Please see the Update at the end of this article - the original version of the text has been revised to reflect this new information:
| The Pakistani artist Salima Hashmi has uncovered new letters between her parents, the poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz and his English wife Alys George. A selection has been posted online, including one from Faiz in Lahore to to Alys in Srinagar in 1947 - and concerned about the Partition turmoil in Punjab and the impact of the Radcliffe award. |  Alys and Faiz |
In the letter, Faiz writes: The Muslims have got their Pakistan, the Hindus and Sikhs their divided Punjab and Bengal, but I have yet to meet a person, Muslim, Hindu or Sikh who feels enthusiastic about the future. I can't think of any country whose people felt so miserable on the eve of freedom and liberation. Both morally and politically the British could not have hoped for a greater triumph.
Alys and Faiz married at Pari Mahal in Srinagar in 1941 - Sheikh Abdullah solemnised the nikah. Her sister Christobel married Dr M.D Taseer, a Marxist and college principal in Srinagar - their son Salman Taseer was governor of the Pakistan province of Punjab and was assassinated in 2011 over his stand for reform of the blasphemy laws.
Alys and Faiz married at Pari Mahal in Srinagar in 1941 - Sheikh Abdullah solemnised the nikah. Her sister Christobel married Dr M.D Taseer, a Marxist and college principal in Srinagar - their son Salman Taseer was governor of the Pakistan province of Punjab and was assassinated in 2011 over his stand for reform of the blasphemy laws.
Here's the link to Salima Hashmi's article - but see the Update below. It would be intriguing to know if there are more letters from and about Srinagar in the cache that has been uncovered.
At the same time, Dawn has announced that there is to be a celebration of the centenary of Alys Faiz's birth on September 20th - the precise anniversary is two days later.
UPDATE: We've heard directly from Salima Hashmi that the ScrollIn article, which cites a letter it says Alys sent from Srinagar to Faiz in Lahore in 1947, contains a material error. She says: 'Actually the letter is erroneously attributed to my mother. Both letters are to her from my father. Both written to her in Srinagar from Lahore. He was working at the Pakistan Times which appeared in August that year. This error is because I made a verbal presentation at a Seminar in Bangalore...which included her letters written to him when he was in jail in the 50's . I have yet to find time to sort this one out!'
UPDATE: We've heard directly from Salima Hashmi that the ScrollIn article, which cites a letter it says Alys sent from Srinagar to Faiz in Lahore in 1947, contains a material error. She says: 'Actually the letter is erroneously attributed to my mother. Both letters are to her from my father. Both written to her in Srinagar from Lahore. He was working at the Pakistan Times which appeared in August that year. This error is because I made a verbal presentation at a Seminar in Bangalore...which included her letters written to him when he was in jail in the 50's . I have yet to find time to sort this one out!'
Faiz and Alys (Dawn)
RSS Feed