ubarak Qazi (1956-2023), one of the most prolific and popular modern Balochi poets, was a nonconformist who lived an eccentric life guided only by his own principles.

The love and respect Qazi received in his lifetime maybe all a poet can dream of. Despite his eccentricity and a hysterical approach in later life, he enjoyed a cult status. He was equally popular amongst pre-teens and senior citizens. The youth had an emotional and somewhat spiritual attachment to him. The moment he appeared in a gathering, many would throng him, kiss his hands, and hug him. He reciprocated their devotion with similar love and affection. The reason behind such popularity was his unwavering commitment and unshakable determination to uphold the glory of truth and liberty, which he enshrined in his timeless poetry. His poetry was pivotal in creating political awareness amongst the masses, especially the youth.

Mubarak Qazi is credited with making poetry a vocation for the masses in a lucid vocabulary. In other words, Qazi became a people’s conscience, addressing them in a language they could easily comprehend and decipher. Instead of maintaining a subtle or vague approach, he conveyed his sentiments in simple and unembellished language.

In a literary journey that went on for nearly five decades, Qazi became a household name synonymous with an unwavering stance against repressive and tyrannical regimes. He was incarcerated and persecuted for his stand against tyranny and oppression. An unyielding man, Qazi never minced his words in defiance of oppression. He was never afraid to pay the heavy price for his beliefs and ideals. His short poem Gwachin (Truth) depicts his resolve:

Drag me to the gallows

A thousand times s

Burn and bury me

Again I shall rise

And speak the truth.

Another short poem carrying the same sentiment is reflective of his determination:

Whether you erase the trails of my blood

Or crush my bones

Or cast me to the hell’s tyranny

I live on, even when I am dead

I wonder how you will perish me.

His poem The Kalashnikov gives a new dimension to modern Balochi resistance poetry. It’s a poem with a touch of universality, which, on the one hand, outlines the resentment brewing in the blood of the younger people in an oppressed nation, and on the other, sheds light on the fact of how a war changes the masses’ priorities.

Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti’s assassination changed the course of several Baloch politics and brought a significant shift in the poetics of Balochi resistance poetry. Qazi was leading from the front. His poem Tau Zindag ay (You live on) is a classical tribute to Bugti for his political struggle. The poem also asserts that high ideals can never be stifled and they continue to reverberate in one way or another:

You live on

As long as the plains witness fire and flame

You live on

Till the last star the heaven does claim

You live on

As long as a jasmine blossoms in the lap of the earth

As long as lightning strikes over a mountain

Qazi has left an indelible mark on Balochi romantic poetry. His romanticism is drenched with a peculiar type of lyricism and musicality. He writes the verses integrated with images of romance and intimacy with inimitable and enviable simplicity. His romanticism vacillates between the quest of carnal delight and fantasy for an unrequited love:

The love and respect Qazi received in his lifetime maybe all that a poet can dream of. Despite his eccentricity and a hysterical approach in later life, he enjoyed a cult status.

A step or two

And your door

I’m crumbled and collapsed

So near, so close.

Or

Like a flooding river,

In our veins courses, the amorous delight

In the darkness of the night

For how long our love we must hide?

Let’s now reveal it to the world

Tormented are you; so am I.

However, this most-revered and sought-after poet is haunted by a deep sense of alienation in the society where he is almost worshipped as a poetic genius. He describes the feeling:

Qazi, I’m a stranger in my own times

I wonder, after all, which era is mine.

Qazi is a romantic who sometimes finds himself trapped between two conflicting worlds. In a world driven by lust and material desires his longs for high moral and aesthetic values. He worries that everything, including relationships, has been commodified:

Here, nobody seeks the treasure of love and loyalty

Here, everyone lusts for wealth and riches; the lamp is all alone

His ghazal ending with the radeef “Baha bant” (are sold) is a lament over a commodified world.

In the poem titled Salah (Way Forward), Qazi poignantly articulates the dilemma of love and material longing causing discontent between a lover and his beloved:

How can we get along?

You, a fair maiden from the city

And I, a rustic shepherd

Lamps flicker from the spring

Of my imagination

A thousand moons pour out light

To illuminate my dark nights

I live and hope to see

The arrival of a rainbow-coloured springtide

But you desire palaces and castles

And colourful cars.

At times, frustration overwhelms him to the extent that he seeks emancipation from his existence as a human being:

Humanity was not a gain for us,

Nothing we got from fellow humans

Let’s now become wild birds,

Tormented are you, so am I.

The passing of Mubarak Qazi, who single-handedly ruled the world of modern Balochi poetry for decades, is a loss modern Balochi literature can ill afford. It takes centuries to fill such a void. He will continue to inspire generations of his people with his poetry as he had been doing since his first appearance on the firmament of Balochi literature:

No matter if I cease to exist,

I’m sure

On the walls of the city

My words remain scrawled forever.

Translations are by the author

The writer is a Balochi author and translator. He is also an assistant professor at Atta Shad Degree College, Turbat. He tweets @FazalBaloch