Growing Up Red

Very cool write-up. I really enjoyed the flow. Thanks.

ali:

labels ka kya hay?

aap achchay insaan haiN...that is what matters ultimately...as was faiz saheb!

rgds

t

Wow!

Mr. Hashmi,
I had the honor of meeting your grandfather at least on three occasions along with some friends in Karachi and Lahore after he came back from Beirut. I did have a sip with him in one mehfil, a highlight of my life.

Are you aware of the fact that he was made a member of the Pakistan Communist Party after he came back from Beirut? Despite being known as the most famous communist in Pakistan he was never a member of the communist party all those years.

Yasser Arafat hired him in Beirut after it was felt that he would be arrested by Zia ulHaq and reportedly, the Russian Communist Party recommended him to Yasser Arafat and Al-Fateh. For a brief period, he was very close to Yasser Arafat and was advising him on political matters.

This is a well written piece but I wish you had inherited your father’s sense of humor and wit. (Assuming, you are Shoaib’s son.)

Thanks.

What a relief from the freakin` politicians, soldiers, western press & NGOs and their tamashabazi.

gill stole my words...very good writing indeed. I enjoyed it thoroughly!

Mr. Hashmi, could you please tell me if the following is your Nana`s:

badan mein aag se chehra gulaab jaisa hai
k zehr-e-gham ka maza bhi sharaab jaisa hai
wo saamnay hai magar tishnagi nahi jati
ye kya situm hai k darya saraab jaisa hai

It`s part of a very few lines of good poetry I care to remember. I heard/read it looooooong time ago, and not much of a poetry buff I can`t remember who wrote these.

Thanks!
:-)~~

Just as no one likes a Mullah to tell you how one has to live life according to the religion, similarly no one likes an atheist imposing his religion of unbeleif onto others as well. However, there is a difference in the mindset of atheists and religionists; while a religionist may be able to differentiate between actions and words of an atheist and evaluate them in their own right, an atheist on the other hand is potentially devoid of this judgement. For eaxample, and as it is also evident thru this write up, religionists may hate people like Faiz, Faraz, Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, Munnu Bhai, Zahida Hina, Shoaib and Saleema Hashimi, Ismail Mairithi, and Kishwar Naheed but there is no denying that they are in love with their poetry and prose, Sach Gup, Akar Bakr, sona chandi. But you will never ever read an atheist saying that ``I may not agree with the political philosphy of Syed Qutub, or Mujadid Alif Thani, or Moududi or Tahir ul Qadri, or Dr. Israr but their scholarship is incredible........`` never.

But on the other hand the hate that an atheist exhibits for a religionist is all encompassing. To them all Mullahs all Moulvis and every individual that invokes God and His Prophet (pbuh) in the matters of life is not even worth of a worm.

This kind of extremism disgusts and worries people. By nature atheists are fascists. To them every other ideology is mutually exclusive to their religion of unbeleif. The violence that they have exhibited towards humanity in the past two hundered years pales the violence committed by religionists upon each other in the known 10,000 years of history. The reason is that they (atheists) do not have their own source of morality; all the morals that they act upon and hold up are borrowed from one of the religions they hate. If they are stripped off those morals, which they occassionally do to themselves, they are rendered to nothing more than multicellelar organisms and that is what they think of themselves too. Just read Freud or Jung or any modern social scientist; to them human beings are nothing more than organisms.

This is worrisome. The opposite of God is Shaytaan but that is another discussion.

(Zahida Hina is an exception to this rule. She is an amazing woman).

Ali,

I still remember you from Govt. College Lahore around 1986-88. I don`t think our group at college gave a rat`s ass about the political or religious affiliation. You probably mingled with the wrong crowd. You should have hungout with us kafirz ;)

haideri

Nice article Ali.

I just finished watching this movie called ``Hazaro Khayeshai`` which deals with the communist inspired Naxalite movement in India. One of the thoughts that came into my mind is that in the journey after independence of Pakistan, you people did not have to face the conflict of ideology of communism in its various forms which we had to in India. So your article was an eye opener for me.

Urstruly - Interesting comments. I always thought that so many people have died due to religion inspired wars but on reflection, more people have died due to facism and communism in the last 100 years.(Franco Stalin Mao Mussolini Tojo Hitler etc. etc.)

I think that any form of ideology taken to an extreme form where it becomes fanatical has cause for concern. I am sure that you would agree.

Re: # 6

Unless you have corroborated evidence that self proclaimed atheistic govts have murdered more people than religious and/or capitalist govts., this argument is specious. While the massacres of Stalin and Mao may be apparent to the world-and this is in no way tacit apology or justification for these crimes against humanity-murderous regimes also operate quietly and under the guise of fundamentalism and/or totalitarianism. There`s just no reliable body count.

Also, it is possible to be areligious and engage with the world in a manner that respects its dignity. I`m sorry you seem to find that impossible. but I assure you, this world exists and accepts all.

ali hashmi,

as i was reading this, i could relate to so much of the confusion that you`ve expressed you went through during your childhood, for different reasons of course, but i was a teenager around the time of the regime change that brought zia in. and so that part of the article spoke to me.

thank you for sharing this with us. it is ironic isn`t it that your grandfather, so maligned as he was in his lifetime, should now be regarded as a national treasure? but to be honest, there have always been so many of us who regarded him as ``humara apna``, i was a latecomer to his poetry, but i know many who didn`t care what his affiliation was. his poetry spoke to them. his poems in exile in beirut are some of my favorites. . . if i can pick and choose a favorite. :)

as for how your children grow up. . . . what does it matter if they are liberal, religious, ``red`` or republican? as long as they`re instilled with good values and are decent human beings/humanitarians, ``choRo bhai, sab theek hoga!``

best,
ana

I am 22 , communist and had worked for different communist causes in Nepal and in Karachi , Pakistan and if everything goes right we working to form a student wing of Mazdur Kisan Party of Pakistan which will be present in atleast 328 educational institutions of Pakistan .
As for Faiz Sahab , I never read his poetry but I admire him for his courage , courage to stand up against a system which is based on the theory of * smashing heads to climb up to prosperity *
Urstruly Hazur, it`s not athiests and godless people who thinks of human`s as objects but capitalists *a product of which is religionists* who thinks of humans as objects and kill them in the name of god..

Ali Hashmi:
as someone who personally would have been on the receiving end if found out as ``pukka dehrya ``in the 90s (though i was successful or perhaps scared sh**less to hide it like a curse on my soul) - i can relate to your piece on a personal level.

Labels are not important but they do serve as pointers to the psyche of a society which is infused with an insecure dogma and a society that prides itself in conformity. This, my friend, our uncle brigade would brushoff in their mighty indifference. I wonder maybe they are dead already and not to be paid any attention to.

peace.

PS: my personal Faiz favorite is gotta be : sheeshoan ka maseeha koi nahin or perhaps ashkabad ki aik shaam.

Shukriya Saathi. Buhut Shukriya. There are generations of people who are proud because of a fleeting or indirect association to Faiz. I am very sure that your children will be very proud of their family legacy. I was once in the same room as Faiz for 30 minutes. I will be proud of that till i die.

Religious orientation should be nobody`s business. Those who called u Dehria must have serious issues. I grew up being called as Qadiani and non-muslim just because i was born in an Ahmadi family. All thanks to Mullah-ism, Bhutto-ism, Zia-ism and what not.
I am just wondering is that guy your brother who hosts a show on Geo TV where he invites celebrities and interviews them?

Dear Friend:

Please tell me what does a person gain by attending a mosque every Friday or praying 1, 2, 3 4 or 5 times a day?

Ali Hashmi:

Some brief memories in my childhood are refreshed as growing up in a secular ``Nazriat family``

17 August 1988, the sudden mysterious plane crash, I was in 3 class and it was summer vaccations. I was admitted in Children Hospital of Complex Hopital then now PIMS. My khala was near me as she was strictly taking care of dose and diet of a Hepatitis `A` commonly known as Jondus infected kid.
The TV placed in the nursery she was watching when the blissful news appeared. She became excited and told other aunties which gave a mixed reaction. Then the Sindhi Child specialists gathered and started speaking sindhi and rise their voice for a few slogans and congrated each other.
I remember there was a kid who was to be operated and her parents were sorry for Zia`s demisal as he was the one who at least prayed five times a day and also his Islamization was helpful for Pakistan.
There was a merry situation back at home and the word ``Jabra`` and the jokes related to it originated among piplians (PPPians).
I also remember the occassion when first time Benazir appeared in Public in Rawalpindi. It was tremendous. The people were crying out loud for democracy. My father returned from tht jalsa and told she was taken in Truck and ws crowded the one and only ``Liaqat Bagh`` Rawalpindi.
Our family rituals had been to mourn at death of Bhutto, to refrain and condemn refrendum, Jamat-e-Islami and our Tarbeat to hide away from Tableeghi. Be a campaign supporter in elections, monitor elections and resist agains marshal laws.
The literature of communists which flourished in 70`s is a great assest and magazines like ``Pakistani Adab``, ``Al Fatah`` showed the struggle of peasents of sindh, workers of Punjab and all jialas anywhere in Pakistan.
Starting life by reading ``Intesab`` of Faiz made some thing to realize which was further cleared with time.

Anyways thanks a lot for bringing back old memories...