Literati recall Agro’s message of peace

Reference marks first death anniversary of Ghulam Rabbani Agro.

ISLAMABAD:

Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai once wrote of his preference for love over wisdom, as he considered the wise to be the bearers of untold miseries. The speakers at a reference marking the first death anniversary of Ghulam Rabbani Agro, agreed that the prolific Sindhi writer had espoused a philosophy similar to that of Bhittai’s, which endeared him to millions. The reference was arranged by the Pakistan Academy of Letters on Thursday.

The writer’s son Aziz Agro, who was introduced as a “spitting image of the late Agro”, shared a brief biographical account of his illustrious father. With cheer, he informed the audience that some of his father’s writings were now compulsory reading in Sindhi middle-level schools.

Justice (retd) Abdul Waheed Siddiqi, Agro’s life-long friend, shared some of his earliest memories of the man. He said he considered Agro to be an artist par excellence besides being a great writer, lamenting the fact that his other talents had been largely not acknowledged. In advice befitting the country’s prevailing turbulence, he urged everyone to examine something from all possible angles before reaching a verdict about it, a lesson he admittedly learnt early on from Agro’s meticulous three-dimensional sketches.

Dr Nazir Ahmad Sangi, Vice-Chancellor of Allama Iqbal Open University, admitted that one of his greatest inspirations came from a short story penned by Agro. The tale was revolved around a boy who was unable to fulfil his wish to study because of the unfavouring ethos of his social milieu and, instead, grew up to be a criminal. He talked about the responsibility of everyone to rescue Pakistan’s youth from the present tide of obscurantism.

MNA Nawab Yusuf Talpur delivered the large part of his speech in Sindhi, effectively leaving the non-Sindhi participants groping in the dark for the gist of his message. Nonetheless, he directed attention away from Agro’s short stories and spoke a little about his writings on Sufism, which he considered to be a “huge asset for Pakistanis.”

Mukhtar Hussain Talpur paid a passing tribute to the leading role Agro played in literary circles. The rest of his talk focused on MNA Talpur; strange for a gathering convened in somebody else’s honour.

Dr Ghazanfar Mehdi paid lavish homage to the writer by calling him a “bridge for intellectuals from Gwadar to the Khunjerab.”

To conclude the ceremony, the academy’s chairman Fakhar Zaman said Agro was a great human being besides being a towering intellect. He lamented the fact that Agro’s essays, books and letters had not been translated into Urdu and pledged that the Academy of Letters would soon take up the task.

He was of the opinion that all of Pakistan’s languages should be taught at educational institutions, as linguistic integration could pave the way for true national integration. He considered the use of the term ‘regional’ for any of Pakistan’s languages to be derogatory.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2011.