Since he is in critical condition these days, I should point out that in 2004 he was awarded the Hillal-e-Imtiaz by Musharraf. However, in 2006 he returned it after getting disenchanted with the dictator and his brutal policies. This was even before Musharraf went totally crazy in 2007. He returned the award and said this:
**“My conscious will not forgive me if I remained a silent spectator of the sad happenings around us. The least I can do is to let the dictatorship know where it stands in the eyes of the concerned citizens whose fundamental rights have been usurped. I am doing this by returning the Hilal-e-Imtiaz (civil) forthwith and refuse to associate myself in any way with the regime…” a statement issued by the poet.
**
Before this, he was also arrested in Zia’s time for mashairas where he spoke against dictatorship. What a great person indeed, always spoke the truth, and was never fearful of doing so. Please pray for him!
Yes he is a great poet... He did the same thing with the Zia Coup, when he had read some poems against the authoritarion dictatorship and Zia's regime went after him forcefully.
He was against ZAB's execution and went into exile when Zia was playing with country's fate.
Change in society comes one step at a time. Many intellectuals and rebel poets, advocate revolution. Such revolutions come with an expiry date (check Iran and afganistan case). A slow and steady approach leads to more durable results. Freedom of speach (and media) provided by Musharraf (and only Musharraf) was a great first step. Re-destroy and re-built, will lead to nowhere, is something poets, intellectuals and NGOs need to undertstand.
Change in society comes one step at a time. Many intellectuals and rebel poets, advocate revolution. Such revolutions come with an expiry date (check Iran and afganistan case). A slow and steady approach leads to more durable results**. Freedom of speach (and media) provided by Musharraf (and only Musharraf) was a great first step. **Re-destroy and re-built, will lead to nowhere, is something poets, intellectuals and NGOs need to undertstand.
lol Freedom of speech by Musharraf! What a joke!
House arrests, ouster of media, beating up kids, civilians, lawyers, politicians, bending over to outside powers, silencing channels, imposing emergencies, bringing up false charges etc etc
This is why Faraz spat and thew the hilal-e-imtiaz back at the ugly face of dictatorship.
Change in society comes one step at a time. Many intellectuals and rebel poets, advocate revolution. Such revolutions come with an expiry date (check Iran and afganistan case). A slow and steady approach leads to more durable results. Freedom of speach (and media) provided by Musharraf (and only Musharraf) was a great first step. Re-destroy and re-built, will lead to nowhere, is something poets, intellectuals and NGOs need to undertstand.
And that only one "intellectual" understands, the highly intelligent, who says "Pakistan needs me", "sab se pehlay Pakistan", right? The ones don't understand are non-intellectuals and don't think "sab se pehlay Pakistan".
*Faraz is indeed amazing, even in 2006 he predicted where Musharraf was heading... So much of what he said has been true in the last 2 years! *
ISLAMABAD, 24 July 2006 — Renowned Pakistani poet Ahmed Faraz, in a unique protest, has returned a top civilian award, saying that the “country’s constitution has been flagrantly violated by the government, human rights are being denied and the country is heading toward dictatorship.”
Acknowledging that ‘Hilal-e-Imtiaz’ (civil) awarded to him in 2004 was “a great honor,” Faraz said this was given to him “by a regime that has denied the people their basic democratic rights,” The News said.
He said, in my whole literary career I have served human causes and now I feel guilty of retaining the Hilal-e-Imtiaz because human rights and justice is being denied to the people of Pakistan. He said the continuing military actions in Balochistan and Waziristan was the reason behind his decision. “In protest, I have returned the award.”
“In accepting the award, I had hoped that as promised the democratic rights of people would soon be restored,” Faraz said in a letter addressed to the media. Faraz’s action was prompted by his “great disappointment” at Musharraf’s address to the nation last week. Faraz warned that “Musharraf was treading the same path that we treaded in 1971 that led to the dismemberment of the country,” referring to the break up of Pakistan’s eastern wing that became an independent Bangladesh.
Digging deep on the reason behind returning the award, Faraz said: “My conscience will not forgive me if I remained a silent spectator of the sad happenings around us. The least I can do is to let the government know where it stands in the eyes of the concerned citizens, whose fundamental rights have been usurped.”
Meanwhile, in a rare coming together of diverse opinion, Musharraf has been urged to shed the army chief’s post to help the depoliticization of Pakistan’s armed forces.
“Besides being a constitutional office, the office of president is also a political office. Combining the presidency with the office of chief of army staff politicizes the latter post as well as the army,” reads a letter signed by 18 personalities, The Nation said.
The group includes MPs, including one from the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League, former MPs, former ministers, former governors, two former chiefs of the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, two academics and an editor.
Surprisingly some of these general remained very close to Musharraf like Lt. Gen. Tanvir Naqvi, the architect of ‘Devolution Plan”, Lt. Gen. Talat Masood, Lt. Gen. Assad Durrani the former chief of ISI, Lt. Gen. Hamid Gul former spymaster, Sen. S.M. Zafar from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, columnist Mujibur Rehman Shami and former Information Minister Javed Jabbar. Former Interior Minister Lt. Gen. (retired) Moinuddin Haider, former Balochistan Governor Lt. Gen. (retired) Abdul Qadir and former Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz also signed the letter, according to paper. — With input from IANS