In all his actions Barrister Bacha was guided by the overarching theme of Pashtun nationalism. PHOTO: FILE
William Shakespeare
As You Like It
I read with sadness the news of Barrister Bacha Khan’s passing. He was a man who wore his many contradictions as a badge of honour. He could be charming, infuriating, grating, gracious, generous and vindictive. In all his actions and his conduct he was guided by the overarching theme of Pashtun nationalism.
Our paths crossed during our college days in the early 1950’s at Islamia College, Peshawar. Soon after his arrival on the campus he cultivated a reputation as a passionate and extremely opinionated young man. He was a gifted orator and was quite capable of rousing passions among the students. He did that with ease and facility in Pashto as well as English. His speeches were always studded with literary references.
In 1970 he was called to the bar by the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple.
It was not until 1997 that our paths crossed again, on the controversial issue of changing the name of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). Being a Pashtun ultranationalist, he was in favour of changing the name to reflect the province’s Pashtun identity. I argued NWFP was – unlike Punjab, Balochistan and to some extent Sindh – a multi-lingual province where Pashto was one of many languages. If the name had to be changed, it should be one acceptable to all living there.
We sparred on the pages of Dawn, The News International, The Frontier Post and other Pakistani newspapers. In 1997, the NWFP provincial assembly passed a resolution to change the name of the province, but being a federal issue, it had to be decided at the federal level. Somehow the deal between prime minister Nawaz Sharif and the Awami National Party fell through and the issue was shelved.
While pleading cases in a court of law, Bacha’s arguments were always accented with literary flourishes. In 2010 he represented the federal government before the Supreme Court over the controversial 18th Amendment to the Constitution. Emphasizing the current situation in the country he quoted from Hamlet, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”.
He also frequently used the opinion pages of major English newspapers to argue, chastise, cajole and to compliment others.
When Bacha was not championing Pashtun nationalism, he was crowding the dockets of the country’s high courts by filing writs of habeas corpus petitions on social and environmental issues.
One such writ was against Peshawar Development Authority for allowing a fighter jet to be installed in a square in Hayatabad named after Pashtun poet and statesman Ajmal Khan Khattak. To place a killing machine on a square named after a poet was sacrilegious for Bacha.
However, he had few qualms over suggestions that the Ghauri missiles be renamed after Punjabi heroes such as Allama Iqbal.
His last petition to the Peshawar High Court was for the issuance of arrest warrants for former president Pervez Musharraf for suspending the Constitution during his term as president.
Barrister Bacha appreciated my efforts to project the image of Pakistan in general and Pashtuns in particular in America and elsewhere in the world. On a few occasions I saw him walking with his friends in Hayatabad. Always a gentleman, he would greet me with open arms and would introduce me to his friends with generous words.
It was during one of his walks that he sustained a fatal head injury.
He was true to his self and to Pashtun nationalism and did not hesitate to take on anyone who stood in the way.
He will be long remembered.
The author is an op-ed columnist for the daily Toledo Blade and emeritus professor of cardiovascular surgery at the University of Toledo, USA
aghaji@bex.net
Published in The Express Tribune, May 29th, 2013.
COMMENTS (11)
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@S. Amjad Hussain: Sure, I understand. If you didn't know, you didn't know. Nobody can possibly know everything about everything. That's why we learn from each other. But I do have a question: How could you have "weaved that in my piece" without affecting the piece's complimentary nature? Kamran Shafi, for example, would not even have written a single word of praise for that man. With the type of transgression Mr. Bacha committed by upholding a cold-blooded practice -- he called it a tradition -- one has no claim to decency and dignity. Siddique Malik, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
@Kamran Shafi: I remember Samia Sarwa's heart-breaking death at the hands of her family. The horrifying reaction to it by the anachronistic segment of Pakistani society, some of whom were legislators and mullahs, was utterly disgusting. Pakistan's main problem is not that its general population has large chunks of uneducated people -- although it's a serious problem -- but that some of its educated people are ignorant in their thoughts and attitudes. Obviously, education has done them no harm. The challenge that the open-minded segment of the Pakistani people -- and thank God for it -- face in fighting anachronism is thus immense. But these brave warriors of humanity must never give up. The world is on their side. Siddique Malik, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
@Siddique Malik: Thank you. Pls also recall the case of Samia Sarwar on April 6th, 1999. According to The Guardian: 'Samia, 28, arrived at the Lahore law offices of Hina Jilani and Asma Jahangir, who are sisters, on April 6. She had engaged Jilani a few days earlier, because she wanted a divorce from her violent husband. Samia settled on a chair across the desk from the lawyer. Sultana, Samia's mother, entered five minutes later with a male companion. Samia half-rose in greeting. The man, Habib-ur-Rehman, grabbed Samia and put a pistol to her head. The first bullet entered near Samia's eye and she fell. "There was no scream. There was dead silence. I don't even think she knew what was happening," Jilani said. The killer stood over Samia's body, and fired again. Jilani reached for the alarm button as the gunman and Sultana left. "She never even bothered to look whether the girl was dead." The aftermath of the murder was equally revealing: "Members of Pakistan's upper house demanded punishment for the two women [lawyers] and none of Pakistan's political leaders condemned the attack. ... The clergy in Peshawar want the lawyers to be put to death" for trying to help Imran. (Suzanne Goldenberg, "A Question of Honor," The Guardian (UK), May 27, 1999.) And who represented the Sarwars? None other than Barrister Bacha. I had always wanted to meet him but wrote publicly that I no longer felt the urge...
Whatever...he ws the sweetest uncle whose gentleness and care I cn never frgt...may Allah awards him with best of his Jannah...Amin sum Amin...
@Siddique Malik:
Thank you Malik Sahib for your comments. I was not aware of his uttering on honor killings. Had I known, I would have weaved that in my piece. Regards, Amjad Hussain
I remember reading a piece by Barrister Bacha sometime back, in which he justified the gruesome practice of ignorant men killing their women -- wives, sisters, mothers, cousins,etc. -- in the name of "honor." I cannot shake that equally gruesome justification of this horrible practice by a man, whom the world today is remembering as a man of law. Siddique Malik, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
What a nice piece! RIP Barrister Bacha saib.
A sad news to hear about Barrister's death. I always read his articles with relish, though I mostly disagreed to his opinions. It is an irony that the nationalists try to pose as though they are a different breed, but actually all the nationalists of the world are alike, creating walls among people.
Good point Gul Khan Momand. Allama Iqbal was born in the Prov of Punjab but all his life's struggles were not focused only for the Punjabis. His poetry is relevant even today and can be read by muslims/non muslims all around the world. When will we get out of this provincial nationalism?
Was Allama Iqbal a Punjabi or a Kashmiri? And was he only a Punjabi hero? even his poetry was not in Punjabi language rather in Urdu and Persian.