The Rediff Special/ Aftab Hussain
'They wanted to make me sign a
statement against Nawaz Sharief'
Pakistani poet Aftab Hussain is beginning to miss home. Almost a month after he fled Pakistan to escape persecution by its military regime, he has intensified efforts to find friends in India. He believes they will help him get back to his homeland and family. He issued a detailed statement in Delhi recently explaining the circumstances which forced him to cross over to India.
Dear Friends,
I am an Urdu poet and an assistant professor of Urdu language and literature in a Lahore-based college. I have been compelled to leave my motherland after severe harassment by Pakistani security hawks. They wanted to make me sign as a wadha muaaf gawah against the deposed Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharief.
It all began in 1998 when I visited India to collect research material on the life and works of renowned Urdu critic Kalim Uddin Ahmed for my doctoral dissertation. I stayed in India for nearly three months and during this period a new edition of my poetry collection Matla was published in Delhi.
Though my stay was mainly restricted to Patna, the native town of Kalim Uddin Ahmed, I visited Delhi as well. As my writings have been published in almost every important magazine in India, my Indian counterparts were quite interested in interacting with me. They arranged literary meetings and also invited me to deliver some lectures on modern Pakistani literature.
However, when I returned to my country security personnel began interrogating me about my stay in India. Though I explained it was just a study tour, they continued to harass me. Fortunately for me, some fellow journalists and writers intervened and got me off the hook.
A few months later a friend in India, Dr Jameel Akhtar, sent me some Urdu translations of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's poems with a request to get the same published in Pakistan. The translations were by Dr Akhtar himself.
I contacted some local publishers, but they were all hesitant to take up the job.
I had almost given hope, when Vajpayee was invited to travel to Pakistan on the Lahore bus. The relationship between the two countries seemed to be improving and there was a new hope.
That was the time when I tried again and managed to get the book published. It was called Jang Na Hone Denge. The book had an introduction written by me.
The gesture was acclaimed by Pakistani people and the government of Pakistan as well. I was asked to present the book to the honourable guest at the farewell ceremony in Lahore.
A few months later Nawaz Sharief government was topped by General Pervez Musharraf in a bloodless coup.
Now, Musharraf 's men wanted to know why I got an Indian prime minister's book published in Pakistan. They suspected the task was assigned to me by Nawaz Sharief. I explained that the book was just a goodwill gesture and that the government had nothing to do with it, but the harassment continued.
Then one day they asked me to record a statement against Nawaz Sharief, which I refused. My house was raided on March 4 while I was away at Karachi attending a mushaira
I knew the things were only going to get worse. I had only two options. One, give in to the pressure and record a false statement. Two, leave Pakistan. Though the decision was painful, I took the second option.
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