From: anajam@athena.mit.edu (ADIL NAJAM)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.pakistan
Subject: Dr. Akhtar Hammed Khan, Sher aur Ahmek
Date: 7 Apr 92 23:46:09 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

In reference to the Economist article about Dr. Akhtar Hameed Khan and in 
response to the posts by Saqib Mausoof and Naveed Siraj Memon, I would add
my voice to the "not so loud" chorus of people who find the incident most
disturbing, and even embarrasing.

I say so knowing that my views are biased. ...... Dr. Akhtar Hameed Khan
is a person that I respect to the level of revering......for me he is a
guru, a role model, an ustaad and an ideal all rolled in one.

Two days ago in an e-mail note to a friend on this issue I had written:

	It is indeed pathetic. In fact in the late 60s also he had been
	targeted similarly and was called all sorts of names and things 
	and was called a communist etc.  From my acquaintance with him I 
	do know that Doctor Sahib has unorthodox and progressive ideas 
	which he fearlessly and freely expresses. Being a hard and 
	dedicated man he also makes many enemies, specially since he is 
	so forthright in his statements.  From all this it is easy to 
	assume that the said news is right.

My admiration for Doctor Sahib, like that of so many others in the world,
is not because of his ideas, but because of his work.......May it be his
work in the Commilla Project, in the Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) or in
influencing such efforts as the AKRSP or Hyderabad's Khuda Ki Basti.

Dr. Akhtar Hameed Khan is indeed the fist and last word in participatory
development. His life is proof that when inspired adn given the
oppurtunity the most deprived and oppressed people can rise above the
injustices of fate and society to build for themselves not just a future
but a happy future. Anyone who has met Doctor Sahib or seen his work
cannot but be impressed and awed by the achievement. To me, all that I am
now doing or intend to do later is influenced by the hope and the belief
that what Dr. Akhtar Hameed Khan did in Orangi can be replicated across
the length and breadth of Pakistan.  I once asked Doctor Sahib how we
could "duplicate" Akhtar HAmeed Khan's so that we could have one for each
mohalla, each village, each basti of Pakistan .........His [angry] reply
was 

	".....you do not need Akhtar Hameed Khan's......you need people 
	who care and people who understand........when you have those you 
	will need no one else.........and remember Akhtar Hameed Khan 
	did not 'make' OPP, the people of Orangi did, never 
	forget that............"

The words speak for themselves.

It is indeed traggic that we cannot even honour our truly great.  When I
was doing a talk show on PTV I tried to convince PTV to call him as a 
guest on the show......I tried for six months, and was consistently
refused....their arguments were "no one knows him"........My answer was
that is exactly why we should invite him.......then they said "he has
no 'entertainment value'"..........tell me, folks, what does one say to
that!.......The irony was when in the SAARC exchange scheme PTV showed a
documentary produced by Bangladesh TV ...... lo and behold, the Bangladesh
documentary was full of (repeated) praise for him as the architect of
the Comila project and all the other self-help development schemes that
have followed.............Indeed, this is worth being ashamed of.

When will we learn to stop petty bickering.......how many great men 
must fall at the altar of the sheer insolence, ignonimity and 
pathetic incompetence of their peers?

As for the poem issue, once again we see an example of religion and
religious fervour being abused for personal vengence and petty desires. 
When I read this news in confunction with the few titbits that I have been
hearing about the murder of Christian teachers in Faisalabad, I wonder if
we are progressively losing all understanding of the real spirit of Islam?

As a lover of poetry I know that nearly any shey'r can be given any
meaning if enough perverted logic and twisting is applied to it........As 
I see the issue, that is exactly was is happening with Dr. Akhtar Hameed
Khan.......


As for the title, "sher aur Ahmak".........maybe it is appropriate.....
Indeed there is a Sher, and the Ahmak's amongst us are again trying to
cage him...............


ADIL [.....jinhay jurm-e-iishq pay naaz thaa, 
		woh gunah gaar chalay ga-aye.....] NAJAM
--------------------------------------------------------
jinhay zindagi ka shaoor tha, unhay be-zarri nay mitta diya
jo gira'N thay parda-e-khak par, wohee ban kay baithay haiN motabar
Newsgroups: soc.culture.pakistan,soc.culture.indian,soc.culture.bangladesh