Naeem Tahir in his new avatar - Preface to Vol II of his forthcoming collection of columns for Daily Times

Preface Naeem Tahir in his new avatar Rashed Rahman Editor Daily Times To my and previous generations of Pakistanis, Naeem Tahir needs no introduction, although I am not equally confident of succeeding generations’ ‘memory’. So just in case, let me summarise. Naeem Tahir has been a central figure in the cultural life of Pakistan, stretching back to the 1950s, a period from which I too can trace his association with my family. When a pioneering group of intellectuals comprising Imtiaz Ali Taj, Mumtaz Daultana, Abdur Rehman Chughtai and my late father, Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice S. A. Rahman decided to set up Alhamra in Lahore in 1949 as an arts centre (currently called the Lahore Arts Council but popularly still remembered as Alhamra), they paved the way for succeeding generations of arts practitioners to enrich the cultural life of the city and the country, amongst whom Naeem Tahir’s contributions over the decades to stage, radio, television and film as an actor, producer, director and trainer deserve pride of place. Little did I know that I was destined to play a small part in helping Naeem Tahir, who was a familiar figure to me and my siblings when we were growing up, to emerge in yet another avatar – a newspaper columnist. Given his rich record in the cultural field (and subsequently his success as a businessman), it seemed to my ever curious mind given to new and interesting departures that the readers of Daily Times may have a lot to learn from Naeem Tahir’s rich and varied life experience. I therefore took opportunistic advantage of Naeem Tahir’s visit to me not long after I took over as Editor, Daily Times, to invite him to write for us. Normally I would have been expected to suggest that he focus on cultural themes given his background, but I am always reluctant to confine writers to one or a few fields. I therefore gave him carte blanche to range over a universal array of subjects, following wherever the muse may take him. The book in your hand is the second volume of a collection of Naeem Tahir’s columns published in Daily Times. The first volume, published in 2011, covered his contributions from the beginning, March 2010, till May 2011. The present volume takes up from where the previous one left off, and brings the collection up to date by covering the period June 2011 to September 2013. There is little cause for alarm on the part of his readers though. Naeem Tahir’s association with Daily Times remains an ongoing enterprise. As to the content of his writings, it is difficult always to find an overarching or underlying thread in a collection of weekly columns, inherently an exercise focused on the ‘here and now’, or what is conventionally referred to as current issues. Only writers with an ‘institutional memory’ of the country’s history, trajectory, and therefore problems can be expected to do justice to inherently complex issues that defy easy and superficial attempts at a solution. To this task, Naeem Tahir brings a richly varied palette capable of painting in vivid colours the lay of the land and the horizon beyond the obvious. The spread of his columns encompasses the most pertinent and serious problems confronting Pakistan as well as nooks and crannies obscured from the general public’s view. He plunges into the crises confronting the country, amongst which must be counted, first and foremost, terrorism and the extremist mindset that is the sworn enemy of an enlightened, educated, cultured and civilised society. Our past claims to such a description can only be characterised today as at best a distant memory. Traversing this intellectual and cultural desert, Naeem Tahir’s pieces are evocative of and testimony to all that we have lost as a society. Amidst this painful journey, he takes on all that is wrong with our governance, growing intolerance, cultural withering and a descent into an abyss of chaos. None of this will be unfamiliar to readers, but what marks Naeem Tahir out from the doom and gloom tribe (whose numbers grow exponentially by the day) is his optimism, belief in the future of the country, and determination to play his role as a tribune of the people and their rights. And as noted above, this project is far from finished. I can only wish Naeem Tahir more power to his elbow, a continuing relationship with Daily Times and its readers, and good health and long life to persevere on the path taken.