In 2007 during #Musharraf’s #Emergency I was invited by my alma mater in US to come & speak about it. This was a time when Musharraf Govt sent a delegation with Kashmala Tariq as part of it to promote it’s stance. My talk went well. There was a clear divide between US Govt’s 1/
& US academia’s stance towards Musharraf & his travesties. As it turned out I was then invited by several other universities/other platforms to speak & did my best to push back against Musharraf’s illegal policies. A day or so before my departure back home some lawyer friends 2/
urgently got in contact/advised that I stay back as an FIR had been lodged against me/3 fellow #LUMS profs for inciting students against govt. This was the initial stage of Emergency when civil society protestors were being actively clamped down on. The FIR made for hilarious 3/
reading. A police constable on night duty somewhere close to a graveyard in DHA had spotted a youngster wall chalking slogans against the govt. On being asked to desist he ran off. The constable gave chase & kept asking him who had set him to engage in the illegality. Upon 4/
this the ‘fleeing’ culprit revealed that he had been incited by 4 LUMS faculty members including myself. Not only was I away from Pak at that time so were 2 others from amongst the 4, 1 of whom based in US. Quite apart from the fact that FIR was an utter fabrication, I was 5/
appalled by abysmal faculty student ratio. So govt thought it took 4 of us to mislead 1 poor soul 2 write slogans on graveyard walls in dead of night. Such pathetic influencers. It was one of my 1st encounters with the State when it goes rogue. In previous weeks as well some 6/
of us had been avoiding our own homes for fear of illegal arrest. Had to explain it to my 7 year old son who asked me if Musharraf was a baddie. That was rather simple to answer. Musharraf’s initial zeal soon wore off. After intimidating LUMS faculty & students he tried to 7/
make up with them but the place evolved into a vibrant & defiant hub for anti-Musharraf resistance in the coming period. Reading the kinds of FIRs that have been recently filed against dissenters & journalists it is apparent that the repressive State has developed no great 8/
sophistication in abusing the law. FIRs are as ridiculous as ever. Extra judicial disappearances are as frequent & more blatant when it comes to mainstream journalists - from under the very noses of the executive & judiciary. There is no explanation. The silence is so openly 9/
contemptuous of notions of rule of law. One big diff is that Musharraf was v. much exposed as a ragged dictator imposing an Emergency against his own govt. Now everything done under thin guise of an ethos proclaimed to be fresh, naya & deeply democratic - a break from the past
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More from @DrOsamaSiddique

3 Sep
Not so long after #ASuitableBoy came out I first met #VikramSeth autographing copies at #Blackwells at #Oxford. When my turn came he asked where I was from. I told him. He warmed up - he was already fairly jovial with those present - & told me how he learnt Urdu for the novel 1/
that he loved Urdu poetry & wished to visit Pakistan. He wrote a couple of sentences in Urdu on my copy. Turned out he was an alumnus of #corpuschristi which I was attending & which had recently made him Honorary Fellow. I asked him for an interview which he very graciously 2/
agreed to. A few days later we sat in the heavenly back lawn of our College. Libas Magazine carried it in the summer of ‘94. I met him a few times thereafter as well - we invited him over for a reading & he invited me back for formal hall. A few times he hung out in the 3/
Read 9 tweets
22 Jul
Remembering #Anarkali (from #SnuffingOuttheMoon)"he caught sight of a pomegranate tree & its blood‑red blossoms—& he thought of Anarkali. Only a score of years had passed & yet, Anarkali was already a legend
rather than a memory. Being entombed alive in a wall had
that effect 1/
But that face—like a dew-­covered pomegranate blossom—still lingered in the mind. Had she breathed her last in the close embrace of brick & mortar or was the rumour
true that her mother managed to contrive her escape? In the days after her condemnation by Emperor Akbar for 2/
becoming Salim’s paramour, he'd looked for her like a man possessed. But he was destined never to set his eyes on that comely face again. & now all these years had passed & in the few that remained he'd never know. Ah, but to catch a glimpse of that shy & radiant smile once more"
Read 4 tweets
17 Jul
Some years ago Oxford University Press embarked on an exciting venture to reprint classics of Urdu literature in highly readable, carefully edited/researched & aesthetically produced texts. Under @microMAF’s driven/inspiring watch many lovely vols came out including 3 vols 1/
of Tilism-e-Hoshruba, 4 of Ratan Nath Sarshar’s Alif Laila, & Ghalib Lakhnavi’s brilliant condensed version of Dastan-e-Amir Hamza. For the 1st time these texts being made available in readable scripts, professionally edited versions with great cover art by Michelle Farooqi 2/
Then tragically project was abandoned with 21 vols of Tilism, 1 of Alif Laila, other books in the works left undone. Not only that all those already printed out of print for some time. This was potentially a great literary contribution. I fail to see how it wasn’t sustainable 3/
Read 11 tweets
30 Jun
Majlis-e-Taraqi-e-Adab is a public sector institution 4 promotion of #Urdu language/literature. I have admired their publications (they have scores) in the past. Today on a whim (while looking for full version of Hatim Tai epic) I went masked & all to their premises. It's just 1/
off Mall Road past GOR 1 entrance & before PC Hotel, Lahore. Inside are acres of evacuee property land, old bungalow styled buildings with high ceilings, peeling paint & airy verandahs, & vast tree shaded lawns. The Majlis is housed in one of the buildings at the very back. 2/
There are 2 other centers as well. I gathered a large haul of classic Urdu novels & several epics that I needed for my current writing. Ridiculously inexpensive (25 books in all for mere Rs. 4000 after discount) & the staff quite helpful. But they could do with more inspired 3/
Read 11 tweets
30 Jun
Majlis-e-Taraqi-e-Adab is a public sector institution for promotion of #Urdu language & literature. I have admired some of their publications in the past. Today on a whim (while looking for a full version of the Hatim Tai epic) I went masked & all to their premises. It's just 1/
off Mall Road past GOR 1 entrance & before PC Hotel, Lahore. Inside are acres of evacuee property land, old bungalow styled buildings with high ceilings, peeling paint & airy verandahs, & vast tree shaded lawns.

The Majlis is housed in one of the buildings at the very back. 2/
There are 2 other centers as well. I gathered a large haul of classical Urdu novels & several epics that I needed for my current writing. Ridiculously inexpensive (25 books in all for a mere Rs. 4000 after discount) & the staff was quite helpful. But they could do with more 3/
Read 11 tweets
29 Jun
Many yrs ago the Warden of #RhodesHouse said to us. “Cecil Rhodes was a great man. That doesn’t mean that he was a good man.” He was an eminent philosopher. We mulled over the important distinction whereby someone could unleash tremendous events while being morally bankrupt 1/
While Rhodes Scholarship stands today for academic excellence/is open to many developing country students (but still heavily tilted towards Americans whom #Rhodes wanted to woo) the Q remains how to denounce his racist & imperialist legacy while recognising his founding of the 3/
Scholarship. For some time now calls for pulling down his statue quite strident. Will it upend & tear down deep structural mechanisms of exploitation based on colonial era looting & extraction? Likely not. Can we retain recollection of his historical role if we remove statue? 4/
Read 8 tweets

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