GHALIB took pride in telling us that his ancestors had for long remained associated with military service:

But this was not the prerogative of Ghalib alone. Dr Tahira Sarwar is an Urdu researcher associated with the Urdu Department of the Lahore College for Women, Lahore, which has now gained the status of a university. While conducting some research recently, Dr Sarwar found that a large number of our poets ranging from Amir Khusrau to Faiz Ahmad Faiz (who once held the rank of lieutenant colonel) have been associated with military service. However, she has only talked briefly about the poets who were associated with military service and has focused her research on prose writers. Her research work has been published under the title Asakar-e-Pakistan Ki Adabi Khidmat Urdu Nasr Main.

She tells us what prompted her to choose this subject for her research in the book’s foreword. The author explains that she belongs to a family whose elders had served in the military service of Pakistan. She consequently developed an interest in the country’s armed forces which led her to research on a topic related to it. Dr Sarwar initially introduces us to the army, navy and air force. She then provides readers with a survey of the three branches, highlighting the names of those who also wrote prose. She further classifies them according to their type of writing. Among them are a select few whose literary fame does not need any introduction such as Shafiqur Rahman, Syed Zamir Jafri, Aftab Hasan and Muzaffar Ali Syed. It is only their bio data that reminds us that professionally they are army men.

Dr Tahira has carefully studied each author. She presents the list of books of each writer and discusses each of them in accordance to its importance. From among these books the autobiography of Major General (retd) Shahid Hamid appeared the most attractive to me. Though an army man, he cared to keep his interest in music and dance alive. He talks about the deep involvement of Lucknow-wallahs in music, dance, and architecture. Mr Hamid calls his autobiography “a procession of remembrances”. And how sweetly he recalls the small shopkeepers and “phairewallas” of those good old days when they themselves composed couplets in praise of their wares on sale.

In each case Dr Sarwar has taken pains to read all the works of the writers of the armed forces and introduce each book separately; highlighting what makes this book worth reading. As for those who are known as prose writers — they are known to us already because of their individual literary merit which makes their rank in service irrelevant. In the end, I am left wondering why Major (retd) Ibnul Hasan — in spite of his fairly good reputation as a short-story writer — was not able to get accommodated in this enviable research work.