Tagore in Islamabad
The composer of Bangladesh National Anthem and Asia's first Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore's 149th birthday was celebrated in the Bangladesh Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan on 8th May 2009 in a colourful gala of music, dance, discussion and poetry. Bangladesh High Commissioner in Pakistan Mrs. Yasmeen Murshed inaugurated the programme.
Rabindranath Tagore is considered a taboo and controversial in Pakistan since the creation of that country in 1947 and finally all works of Tagore were officially banned in government media (radio, TV, government newspapers etc.) by the orders of Ayub Khan's powerful information and broadcasting minister Khwaja Shahabuddin and East Pakistan governor Monem Khan in 1967. Partly this might be a remnant of poet Iqbal's 'noble-jealous' attitude towards Rabindranath - though both of these great poets died much before the birth of Pakistan. While in Lahore, once Rabindranath visited Iqbal's house to meet him. Iqbal was not present at that time but he did not bother to write to Rabindranath afterwards.
Also, Pakistan government-sponsored compilers and editors of the 'speeches and statements' of Pakistan's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah had not included Jinnah's rich tribute on Rabindranath following his death.
We request the Bangladesh government to set up two a Bangladesh Cultural Centres in Pakistan named after Rabindranath Tagore (Islamabad) and Kazi Nazrul Islam (Karachi). Rabindranath's universal humanistic Sufi values and thoughts have certainly a lot of potential to stem the tide of extremism.
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