***
My mother repeats stories from her childhood. I am not certain what made her retell this particular one, but we were talking about Pakistan. She told me that she was born in India, and always has felt connected to it. I replied, "Yes, you were born in India, but we were born in Pakistan . . . well except for the youngest, who was born in the USA."
She began to tell me about her school days, and the songs they sang at assembly. Apparently she was picked to lead in song because her voice rose a few octaves (was it good? I did not ask), and two songs that she remembers singing: the one about lalkaoing from the choTis of Himalaya ke hindustan humara hai. And then the other song was also nationalistic, saare jahaan se achha. Hindustan humara."
She added, "We sang these songs to get the British out of India." I nod, "I know." My mind lingered on the second song. The poet Iqbal, whom we know as Allama Iqbal wrote that, and it did become an anthem of protest against British rule.
I thought about that Iqbal who wrote about Hindustan. I thought about the Iqbal who praised secularism, Nietzsche and Mussolini. I thought about the Iqbal who read a poem of his in honor of King George V's coronation, and I thought of the Iqbal that certain Islamists wish to reclaim as in this article, here
"Iqbal wrote that." I pointed out to her.
"I know." She replied, muttering things about him that were far from complimentary. We acknowledge that Iqbal was a very good poet. I am not certain how we, who have lived with Iqbal's great works like Bal-e-Jibreel and Bang-e-Dara, and read him in our Nawa-i-Waqt every day for years, have seen him in terms of his politics.
Like many men, and women, Iqbal was a heap of contradictions, and if the hard-core mullahs wish to misappropriate him, well then may they go with Allah, but no one can fully reclaim Iqbal, and no one should. What else can we take, distort and twist, and throw out there as the way to rebuilding a better nation, when all it does is get us stuck in the same damn Groundhog Day?
***
There's a reason I have been avoiding topics like this in previous blogs. And I just remembered what it was.
***
Twitter was all a-buzz today with the news that the Pakistani ambassador to the US, Hussain Haqqani has been recalled to Islamabad. There are murmurs that his job is on the line, and that he is the wrong Haqqani to go after.
Hussain Haqqani certainly has been one of the most articulate representatives Pakistan has had in a while. So I hope this gupshup is all it is, gupshup. The defections from the PPP, the braggadocio of the Tehrik-e-Insaaf party of Imran Khan. Dhol baj rahe haiN ji, Dhol!
From The News:
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani Monday decided to call Hussain Haqqani, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Washington, to Islamabad to brief the country’s leadership on a host of issues impacting on Pak-US relations and recent developments.more, here
The decision was taken during a core committee meeting, held at a time when Shah Mehmood Qureshi said goodbye to the PPP and resigned from National Assembly membership. The meeting was called to discuss the political impact on the party of Qureshi’s decision.
According to sources, the decision to call Haqqani was taken to defuse the situation arising from the memo allegedly written by President Asif Ali Zardari to Admiral Mike Mullen, and recently denied by the government as well as Mike Mullen.
The PPP core committee on Monday decided to continue the path of the reconciliation politics and will respond to political opponents politically rather than through confrontation. A detailed discussion on the political situation in the country also came under discussion in the Monday meeting.
