A Taj in our lives…By Ghazi Salahuddin
Last week, I wrote my column on the demise of Dr Haroon Ahmed. This was its first sentence: “When someone you had known for ages passes away, you are left to wander in the realm of memories”.
But what do I do now when Taj Haider has passed away? Yes, the entire nation, so to say, has mourned the passing of an exceptional human being and has eulogised his contribution to public life as a senior leader of the PPP. The tributes have flowed from the highest in the land to the ordinary if you were to encounter them on the street.
For that matter, it should be a routine task for a regular columnist to draft an appropriate obituary of the central secretary general of the leading political party of the country. There have to be some biographical details and a gist of the tributes that have been paid to the departed soul.
Ah, but this would not do in this case. Taj was a part of the long life I have lived. He was family, being the older brother of my wife Sadiqa. He was a friend from a few years before we got married 53 years ago. If there are memories to account for, there is this span of more than half a century. It has thus been a long journey against the flaming backdrop of the troubled times that this country has lived through.
So, imagine the emotional burden that I have to bear, making this attempt to write about Taj. Actually, I had half a mind to not write my column this week. I was so undecided about it because when I tried to collect my thoughts, I felt overwhelmed by an avalanche of memories and felt incapable of properly sorting them out to draw a coherent image of the person within my assigned space.
So, I have decided to set my personal memories aside and to refer briefly to some of the many, many statements that have appeared in the media and to private condolences delivered digitally and orally. Naturally, most of this communication is directed towards Ms Naheed Wasi, Taj’s devoted wife who became the anchor of his life in recent years.
At the same time, close relatives of Taj, including his nephews and nieces, have shared this bereavement within their own circle of friends. The point I am making is that Taj’s death has touched people across all segments of society. He has universally been venerated. One community that has particularly been saddened by his death is that of social activists who are committed to a progressive and liberal agenda.
The first comment that I noticed after Taj’s death was by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). It said: “Senator Haider was among the few politicians who uncompromisingly stood for economic justice, cultural rights, and democratic governance in the country”. HRCP also identified him as a “politician, author and playwright”.
Some literary friends from our Press Club group came to our house to condole Taj’s death and I was impressed by their deep appreciation of the plays that Taj had written for the PTV during Zia’s time. And there were plays that the PTV would not telecast. These plays reflected Taj’s intellectual and creative abilities.
It is to be noted that Taj Haider’s role as an honest and ideologically committed politician was applauded across the political spectrum. But I find specific credence in the appreciation that came from the chairperson of the PPP, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. One gets the impression that he truly respected Taj’s input in matters of policy and political options.
Significantly, the PPP announced a three-day mourning. It meant that all political activities were to be suspended for three days. In his condolence statement, Bilawal paid rich tributes to Senator Taj Haider for his services to the party and his struggle to strengthen democracy in the country.
In addition, Bilawal said that Taj Haider was a symbol of wisdom and knowledge in politics. This appreciation Taj fully deserved. His pronouncements in the Senate were always very thoughtful and betrayed a good understanding of the subject he would speak on. Would it be right to say that he served as a one-man think tank in his party?
In Bilawal’s view, Taj Haider’s sacrifices for democracy are a beacon of light for the new generation. I find this remark relevant in the context of a number of conversations that I have attended after Taj’s demise in which his nieces and nephews shared their memories of Taj Chacha and Taj Mamun. There is a treasure of these memories because Taj had been a part of their lives since they were kids and now they are gifted professionals. There are so many anecdotes that tell of Taj’s affection for the young.
I am left with no space to quote from statements and condolences that I think are important. But let me leave you with this thought: why has the death of a politician who lived almost like a ‘dervesh’, rejecting all the trappings of wealth and authority, touched a chord at this time? Why is Taj seen, in some ways, as the conscience of Pakistan’s politics?
One guess would be that we in Pakistan are yearning for honesty and civility and a sense of purpose in the profession of politics that is now ridden with confrontation and chaos. We are in desperate need of leaders who have sympathy for the common people.
Looking at it in another way, it could be that this widespread appreciation of Taj Haider is a silver lining. Perhaps it certifies the scope for the survival of a politician like him.
Anyhow, let me conclude with some words from a condolence message I received from Abbas Nasir. “If ever there was a wonderful, decent, principled and upright man in politics, it was him. We are all so much the poorer for his loss. A lifetime spent in the public service, in the struggle for bettering the lot of the have-nots”.
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