Sachal’s followers oppose state-controlled Sufism

Sachal’s followers oppose state-controlled Sufism
The News International, By Jan Khaskheli Monday, August 06, 2012
Karachi

The conclusion of two-day annual Urs of Hazrat Sachal Sarmast has left the scholars, researchers and creative writers annoyed over the ridiculous approach of some of the officials of provincial Culture Department. The difference between the Culture Department and the Sachal Yadgar Committee (SYC) became obvious when both the entities published parallel invitation cards and invited the people separately.

Criticizing the Culture Department, Prof (retd) Altaf Aseem, former director Sachal Chair, Shah Latif University Khairpur, said: “They (government) want to introduce state-controlled Sufism, which goes against the mindset of the Sindhi people. Being the followers of Sachal we do not believe in any kind of extremism as we want to promote the poetry and thoughts of the Sufi poet”.

Talking to The News, he said that such unnecessary interference by certain elements from the government might close the doors for youth who truly want to work for the promotion of Sufi thoughts in the province.

Aseem claims to have published 21 books on the poetry of Sachal Sarmast while he was the director of the chair. Being active member of the Yadgar Committee, Aseem says that the rivalry between the Culture Department and SYC surfaced after the committee’s budget was increased from Rs150,000 to Rs 2 million by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, who happens to be one of the founding members of the SYC.

It was learnt that the sitting Director Sachal Chair Ayaz Gul did not participate in the activities despite the fact that his name was mentioned in the cards published by both the groups. The reason was that he was not invited officially by the Culture Department.

Amar Iqbal, Assistant Editor of Sarmast - the research journal that carries scholarly articles for the last eight years – said that the SYC used to organise the entire literary and cultural activities, including Mushaira, Adabi conference and Sufi music consort but for the last four years some vested interest elements managed to involve Culture Department officials in manipulating funds.

Amar, himself a renowned poet of Sindhi language, has authored three books.

He said that the committee used to collect these scholarly articles and publish the same on the occasion of Urs, but their journal has not been receiving a single article being read during the conference for the last four years. Despite limited resources the committee has brought out 33rd Sarmast edition during this year’s Urs. The reason is that certain officials were allegedly trying to incise the role of Yadgar Committee.

It is pertinent to mention here that way back in 1959, some young creative writers, scholars and lawyers of that time, including Sindh CM Syed Qaim Ali Shah, had formed Sachal Cooperative Academy to organize literary and cultural activities on the occasion of annual Urs in Daraza. They used to collect donations from individuals to promote literature and encourage scholars to explore the poetry of Sufi poet Sachal Sarmast. Later in 1981, it was renamed as Sachal Yadgar Committee, which too continued the activities with commitment.

Till five years back, the SYC used to get funds from the provincial government which ranged from Rs100,000 to 150,000 for organizing all the events, including publishing the research journal, but the irony started when the CM increased the budget and some greedy people jumped in the field to patronize literary gathering and Mushaira just to mint money. The writers are of the opinion that this approach has annoyed the followers of Sachal Sarmast.

When contacted, Director General Culture Department Rafiq Buriro, while introducing himself as “subordinate of the subordinate”, said that he could not clarify the situation. He advised this scribe to contact the high-ups of the department. The minister herself did not respond despite several efforts to get her opinion in this regard