Pakistan Movement" by Alamgir Hashmi

Overview

Summary:

"Pakistan Movement" by Alamgir Hashmi is a poem that likely delves into the historical and
emotional journey of the creation of Pakistan. The poem may explore the struggle, sacrifices, and
aspirations of the people who worked towards the establishment of Pakistan as a separate nation
for Muslims in the Indian subcontinent.

Critical Appreciation:

Without the full text, it's challenging to provide a comprehensive critical appreciation. However,
generally speaking, Alamgir Hashmi is known for his intricate use of language and imagery to
convey complex emotions and ideas. In the context of a poem about the Pakistan Movement, he
might use powerful metaphors, vivid descriptions, and symbolic language to evoke the sense of
unity, determination, and sacrifice that were integral to the movement.

Hashmi may also use historical references and cultural allusions to anchor the poem in its
context and create a deeper connection with readers who are familiar with the history of the
Pakistan Movement.

In terms of critical appreciation, one could examine the poem's thematic depth, the effectiveness
of its imagery, the emotional resonance it creates, and how it contributes to the broader discourse
around the Pakistan Movement and the founding of the nation.

Summary
The poem “Pakistan Movement” written by Alamgir Hashmi is divided into three sections or
parts

Part 1 deals with the bloody partition of the Sub-continent after the end of Colonial rule.

Part 2 deals with the structural coherence of movement and migration through concurrent images
of raising and falling energy, paradoxically without any movement.
Part 3 deals with the future of Pakistan and hopes of the nation.

Summary

Part 1

Movement, sure. Millions moving

From that side to this side,

From this side to that side, and back again sometimes,

Across the thoughtful movement

Wherein stood those who were undecided, and suspect,

Like border-posts signifying the mid-frontier.

The sultry summer-if you know what I mean-behind us.

The blistering journeys on foot, the grinding oxcart

Expeditions, the slow, steamy railways

And their marauders behind us.

The slit throats of the nobility, the malfunctioning

Desire, England‟s fond promises,

And snuffed-out love of the communal streets;

Their moonlight shadows of lead; the changing of the colours

And „47‟s burning cities behind us.

Think this is where we wanted to be

From the beginning of our time;

A land as beautiful as a poet‟s dream;

Or even before he found it,

The Arab sailor‟s act of faith.

Poet gives an insight into the scenario of the partition of sub-continent. Thousands of people
were migrating from one place to another, while some were returning back and some others were
confused. There were chaos and confusion everywhere.
The poet uses images from Collective Unconscious in order to reconstruct the past history of the
partition. The people were migrating by foot in the hot summer days, some on bullock-carts
while some on steam trains in order to save their lives from the hooligans who were chasing
them for butchering the men, looting the possessions and kidnapping raping and the women.

Different opinions were prevailing regarding the partition. There was a betrayal of England who
made false promises to the people. The love was murdered in the streets of communal violence.
The cities were burning and horror was prevailing everywhere.

After explaining the horrors of partition, Alamgir Hashmi makes us to think that this land was
the beautiful land imagined in the dream of the poet(Allama Iqbal) and even long before him,
conquered by Arabian Sailor (Muhammad bin Qasim) who was firm in his belief and laid the
foundation of Islam on it. The rule of Islam remained for centuries.

Part 2

I have surely come across it before

In one of the books, or what I imagined on an alien shore

Perhaps appointed by time for a landfall.

That‟s my boat, these my oars; the sail‟s down.

The movement‟s upwards from the south

And the choice considerable,

For the compass might be affixed

By some dusky Eskimos. I can tent up in a high-rise,

Wait out the passing plane through starlight, till dawn.

The sea-loins skid on imaginary ice, transfixing the world

With a new axis of summer. Their eyes turning, liquid, green.

The granary of the north gets a southward push,

Into freedom, and feeds nearly everyone-

Until the quaking elements rumble again in the earth‟s belly

And split the land beyond rejoicing;

The furrowed fields like the cracks in time

Scotched inside a number. A kind of fall;

But the people rising everywhere, free to grow

How they will, if they will.

In the second part, Alamgir Hashmi says that he has witnessed these incidents after reading some
book though he was not there in reality. He imagines himself standing on some strange shore that
is fixed by the past events and waits for the arrival of the boat.

After riding his boat, and having the oar blades, he begins his journey to the past from the
present. Reaching into the past, he considers his safety-significant on the land that has been
annexed by dull-looking marauders.

Hence he goes to some tall building and waits there for the passing of this horror and violent
night and coming of the dawn i.e. the bright day that would bring prosperity on the land.

That dawn comes but does not last long. The sea-lions (i.e. the mariners of USSR during the late
70s till 1991) who desired to reach the warm waters of the Indian Ocean came from the North
terrorising the land) wanted to repeat the violence of summer (i.e. the time of partition).

Eyes, turning, liquid, green signify that they had reached quite near the warm and green land of
Pakistan. These communists had reached near the frontiers of Pakistan and satisfied the
neighbour countries against it.

Thus it was a big threat to the existence of Pakistan. However, a volcanic disturbance appeared
from the crust of earth unexpectedly.
All the plans of enemies failed. The enemy state splits into a number of princely states
(disintegration of USSR in 1991) and thus Pakistan was saved. Now, even though this country is
safe, yet the challenges are not over.

The people of Pakistan are realising their hopes and expectations for the preservation,
solidification and extension of the ideology of their country.

Part 3

It is the cyclical crops I was looking at—

And the interminable deltas of hope,

Where the rivers are either in torrent or slow endless flow,

The past being a curious valley, the present tense,

Future‟s the only flower worth tending in this earth,

Where I sow my words; and you know,

These good trees bear fruit round the year, discretely,

Moving along the waterways

And four seasons of the faithful sun.

In the 3rd section of the poem, Alamgir Hashmi demonstrates that the future is worth investing
in and hoping for, by using metaphors like surging and slow-moving water, sowing and reaping
as well as topography and flora.

For the poet, past is an odd valley, the present full of intensity and only future is something
where hopes live for eternity. Here violent flows of the river mean revolution and unending slow
flow of the river means evolution.

In the end, he gives a message that one should sow the seeds of the good, communal harmony
and prosperity in the future for the betterment and development of Pakistan.