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Won’t you wait for the full moon?’ With this long poem she posed an eternal question before the masses of Pakistan. It was the 1980s, when Fahmida Riaz weaved verses around the defeat of democracy and death of pro-people politics in her beloved country. She reminded the political leaders that it was their duty to fight to uphold the ideals of democracy. ‘Had they fought back along with the masses, I would have surely penned their heroic song too. I am just a balladeer.’
The poet of resistance passed away in Lahore on Wednesday. She was 72. Born in Meerut, Riaz entered the literary world with her anthology of poetry Pathar Ki Zuban in 1967. In her second book, Badan Darida, published in 1973, she created a new poetic language, the language of feminine sensuality.
She authored 15 books of both poetry and prose, and remained aligned to the Pakistan People’s Party. Her stinging poetry invited the ire of both the fundamentalists and the establishment. In the times of Zia-ul-Haq, she had to leave her beloved motherland and stayed in Delhi for six years. Here she taught at Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia University and became friends with celebrated Punjabi poet Amrita Pritam. She had seen the impact of fundamentalist politics in Pakistan. When she saw it raising its head in India, she came out with a brilliant poetic response: ‘Tum bilkul hum jaise nikale, Ab tak kahan chhippe the bhai…’ (So, you turned out to be just like us. Where were you hiding all this while, my friend…)
She could see that just like Pakistan, India was knee deep in orthodox communal politics. She continued with the sharp satire in the same poem: ‘Voh moorkhta, voh ghammadpan/ Jisme humne sadi gawai/ Aakhir pahunchi dwar tumhare/ Arre badhai, bohat badhai.’ (That foolishness, that ignorance/ We lost the century/ Look, now it has knocked your door/ Many, many congratulations to you!)
Fahmida Riaz sang the songs of human liberation, the songs of women’s freedom. Her life was full of struggle. She created beautiful verses, which could never be chained, just like the words of Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Parveen Shakir. She will always be remembered in the same literary tradition.
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