If literature share a common objective to reform the society then the poetry of Josh becomes relevant in this task, the caretaker Health Minister Ejaz Rahim said at a memorial meeting to mark the 26th death anniversary of the revolutionary poet, Hazrat Shabbir Hassan Khan, Josh Maleehabadi.
The Josh Adabi and Josh Memorial Societies had organised the memorial meeting a few days ago. The minister said he felt that our society should tread the road of reason and scientific enquiry instead of making tumultuous noise about trivial things. Instead, the society should encourage people of intellect, and poets as well as writers to dish out well-reasoned solution to many of our ills, he added.
Referring to the demand of naming a road after the well-known poet Josh Maleehabadi, he said it was a come down. Dr Ghazanfar Mehdi had made a demand to the Capital Development Authority to name a street after the revered poet who gave respect to Pakistan and added luster to Islamabad when he relocated and came to live at the capital city.
However, the call was only a playing to the gallery. In similar meetings in past years at death or birth anniversary of Josh the audience listened to a number of unfulfilled promises. In 2001 Dr Mehdi cajoled the former culture Minister Colonel SK Tressler into making a declaration that a mausoleum would be built on the poet's grave.
The Josh Adabi Society, of which Dr Mehdi is President, also made a public pronouncement that the society would compile and publish Josh's complete works. This promise, too, has not been kept.
Nevertheless the subject of past promises resurfaced when Dr Alya Imam, well known for her published critique of Josh said in the meeting that she was helping a newspaper collect prose, poetical work, letters and interviews of Josh.
Though uncalled for, on an occasion such as this, being a memorial meeting to mark Josh's death anniversary, a number of speakers spoke on the religiosity of the poet. Tabassum Akhlaque, Josh's grand-daughter, and President of Josh Memorial Society, as well as Farrukh, josh's grandson, recalled how passionately Josh revered Islam, the holy Prophet (PBUH) as well as the pious members of the Prophet's household.
Professor Fateh Muhammad Malik, Chairman of National Language Authority, said that Josh did not need a certificate either about his love of Islam and, or Pakistan. Both were self evident.
Dr Riaz Khan, Head of the Institute of History and Cultural Research, urged for increased opportunities for the people to listen to the poetry of Josh Maleehabadi as well as works of other literary persons.