You can be the famous Trung sisters," alluding to the two sisters who rebelled against the Chinese rule. Van's painful but clean break-up with Miles remaps that history.

Soon the sisters re-connect, emotionally, are helping each other with moving on in life. The father does not go ballistic on hearing of the divorce. Van moves into a smaller place, resolving to fight for justice as a lawyer. Linny meets Tom, a Vietnamese family friend. The attraction is mutual. The frozen attitude to "Vietnam, a scary unknown" begins to melt.

While Short Girls deals with important issues, there is no lyricism in the prose. Despite the non-linear narrative Short Girls offers little artistic tension. Though the author injects her knowledge of library, legal and pop culture, they fail to evoke much. The lack of complexity in the prose lowers the impact. But the novel has a rare insight into the making of a modern America, good and bad. It's important that the novel never stoops to preaching or sentimentality. Nor does it exoticises Vietnam. And that's a rare feat.

My participation in the Sachal Sarmast National Conference provided me with the rare opportunity to meet a number of poets, fictionists and intellectuals who came from various towns of Sindh. The conference was organised by the Department of Culture of the Government of Sindh at the Daraza Sharif village about forty kilometres from Khairpur, to mark the 188th annual urs of Sachal Sarmast. Daraza Sharif is the place where Sarmast -- who composed poetry in seven languages including Punjab, Hindi and Persian -- was born three decades after the death of Aurangzeb Alamgir in 1703. He is also buried there.

Sachal Sarmast's poetry is a very strong voice against the policy of religious fundamentalism and narrow-mindedness that Aurangzeb pursued. In fact, a number of poets and intellectuals of Punjab, Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan had stood up against the Mughul emperor's religious bigotry. The list of such brave poets carries big names like Bulleh Shah and Sultan Bahu of Punjab, Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai and Sachal Sarmast of Sindh, Khushkhal Khan Khattak and Rehman Baba of NWFP and Jam Durak of Balochistan.

Sachal Sarmast was the last among these poets but his protest and resistance against extremism was stronger than many of them. He was a contemporary of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai. Legend has it that these two great poets of the Sindhi language once came across each other and Shah Bhittai advised the young poet to continue writing poetry. However the style and thought-content of these poets is different. Bhittai's poetry lacks the ferocity of Sarmast.

Dr. Soomro, Dr. Qasim Bhugio, Dr. Shahida Hassan, Dr. Faiza Mirza, Dr. Tanzeem, Dr. Nawaz Ali Shauq, Dr. Khizer Haushahi, Agha Salim and Dr. Sakhi Qabool Muhammad Faruqi were among those who presented papers at the Daraza Sharif literary conference. The session was ably conducted by Taj Joyo, the noted intellectual who is the secretary of the Sindhi Language Authority.

A mushaira was held in the second session of the conference in which a number of poets recited their poetry.

If you want to know about the life, times and ideas of Sachal Sarmast, the three books that have been recently published by the Sindh's Culture Department can greatly help you. The books were launched at the conference by Shams Jafrani, secretary of the department.

One of these books, Sachal Sarmast: Tareekh, Tasawaf aur Shairy, is written by the eminent and widely respected octogenarian scholar Dr. Nawaz Ali Shauq. The 152-page book presents an introduction of the life and works of the Sufi poet. Dr. Shauq has also included Professor Karar Hussain's enlightening article on Sachal Sarmast as well as a selection of the Sindhi, Saraiki, Urdu and Persian poetry in his book.

The second book is a collection of 32 Sindhi language articles on various aspects of Sachal Sarmast's life, times and thought. Titled Sindh Jo Sarmast, the volume has been compiled by Rahial Moral. The articles included in it have been written by some of the outstanding scholars and men of letters of the Sindhi language like Maula Din Muhammad Wafai, Lal Singh Ajwati, Sheikh Ayaz, Dr. Memon Abdul Majeed Sindhi, Dr. Diyal Asha, Prof Devdas Sharma, Rama Krishna Advani and Dr. Moti Prakash. One hopes that the learned director general of the Sindh's department of culture, Moonis Ayaz Sheikh, will take pains to get this book translated into English or Urdu in order to make it available to a larger readership.

Study in Mysticism in Darazi School of Sufi Thought was the third book launched at the National Literary Conference. It is written by Dr. Sakhi Qabool Muhammad Faruqi who is the present keeper of Sachal Sarmast's shrine. Faruqi has discussed the basic concepts of Darazi Mysticism and its significance for our people.

Dr. Riane Eisler is famous worldwide for her notion that an alternative economic system is possible which can meet our social, physical and spiritual requirements. The Real Wealth of Nations is the title of her recent book that has added to her fame and influence. It offers a thoughtful outlook at how to create a society in which all of us can achieve the full measure of our humanity.

In her effort to bring back a human and nature-centric perspective to economics, she goes beyond the existing economic models and demonstrates that the real wealth of nations is not merely financial but includes the contributions of people and our natural environment.

Mashal, the publishing house of Lahore known and admired for bringing out a number of books on contemporary ideas and trends, has made Riane Eisler's brilliant book available in Urdu under the title Qaumon ki Asal Daulat.