Shaikh Ayaz was opposed to lingual and cultural narcissism, moot told.

Byline: Mohammad Hussain Khan

HYDERABAD -- Eminent playwright and poet Asghar Nadeem Syed has said that Shaikh Ayaz fought not only for Sindhi but for all languages and he was not scared nor opposed to any language but opposed only lingual and cultural narcissism.

Shaikh Ayaz had got only one life to connect to people but he had tried to live multiple lives and play a unique role in every aspect of his life.

He was presenting a detailed paper in a session on Ayaz in the fifth Ayaz Melo that got under way in Sindh Museum under the aegis of Khanabadosh writers cafe on Saturday evening. The session was presided over by Sindh Minister for Culture Syed Sardar Shah.

Recitation of Bhitai's poetry marked formal beginning of the melo in the lawns of the museum. Bhitai's raagis presented 'waee' of Shah. Earlier, the minister inaugurated the festival and pictorial exhibition of Shaikh Ayaz and emphasised the need for publishing works of the poet into other languages.

Asghar Nadeem Syed said for many Ayaz was a poet but he felt he was a great novelist, a philosopher, a heritage scholar and a political-cum-ideological teacher. Ayaz was a narrator and civilised historian.

Ayaz was a researcher of international literature. He had gathered different poets of the world of different eras under one umbrella of his poetry. This festival identified poetic ideologies of Shaikh Ayaz and had he (Asghar) not read Ayaz's prose he could have hardly understood his poetry.

He said that injustices in the backdrop of World War II when soldiers of British Empire were recruited in army from Chakwal, Sargodha and other villages of Punjab and given jagirs in lieu of their services formed the basis of Ayaz's poetry. Progressive movement dominated scene then in India, but Ayaz remained perplexed on ideological lines at that time also. Today's progressive forces could not understand this clearly.

He said that only Ayaz knew that progressive forces were divided into different camps then. Syed said he counted himself in the camp of impatient people whereas Ayaz was present somewhere at the confluence of philosophical pathways. Pakistan's progressive forces did not understand the role of Ayaz because a barring few, the rest of writers and authors were deprived of Shaikh Ayaz's ideology and philosophy.

He said that Ayaz wanted to bring Pakistan's cultural, lingual, literary heritage to a common point. When Ayaz was going to Moscow, Faiz Ahmed Faiz complimented him, saying 'Ayaz...