The allegation of infidelity to the ideological state comes from the rightwing majority expressing itself in the vector of nationalism: Urdu. It means that where stringency of ideology is required to produce ideal results, the liberal demands slackness. Somehow, it is ideology that he can’t stand. Pathologically, he finds flaws in the perfect social prescription.
After 1947, the liberal was not the man who spoke for the underdog. In fact, he was the eccentric who opposed the ideology devoted to the defence of the underdog. In Urdu literature, it was the progressive who was in power and the liberal was his bête noire. You should read Saadia Toor’s extremely interesting book The state of Islam: Culture and Cold War Politics in Pakistan (Pluto Press, 2011) to understand the progress or transformation of the liberal person in Urdu literature.
An All Pakistan Progressive Writers Association (APPWA) was the result of the division of the All India Progressive Writers Association (AIPWA), which in turn was given birth by a collection of short stories, titled Angaray ‘Embers’, published in 1932 by a new generation of writers ‘in explicit rebellion against the old feudal order’. The collection caused a sensation and was banned after protest from the religious orthodoxy (p.56).
The progressives took inspiration from the Communist Party of India (CPI) which condemned both India and the newly created Pakistan as reactionary states that had abandoned anti-imperialism. In Pakistan, Lahore was the bastion of the Progressive Writers who took the CPI call as their manifesto. Publishers like Savera, Naqush, Sang-e-Meel and Adab-e-Latif were the vanguard of the progressives, counting among them: Sibte Hasan, Hajra Masroor, Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, Abdullah Malik, Arif Abdul Mateen, Zaheer Kashmiri, Mumtaz Hussain, Khadija Mastoor. They were known as the Savera Group.
The state opposed the progressives. Liberals, too, rebelled against their dominance, this time at the cost of carrying the stigma of being on the side of the coercive state. Three top ones were Muhammad Hassan Askari, Samad Shaheen and Mumtaz Shireen, all muhajir, devoted to the idea of an ideological Pakistan. Askari and his friends were more for ‘art for art’s sake’. They tended to support the task of the post-1947 ‘nation-building’, another name for indoctrination.
The progressives were likewise driven by the indoctrination coming from the CPI. The clash was inevitable; the battle was joined, Askari questioning the loyalty of the progressives to the state in a provocatively titled 1948 essay Adeeb aur riyaasat se vafaadaari ka mas’ala. Toor describes the progressives as ‘vocal carriers of a hegemonic socialist and anti-imperialist tradition which dominated the intellectual space in West Pakistan’. The liberal writers thought of themselves as patriots committed to putting their talent in the service of their new nation-state.
Liberals, therefore, were once the defenders of the state. Today they are blamed for being disloyal to its ideology. Right-wing critics often make the mistake of equating them with the leftists that dominated the literary scene after 1947. Liberals were located where the rightists are entrenched today, the difference being in the harshness of today’s right-wing discourse.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 18th, 2011.
COMMENTS (19)
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@Loneliberal PK: well said Sir The only thing the right-wing block stands up for is the Muslims. Defending orthodox Islamic beliefs in an Islamic Republic requires neither sweat, nor skill nor courage. Try standing up for the Ahmadis, Shias, Hindus and Atheists and you’ll know the true meaning of perseverance.
All liberals support reduction in defence budget and land reforms. How can you say that they dont care about the economic conditions of the masses
A liberal is one who has liberated himself/herself from the slavery of dogma and the illusion of 'always right'.
@Musthaq Ahmed: wow,talk about selective editing.u sir, are a true patriot.
the liberals are liberals in so far as it suits them, as for standing up for rights of the suppressed, the atrocities in balochistan, the poor pensioners queuing up outside Pakistan Railways to get their pensions, these issues do not stir their liberal, progressive minds ad hearts and they are loath to leave the comfort of their parties and homes to actively work towards addressing these problems. they are liberals only in condemning the 'conservatives' and seeking a society which protects their self interest, suppressed groups be damned!
@vineet: "Liberals are liberals Sir !" This is Indian wisdom , empty of thought and full of air ! Pakistanis have a chance of rescuing themselves from decline , caught as they are in sharp trouble. But what about India with such minds ?
Liberals and progressives are used without any reasoning. It is difficult to differentiate people in Pakistan on the basis of ideology. For me, both are acting in a criminal manner. From the advocacy of false rural development strategies to the urbanisation, they are serving the state in maintaining the status quo, necessary for promoting jihadists and other right wing elements.
Bravo! Well written, and an important distinction. Though one might presume liberals to literally be in favour of enhancing individual liberty and therefore ipso facto trying to curtail the power of an ideological state, history shows this to not always be the case. The term liberal is usually used inaccurately to mean just about any number of things e.g. the US Republican party is fiscally liberal -i.e. wants small government, but is socially conservative and ideologically driven. The Democrats, while more socially liberal, are definitely more fiscally conservative.
Please sir with all due respect I find the term "liberal" being used too liberally in Pakistan. From across your western fences, people look mockingly at these liberals many of who support anarchy, death, murder, mayhem in the name of medieval machiavellian strategies of using the worst form of ideology to their own strategic depth! What about human rights, women rights, child rights and so on.....
Down south people (baloch) are waiting for liberals to stand up for their most basic of human rights "the right to live"
East we are puzzled that many of there liberals stand up for an establishment fueling terror and butchery of innocent people in any nukkad, gali and bazar!
of course not! all are like that but the main issue is that sane voices are very few and very rare! those who get courage to stand up get silenced in dark allies by mysterious all powerful secret services!
your defense of liberals is paper thin and I as a liberal in India who has actively campaigned for rights of Kashmiri and Naga in India, I find it particular disgusting and degrading!
Liberals Sir are liberal in true sense and not conditional to ones nationalistic or ideological demands!
Thanks You
a humble neighbor.
I think it is similar point raised by Atish Taseer and Shashi Tharoor. The liberals of pakistan are selective liberals, they support the religious jingoism which is basis of pakistan's ideology and when things go out of hand they try to put blame on illiterate population.
'Right-wing critics often make the mistake of equating them with the leftists..' This distinction appears unreal to me, they were one and same. Three 'liberals' do not mean the whole liberals. This article seems like a lame defense of liberals absolving them of their past blunders. A sort of revisionist history for some laundry purpose, and please, one more request. Liberals should get out of their perpatual state of self-pity. We need brave and strong leaders. I do understand all the risks when I say it (Taseer in case). Liberals have largely failed to attract larger populace and have cursed the public while being content with their arm-chair activism. Think about it.
khalid ahmed They are called ‘liberal fascists’ because they stand up for the underdog if that means nitpicking the unchallengeable ideology of Pakistan.
Modern day Pakistani liberals, more correctly neo-liberals, most certainly do not stand up for the underdog. Wittngly or unwittingly they are the voice in Pakistan of a superpower, albeit a declining one.
The article was seemingly needed. I personally saw the and replied to the obvious confusion just in the comments on this site recently. Though I do wonder if they're the types that will listen to much of anything at all beyond what they already think. Outlook not so good.
You certainly match and surpass anything that could come from what I know on the topic. It's hard to say much more than that when the person could just as easily reply with "I know" as easily as "thanks."
@Usman u means antique right.