He seems as agile as he used to be.
As usual, one can see him carrying with him a bag full of books in different
functions in the capital city of Islamabad. There is hardly any trace of
nervousness and worry on his face. When you are suffering from cancer, you are
bound to get bogged down. Not if you are Ahmed Salim who shows extraordinary
resilience in the face of lots of odds.
Writer, editor, Punjabi poet and novelist,
and archivist, Ahmad Salim wears many hats. For the past many years, his rich
archives have helped many a local as well as foreign scholars working on myriad
subjects. It took him nearly forty years to collect this huge archive which is
a real treasure which can guide upcoming
research scholars. First, he arranged the archives at Samanabad Lahore in a
rented house. Since he was based in Islamabad, it was difficult for him to look
after the precious record properly. So, he shifted it in a rented house in
Islamabad but it was difficult to bear the exorbitant rent for so long.
“It was getting very difficult for me to
bear the rent of a separate house where my archives was arranged. I am
diagnosed with cancer and the treatment is quite costly. I am not least worried
about my health as my only concern is about the archives and rare books that I
have collected over the years. So I have decided to dump all the record, books
and other material on the upper portion of my house,” says Salim.
The record, archives and rare books have
occupied four rooms and he has tried his best to arrange them properly.
However, he says, all the material can be properly arranged only in eight
rooms. Recently, a delegation of Library of Congress visited him to see the
whole material. The delegation was amazed to see such precious record and rare
books and confessed that some of the rare books are can’t be found in any
library of Europe. The American Institute of Pakistan Studies have also
surveyed the library and archives as they want to help by arranging a
librarian. He has been offered hefty amount by few foreign institutions who
want to buy all the archives and rare books but Ahmad Salim has declined all
such offers. “This archive and other rare material belong to this country and I
won’t like shifting it to any other country. Yes, I have had a few offers but I
politely declined. It is my wish that it remains in my country.”
Talking about the rare record and books,
Ahmad Salim says, “We have all the proceedings of Punjab Assembly from 1921 to
date; all the proceedings of the Legislative Assembly and then all the record
of provincial assemblies of Pakistan from 1947 to date; all Five Years Plans,
Budget Records and files of important papers like Pakistan Times, Dawn,
Viewpoint, Illustrated Weekly of Pakistan are also there in the archives. Files
of Imroz and Lail-o-Nihar from 1961 onwards are also there. There are special
sections on Punjab, Sindh, KPK, Balochistan, Kashmir and Bangladesh. There are
government reports of various commissions as well as all the reports of HRCP
and other such material.”
Apart from this, one can see many
periodicals of 18th and 19th century such as India Review and other very rare
material of the colonial era. The files of Paisa Akhbar, Rahbar-e-Hind and much
such rare treasure can be noticed in the four rooms in which he has crammed all
his archives. “There are almost ten thousand rare books which can not be found
anywhere in the world,” claims Ahmad Salim.
He lashes out hard at the Federal
Government and the other provincial governments which have shown least interest
in saving this historical rare treasure. “The apathy of government knows no
bounds as they haven’t shown even an iota of interest in saving the treasure.
Many a time, the government functionaries have promised to do something for the
archives but to no avail. Even the information minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, through
a mutual friend, promised to help but nothing came out of it. All I demand from
the government is that it should offer me a one kanal land on subsidised rate.
I am not seeking alms from the government. I want that my precious record
should be properly displayed and saved after I close my eyes.”
However, he adds, there are few individuals
and NGOs which greatly helped him in these trying times. He is particularly
thankful to Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) which is still
paying him his salary, although he is unable to go to office due to his
ailment. He says he is indebted to Abid Sulehri for his all out support. Afzaal
Ahmad of Sang-e-Meel Publications and human rights activist Fauzia Saeed are
also helping him a lot.
His archives and library is registered
trust and there are nine trustees. At an individual level, a few people are
trying a work out a strategy to save the archives. “I am grateful to Dr Nadeem
Omar who is very active in saving the archives. Dr Anwar Nasir of Readings also
intends to help me,” he concludes.
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