The Halqa was a unique institution
I met Intizar Hussain for the first time in 1952 in Pak Tea House. I had just joined college. Sajjad Rizvi, who taught us Urdu literature, was the Joint Secretary of Halqa-e Arbab-e Zauq and he encouraged students to attend the Halqa meetings, which were held then in YMCA’s Board Room. Anjum Roomani, who taught mathematics at Diyal Singh College, was also a prominent Halqa member and a Pak Tea House addict. By 1959 when I started teaching, I was considered fit to be appointed the Joint Secretary of the Halqa, an office that I retained for a number of years.
Intizar Hussain, Riaz Ahmad, Sher Muhammad Akhtar, Qayyum Nazar, Shuhrat Bukhari, Shahzad Ahmad and Ijaz Batalvi were regular participants in the Halqa’s proceedings. Nasir Kazmi, Munir Niazi, Anwar Sajjad, and Mubarik Ahmad were irregular visitors. Iftikhar Jalib, Anis Nagi and a number of younger writers also gradually gravitated to the meetings. The Halqa was a unique institution. No other literary society in the city had brought together so many outstanding literary figures or encouraged and trained such a larger number of young writers. Sher Muhammad Akhtar, who edited Nawa-e-Waqt’s weekly literary magazine “Qindeel”, and Qayyum Nazar who taught at GC were among the major talent hunters. Everybody who had something new to say and was willing to be judged by the participants in the meetings was welcome. The critics spared none, young or old.
A major contribution of the Halqa was the introduction of a criticism session after a literary piece had been read out. In a society where the level of tolerance is not high and difference of opinion, especially on the part of the younger and less experienced, is not looked at favourably and where rival politicians fly at each other’s throat on account of petty differences, making literary stars listen to criticism on their pieces from individuals who sometimes had limited literary exposure was no mean development.
Intizar Hussain was another promoter of the talented youth. Among those who were often found on his table included Zahid Dar, Ahmad Mushtaq and Saeed Ahmad. Zahid Dar remained a constant companion till Intizar’s death. Ahmad Mushtaq migrated to the US and Saeed died early.
Intizar Hussain was a unique short story writer. He had deeply imbibed the classical tradition, Indian Muslim culture as well as local myths and folk lore. As he read modern Western literature the new influences became an organic part of what he already possessed. Migrating from UP after Partition Intizar settled down in Lahore for good. While he continued to fondly remember the past, the present too became a part of his outlook. He mourned when a huge Pipal tree at the gate of the Punjab University’s old campus was cut down. As Mehr Afshan Farooqi puts it, he inhabited many worlds but never lost touch with reality.
The writers associated with the Halqa represented modernist trends. They were all secular. Every relevant development in art and literature was discussed at the weekly forum. There were discussions on Freud, on Jung’s concept of collective unconscious and Sartre’s existentialism. Also on Jean Genet, Albert Camus and Jean Paul Sartre. But soon other issues also began to be raised in the debates.
Right at the beginning of the Sixties one could smell dissent in the air. As political repression increased under Ayub Khan, so did resistance. The students took to the streets against the three year degree course and were meted out rough treatment. The standoff on the streets of Karachi, Lahore, Multan and Faisalabad continued during 1961-62. Police took recourse to baton charges, tear gas shelling and expulsions of student leaders. Some were sentenced by military courts. The notorious University Ordinance gave birth to yet another wave of protests that rocked the urban centres in 1963-64.
Towards the end of 1964 the race for presidential elections caused a lot of social commotion. Ayub Khan was challenged by Fatima Jinnah who was the candidate of the Combined Opposition Parties (COP). The student community being foremost in the anti-Ayub upsurge had to bear the burden of the consequent repression. The press was gagged, censorship introduced, leading journalists also to jump into the anti-Ayub fray.
The government, under advice from Qudrat Ullah Shahab, had meanwhile set up the Writers Guild to enlist the support of the intellectuals for the autocratic government. None from the Halqa identified himself with the rival organisation, which held meetings at its Montgomery Road premises.
Meanwhile, another issue assumed importance in the Halqa’s weekly discussions and the forceful way with which it was pressed finally led to its split. As the body encouraged discussion on important trends, a new generation of Marxist activists made its presence felt in the meetings.
The situation in the country and the ongoing discussions both inside and outside the Halqa affected a number of writers. They reacted in different ways. Noon Meem Rashid’s poem “Israfeel Ki Maut” was one way, Habib Jalib’s poetry another.
“Israfeel Ki Maut” employs the powerful symbol of the angel who is supposed to awaken the dead on the Day of Judgment with the sound of his bugle. In the poem the angel himself is dead while his bugle is lying by his side. None could miss the message that the poem was a strong diatribe against the restrictions on freedom of speech. Nothing was said directly and there was no call for action at the end of the poem asking people to rise against Ayub.
Habib Jalib’s message however was more direct. Jalib who once wrote about the suffering of unrequited love was transformed during the period into a poet issuing calls to the people to rise, overthrow the autocratic regime and set up a pro-poor system. Jalib was invited to political gatherings where his poetry was widely appreciated by the participants.
Azizul Haq and those around him declared those who did not write for social change as reactionaries. Then they took an extreme step by splitting the Halqa. The few who agreed with him called themselves Halqa-e-Arbab-e Zauq (Political).
Intizar Hussain, however, continued writing in his inimitable style, avoiding loudness and eschewing sloganeering. He never forgave those who split the Halqa but never used their strident tone to rebut. Whenever social issues crop up in his stories they find expression through symbols borrowed from religion, folkore or mythology. “Aakhri Aadmi” (The Last Man) which describes the transformation of man back to apes is based on a Quranic curse which turns a group of degenerates into monkeys.
In 1968 the movement for the restoration of democracy turned into a countrywide struggle. For months there were daily processions that passed by the Pak Tea House. A number of writers close to Intizar would come out to watch the protests. Some joined them for a while. Zahid Dar was once badly tortured by police and Ahmad Mushtaq developed a liking for the PPP. Habib Jalib was a much sought after person as his poems had become hits at the public meetings. Intizar, meanwhile, maintained his poise.
