Prof. Waris Mir, a writer and a fighter

There is a rising trend of tagging those writers and intellectuals as anti-state and traitors who dare to think and write differently, which is a dilemma. Waris Mir had to face the same dilemma. But the fact remains that he was an intellectually gifted journalist and one of those dedicated writers who had the courage to put their lives at stake to preserve the sanctity of their pen by challenging military dictators.

Waris Mir is recognized for his courageous struggle to uphold the cause of democracy, press freedom and women’s rights through his bold writings during the dictatorial era of General Ziaul Haq. Not that the falsehood of labelling Waris Mir is new to the man who stays relevant even today, mainly because of his progressive approach. Waris Mir himself fought vehemently for his right to free expression and for the freedom of thought during the roughest stint of Zia martial law ever experienced by the nation. In his last column, published in Daily Jang in 1987, posthumously, he doesn’t sound like a man under pressure but like a man asserting his right to speak as well as still trying to make sense of a chaotic world for not his readers among the junta but also those who could not bear to listen to him anymore, but listen they did, nonetheless, in order to tighten the noose of job security and right to free speech around him.

Prof Waris Mir writes, “It seems to me, that those people, who misuse their power of the pen, to strengthen the ill-meant political system of present day Pakistan – a military democracy – as they call it, are’ the ones dear and near to their favourite general and have been awarded with certificates of patriotism. However, those people who thrive despite the tangled web of personal gains designed by the political elite, are called fungus for the land of Pakistan. The people of Pakistan, have always been led by the nose by those political leaders who never want the masses to learn, that behind all pseudo agendas of religion and politics, these so called leaders are always serving themselves bog scoops of self-interest. When governments base their policies on orthodox and obsolete policies, it is usually done under the camouflage of undisputable whims of religion, no matter how counterproductive they are. Similarly, those voices or words which exercise the right to debate these issues are either silenced by force or are given colourful labels to discredit them.”

As per Waris Mir’s school of thought, journalism cannot be a ‘feel-good’ medium of expression. It is by and large, a textual description of a tangible or intangible scene. It requires the techniques of allegory from literary references and of literary review from journalistic ones. Journalism is raw text, both in writing and in speech, but with a flair. It is as informative as it is educational, and in no measures is it pulp, beaten nor whisked. Waris Mir’s writings are exemplary of these characteristics.

The line between literature and journalism is porous. While thoroughly researched essays and bodies of text quoted as reference handbooks have largely been part of journalistic writing, such as those of Waris Mir, who not only taught journalism at the Mass Communication Department at the University of the Punjab during the tyrannical Ziaul Haq regime, but also wrote columns in established and leading newspapers in Urdu, in a way that they have been put together in several volumes of collections of essays.

In an interview on October 3, 1981, Waris Mir’s thunderous voice boomed through the transmitters of Radio Pakistan, where he discussed the style of writing and reading. He said, “I have found more knowledge in the books not prescribed by the curriculum but those which my teachers or seniors at school would be reading in their spare time. One’s experience is enriched through reading and an enriched mind is more capable of writing positive and productive notes in the vast scripture that nature has put in front of us.” It takes not just a journalist but a well-read man to see his surroundings as a book, in which one writes history in their own way with every passing day. “I tell my students this every day, the essentiality of grasping reality from different angles, which can better be done out in the field rather than in the classroom. This correlation between the social structures around us affect us, and in turn, we affect them. It is better to be well-equipped to exude positivity into our environs”.

Waris Mir, like most rebels, has been written about in those margins which fall on the right side of history. Those who are still trying to malign his name, are doing a disservice to themselves alone, and in a way, a service to Mir’s name which resurfaces during every debate and bit of writing wherein patriotic writing, journalistic credential and good values of commitment are being written of Ahmed Bashir, a friend and companion of Mir, writes in his column titled ‘The Story of a Rebel, “Waris Mir was a truthful and realistic writer. His references were from history as they were from the Quran. It is not possible to dispose him off or write him off. His last days were very painful because of the atrocities he had to face at the hands of Zia junta. But Waris Mir died fighting, with his boots on at the young age of 48. His death deprived the pen of a warrior, and Pakistan of a true patriot.”