Dr. Sohail snatched words from my mouth.
Dekhna Taqreer Ki Lazzat Keh Jo Uss Nay Kaha
Main Nay Yeh Jana Keh Goya Bhi Mere Dil Main Hay
Being an optimist I wish Dr. Sohail's
dream comes true. I had same wish since my student days in Punjab University. Born and raised in an
extremely conservative and religious family I was newly converted to
humanist-socialist thinking. That was the time when I was young, ambitious,
motivated and highly convinced that my newly found Nirvana is the only hope
for humanity. My first few days in university were a big sock to me. Campus
was filled with Moudoodists and they had a
complete control of both residential and academic buildings of campus. The
second shock was to see liberals divided in an infinite number of small
groups like NSF, PSF, NSO, PSO, ISO, MSF, you name. All year round they
fight with each other on petty things but cobble a fragile alliance during
elections that they always loose. I observed similar phenomena among progressive poets and writers,
the same writers whose writings triggered my paradigm shift from a narrow
minded fundamentalist to a thinking liberal. After meeting them in person
soon I found that beside their ideology many of these great writers also
share jealousy, cocoon thinking and self-praise. I have observed a very
similar trait among prominent groups of moderate Muslims. Fundamentalism
feeds on ignorance and poverty but 'enlightened moderates' starve
themselves with their cocoon thinking.
I completely agree with Dr. Sohail and appreciate his
noble intentions. We can succeed if we agree that heterogeneity of views
breeds Creativity, diversity is beautiful and that difference of opinion or
criticism should not be taken as personal.
Tahir Ahmed
Milton, Ontario