DEVELOPMENT OUR CULTURES THROUGH INTERACTIONS;
GAINS, LOSSES NATURALLY AND THROUGH OBLITERATIONS.
I was born in Pakistan, in a house of Culture, and lived my life in the city of Lahore, a center of Culture. Pakistan had already inherited an admixture of East and West. Our leaders were of both types, Eastern as well as Western. But both were turned to progressive Islamic ideals. Our house was like that too. I was sent to an English Medium School and yes they taught us a lot of things, but they also tried to inculcate in us values which were foreign to us. We started the day with a biblical prayer of “Our father thou Art in Heaven”, while most of the Urdu medium schools started their day with a poem by Dr Allamaqbal “Lap pay aati hay dawa meri”. Our courses talked off tales suitable for the Western people, like claiming our iconic Tipu Sultan was a villain, by British standards. The silliest thing possible we were also meant to commemorate Guy Fawkes day, nothing to do with our own environment. Burning wood in memory of the saving of British Parliament centuries ago. I say this for the British left us with a lobby of people determined to save the day for them.
So natural interaction would result in winning of our own cultural legacy. So it had to be obliterated. One day sitting in the LDA office, senior LDA official was telling me, that if we destroy all old buildings (even Mughal ones) and nobody cared, but when we touched a British period work, a great hullabaloo was created and we were always forced to stop. Similarly the great effort by our intellectuals to promote the Urdu language was attacked and barriers in full creation. A controversy between Urdu and Bengali language was created in same way.The National Anthem was always attacked, and is under attack even today. The Bhutto Administration was after replacing same with Sohni Dharti, to undermine our Islamic content. The great Punjabi debate goes all the time. Arabic unites us as Muslims. Culture unites us too.








Dr Allama Iqbal has been under attack all the time. By literal morons and agents of foreign lobbies. So has been the Quaid e Azam. A person who affirmed that he was a Muslim is attacked all the time at parochialism. So it was natural that the National Artist of Pakistan M.A. Rahman Chughtai would be attacked all the time. The attack was against the aesthetics of Pakistan. It was not clear right in the beginning but the 1952 exhibition show in Karachi was a threat to others. On record ten thousand people attended the same for 13 days, but the Governor General Ghulam Muhammed without looking at the works talked of stopping at looking in the past and moving in the future. Told to me by Information Department S. Amjad Ali Sahib. In a newspaper write up, Jalaluddin Ahmad highlighted the same feelings, along with the positive feelings that he could not undermine. He simply said:
“Naturally enough, not all of them were equally appreciative. Divergent and vastly different views were expressed, ranging from rapturous enthusiasm to downright criticism of the art form, subject matter and technique. But they were all impressed by the tremendous impact of Chughtais rich and powerful imagination, his superb draughtsmanship, and his exquisite colour-work.”
He repeats on a conservative estimate 10,000 men and women, including young students of art as well as veteran artists and art critics spent one evening or more at the Y.W.C.A. So who were those unhappy of these more than ten thousand people.
Some lobbies really unhappy with art developments in Pakistan. All of a sudden forcible campaigns to put Pakistan on the bandwagon of the West. Artists like Lester F. Pross came to the University of the Punjab. M.R. Sponenburg came to Mayo School of Arts now National College of Arts. It was forbidden to talk of the presence of any Pakistani Art. And suddenly new artists coming from all over the world. Some from India. Some from Paris. Some from England. Now exhibitions were being held in Murree far away from cultural capitals. The inspirations had changed. Pablo Picasso was the main hero of these Pakistani uprising stars, but there were others. With time it became Jasper Johns, and still even monkeys were the inspiration. Can you imagine on actual stage art is being made by artists with their MALE GENITALS. There is consciousness for the West with these inspirations, but what about us? Art is not Art for Art sake, but politically motivated to give Islamic values the fun and go thing. I have seen a work being seen through the small gauze of an old burqa woman of a pornographic display. An old lady enjoying sexual episodes. Humiliation of the concepts of Islam. It is okay to criticize wrongs of any society but to put a question mark on values is against the principles of humanity itself.
If I get on the roof of my house and I look around. I see not proportional architecture, but minars and shapeless gumbands. A civilization that created the greatest feats of art and architecture is reduced to shopping for second hand joggers and clothes from rehri walas. The Art of calligraphy is in ruins. Copyists copying the past with no abilities. The West left us in a lurch but never left us. Our Culture is an object of shame and by repeating the past, we think we can save ourselves. Each generation of Muslims took culture forward, a blend of past and present as a beacon for the future. The World culture is good to emulate for its world values. Let us stop differentiating between East and West. Rudyard Kipling was a racist. The Quran was for all, not for a segment of the society. Cultural progress can be achieved without sacrifice. Let us talk of positive values and negative values. From wherever we get positive vibes. Welcome to same! To close we quote Dr Allama Iqbal once again:
“WHAT IS ART WITHOUT THE STRIKING POWER OF THE MOSES STAFF!”