The Prime Minister's idea to hold a dialogue with poets, critics and intellectual was undoubtedly a novel idea. Invitations to reach Islamabad were extended to 32 writers and the place to assemble was the Cabinet Hall in PM House. Three or four writers couldn't reach for reasons their of indisposition. The dialogue with writers was the first of the three in the present series.
The second dialogue is with the eminent artists belonging to visual and performing arts and the third with the educationists and newspaper columnists. As a participant of the dialogue with writers, I can vouchsafe that all these writers who were given the opportunity to speak shared their views in a quite free and frank manner. The Government came in for uninhibited censure on some of its policies concerning law and order situation, increasing level of unemployment, power-shortage, price index besides the continuous wave of killings in Karachi and the education system of the country. It was said that the educational system ignored the importance of character building, ethics, history, geography, neglect of minorities and gender education, crisis management at the school level.
The Balochistan and Karachi situation came in as a special concern. Some writers also pointed and the reactionary role of hereditary constituencies in the Parliament, which didn't make Parliament a forum for enlightened outlook. A democracy mainly sustained and led by Feudals, can hardly work for the general good of the common masses.
I believe all parties who stood for social, political and economic justice in the country should take note of the fact that democracy is flourishing in the neighbouring India because feudalism was abolished in India as one of the first acts of independent India while Pakistan is still protecting feudalism.
The Prime Minister, it should be honestly admitted, took note of every point which was raised by the speakers and the way he summed up the points raised by the writers in the country except the hereditary character of the Parliament for obvious reasons. The issue was left for the posterity to solve. Let us see when the feudal elite is shown the exit door. One is not sure whether it could be ever possible in this country. Hence the dream of a people's Government in the real sense of the word will remain a dream for the lovers of a social revolution.
The Prime Minister was quite positive to the demand for representation of the intellectual elite is legislature and official delegations as practised in India where a good number of intellectual celebrities find their way to the Rajya Sabha through nomination. He also favoured the idea of writers inclusion in delegations to foreign countries as a way to represent the intellectuals of Pakistan to make up for the boss, which the vacuum of the status quo politics in Pakistan allows as an on going phenomenon.
I would like to believe that the Government needs the services of the creative writers to interpret Pakistan's rich cultural heritage, which requires only those souls who were capable of delivering the required inputs. Pakistan has suffered a great deal at the hands of inept persons in the fields of politics and bureaucracy. It is about time that our politicians should realise this simple fact.
I will like to add that Ms Nargis Sethi, the Cabinet Secretary, acquitted herself well with this first ever dialogue between the PM and the Writers. Otherwise we have been used to have only monologues so far as Agha Nasir had rightly pointed out, in his talk.
Private sector and learned bodies The NLA or Muqatad-i-Qasmi Zaban and all learned bodies are facing the financial crunch which is creating numerous problems in the completion of the projects they are working. This observation also is true for all the boards and authorities governing other Pakistani languages.
What came to my mind immediately was the V.S. Naipaul's succinet - but quite right remark that the South Asia is good enough to identify the problem it needs to solve - but lacks the funds and will to execute the work that is expected of them. What was left for us to see were the signboards telling us the functions of the department?
It is quite true of some bodies and departments in Pakistan - particularly the departments which have to deal with the development of languages and education. Hardly 2% is allocated to education in Pakistan and only a small percentage of this low allocation is earmarked for learned bodies.
The way forward to meet this emergency is to appeal to the country's trade and industry bodies and philanthropists to move forward and play their role. They shouldn't allow the Government neglect to the learned bodies. These bodies prove to be deserving recipients of their donations because they are properly audited and any lapse of the required formalities by these departments could go straight to the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament for scrutiny.
Both of us, I and Dr Agha Nadeem Syed the well known TV playwright of the country and Head of the Film and TV department of the Beaconhouse University Lahore; spoke on the historic role which the private sector of the country could play to promote the cause of language, literature and culture. For example in the USA the advertising industry contributes one percent to this important field of nation-building. I don't know what our advertising industry is doing to promote culture and literature when even knowledge and culture are also treated as commodities needing media's support.
The role of the Chambers of Commerce - region wise and national, is very important and I hope that they should pay some attention to the learned bodies specially when the strongest arm of the society feels itself cramped up with the financial crunch.
Muqtada-i-Qaomi Zaban and other learned bodies need attention of all those enterprizers who would like to do something - however small, to help these bodies to tide over the difficult days they are facing. All of us - specially the philanthropists should realise that the Government alone can't do much as it is already in the midst of financial crunch.
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