Koi Aasooda Nahi Ahal Siyasat Ke Siwa

By Tariq Mir, "The Poet Sees The Hand Of Uncle Sam In Third World Mess" - Greater Kashmir - Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, India
Saturday, September 27, 2008

Jammu: Muqtida Hasan Nida Fazli, Nida Fazli in short, is one of the most famous poets in the subcontinents. It was sheer luck to spend a few moments with the poet during a brief journey to Jammu airport.

Author of such memorable film songs as Tu Is Tarha Se Meri zindagi mein Shaamil hai (Aap To Aise Na The) and Hosh Waalon Ko Kya Khabar (Sarfarosh), Fazli had been invited to All India Urdu Mushaira at Jammu this year.

He has been called as a poet of various moods. I tried to get him talking about politics particularly the Kashmir dispute.

“Kashmir dispute is more informed by the realpolitik than humanitatarian concerns, and it is a fact that for we people in the third world, after the end of Soviet influence, an era of American hegemony has overwhelmed us. Americans are calling the shots, and people are praising darkness and light alike at their bidding. And whatever is happening in Kashmir is part of that politics,” Fazli says.

“I think besides the politicians, the role of the teachings of Sufi Saints would come handy in the resolution of the issue. Kashmir can be a model for such a resolution mediated by the Sufi teachings,” Fazli said.

Fazli believes that a couplet Koi aasooda nahi ahal siyasat ke siwa (nobody is rich except the practioners of politics) sums it up all.

“December 27, the birthday of Mirza Ghalib, was both a day of happiness and sadness for me. Happy in that the father of style was born on that day. Through words he created a world where the man was the destiny of man. But at the end of the day, when Benazir Bhutto was killed, I found Ghalib’s world was shattered. The one who killed Benazir was probably a Muslim, but the one who killed Rajiv Gandhi was a Hindu. John F Kennedy’s assassin was a Christian.

I think Ghalib’s world is being killed every moment and it is imperative to stop this mayhem, wherever it is happening,” the poet said.

As a noted literrateur how do you view the developments in Kashmir, between India and Pakistan?
“I am watching the developments keenly, but cautiously, too, for I can’t lose sight of the fact that whatever is happening in the world, the sole world power has a hand in it. Extremism in South Asia is an American gift and the whole third world is like a puppet whose strings are pulled by the Americans. But I hope whatever positive is happening should continue to happen, borders should melt away, and humanity should be the benchmark not the language and nationalities.”

About Indian Muslims?
I am not used to think of Muslims as a separate entity in the country. But I believe that Pandit Nehru began the process of using Muslims as vote bank and never allowed them to join the mainstream.

State of Urdu?
In India, under the influence of politics, the Urdu has been reduced to Mushairas, Qawali, or Ghazal singing events. But I find it reassuring that teaching of Urdu in primary schools in Jammu and Kashmir is really the way Urdu can be nourished. Second, the relationship of Urdu with the society in Kashmir is economic, and whatever is not linked to economy becomes dead, even if the language has become a exhibitionist relic. But I am dejected to know that though Urdu is the official language of the state, nobody has thought of setting up an Urdu Academy. In other states, where Urdu is not even a second category but fourth or fifth category language, Urdu Academies have been established.

Your visits to Kashmir?
I have been coming to Kashmir since Farooq Abdullah’s rule. Five or six years ago, on the invitation of Khalid Hussain, then DC Poonch, and young poet Liyaqat Jaffri, I came to accept an award instituted in the name of Charanam Hasan Hasrat. My Poonch visit is vivid in my memory particularly a very emotional meeting with the nephews of Hasrat Sahib.