Death anniversary: Naseer Shah’s literary contributions eulogised

Say the late intellectual always penned down accounts of victims of oppression.

ISLAMABAD:

With the death of Naseer Shah a year ago, the country lost a great poet and an outspoken, free-thinking intellectual who never compromised on his principles.

These were the views expressed by Shah’s literary colleagues at a seminar held at the Pakistan Academy of Letters on Friday to mark his first death anniversary.

Shah, a famous literary personality from Mianwali, knew seven languages, wrote poetry in Urdu and Seraiki and published several books on poetry, prose and essays on religious interpretation.

Shoaib Adil, editor of Urdu magazine Naya Zamana, for which Shah wrote a regular column on religion, philosophy and history, said that Shah believed cultures and societies evolve over time and rigid religions cannot keep pace with social changes.

He said Shah, in his writings, suggested that fear and greed were the most difficult challenges for writers and intellectuals. “Shah thought the Progressive Writers Movement in Pakistan failed to fight these two challenges,” Adil said.

He said that Shah, in his outspoken tone, even wrote that Muslims have a natural leaning towards dictatorship and Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was the first person to ask for aid from the US.

Parto-Rohilla, a former civil servant and friend of Shah, said that it was amazing that Shah, who was born to a religious family, transformed into a progressive person who believed in a universal humanity and wrote against imperialistic powers.

For a time, Shah even worked for the Council of Islamic Ideology and penned progressive treatises on the status of women in Islam, Rohilla said.

Participants said Shah’s writings spoke about the pain and sorrow of the poor and the oppressed communities in Pakistan.

Advisor to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said that even though Shah worked as a writer, columnist, political activist and editor, the thing about his stature that needs to be emphasised most was his poetry.

“His poetry was his special ability,” Aziz said. “Through his writings, Shah showed he passionately cared for humanity.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 6^th, 2013.