Both, unfortunately, are not given the kind of universal acclaim in their homelands that they deserve
MELBOURNE: Two of Pakistan’s greatest men passed away in November, Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Dr Abdus Salam, on November 20 and November 21, respectively. Both were born in British India, and both rose to unprecedented heights in their own fields. Faiz was a social scientist, a poet, an ideologue and a humanist.
Dr Abdus Salam, on the other hand, was a man of unmatched intelligence and a dedicated scientist with a vision to serve mankind. His vision is manifested in his greatest work — the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Italy. The centre is probably the only one of its kind, providing great opportunities to scientists from the Third World to master their skills in physics. Dr Salam’s name is like a shining star on the horizon of high science. An idealist to the core, he exploited his talents but always kept his values and culture close to his heart, never shedding off his identity as a Pakistani, even though Pakistan disowned him.
The greatest exhibition of this was when he went to Sweden to attend the Nobel Prize ceremony in a sherwani and turban. Pioneers set standards, break psychological barriers, pave the way to success for the rest and leave an indelible mark on the face of history. Dr Abdus Salam surely did all of that.
Faiz Ahmad Faiz, in the same vein, stood up for the common man. A great icon of progressive moment in Urdu literature, he liberated Urdu poetry from classical taboos and spoke on the issues that affected the lives of ordinary Pakistanis. His treatise on the foundations of Pakistan, written in the late 1960s, was a great response to the establishment’s forgery in the name of Pakistan’s ideology. Professor Abdus Salam and Faiz Ahmed Faiz were forced to leave their homeland, but both kept their Pakistani citizenship, both won the most of coveted prizes, like the Nobel and Lenin prize, and both, unfortunately, are not given the kind of universal acclaim in their homelands that they deserve and should have been accorded, both during their lifetimes and after their passing away.
Malik Atif Mahmood Majoka
Published in The Express Tribune, November 21st, 2014.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
