– RK Sinha
Tariq Fateh will be remembered by his fans as a fearless writer. They kept supporting the truth. He was the best friend of India. He took pride in the fact that his forefathers were Hindu Rajputs. He used to repeatedly say and write that the ancestors of all the Muslims of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh were Hindus and they were forced to become Muslims. Such frankness of his used to be exasperating to the fanatics. Tariq Fateh pierces the hearts of the Muslims of the Hindi heartland. His praise was that he kept calling his forefathers Hindu even after being stung. Very few Muslims can show this courage. He continued to attack Muslim communalism.
Tariq Fateh visited India for the first time in 2013. Then he had said in an interview- ‘Forget Pakistan now. It has to break into many pieces one day or the other. The day is not too far when Balochistan and Sindh will be separated from it. Pakistan’s army is an industrial mafia that controls everything from grain, trucks, missiles to banks in its country. The rulers of Pakistan were shocked to hear this. Tariq Fateh believed that India is the only country where Muslims work freely without fear.
As many people who love Tariq Fateh, there are very few who hate him. He never criticized Islam, but used to expose false pride and hypocrisy in the name of Islam. Even the best of clerics used to be stunned by his little stinging arguments. Once a Maulvi was praising Aurangzeb a lot and proving him to be a true and exemplary Muslim. Tariq Fateh asked him only one question that if Aurangzeb was a true Muslim, had he performed Hajj? Maulvi Sahib started peeping under his armpits and all his previous praises were overturned by one question of Fateh Sahib. Hajj is as big an obligation on a Muslim as Namaz, Roza and Zakat. None of these can compensate for each other.
All four have different duties. When any Muslim becomes an adult and has the health and income to perform Hajj, then Hajj immediately becomes obligatory. Allah gave Aurangzeb a long life of 96 years. Kept healthy from childhood to old age. First he was made a prince and then an emperor. There is no forgiveness in Hajj because of worldly matters. If Aurangzeb does not perform Hajj till the age of 96 years despite being capable, then either he does not believe in the duty of Hajj or he does not have faith in God that if he goes to perform Hajj, he will get back his throne or not. His being a five-pronged worshiper and earning a living by sewing caps all went in vain. Not giving importance to Hajj and avoiding it both are “Gunahe Kabira” i.e. grave sins.
After the riots on the issue of CAA-NRC in the country, Tariq Fateh had said- ‘Every person is a Hindu, who owns the history and tradition of India.’ It is difficult to find a bold and genius writer or thinker like Tariq Fateh in the Muslim community. It is difficult to find any other Muslim writer or thinker who raises the bugle against the bigotry of Islam, and continuously attacks Pakistan’s love of terrorism. Tariq Fateh, who used to speak out loud on various issues including Islam, used to often call himself Hindustani in TV debates and always used to connect Sindh and Hind. Tariq Fateh rejected the idea of ​​Pakistan. They believed that the partition of the country should not have happened. It is unfortunate that some so-called progressives and fanatics are celebrating his death. If you don’t believe then go to social media. There you will get to read all kinds of cheap comments about Tariq Fateh.
Tariq Fateh was famous for speaking out against religious extremism and promoting a moderate Islam. He also wrote a book named ‘Jews are not my enemy’. He was also a supporter of Baloch movements in Pakistan.
He also spoke and wrote on the subject of human rights abuses in Balochistan and the atrocities being committed by Pakistan on Baloch. Tariq Fateh was also a great scholar of Muslim history, due to which it was impossible for anyone to defeat him in arguments and facts.
Tariq Fateh used to visit my capital’s Humayun Road government residence several times before the coronation. Many important issues were discussed with him. He was a very intelligent person. He was born in the Pakistani city of Karachi and has been living in Canada since 1987. “Tariq Fateh Aap” was indeed the lion of Punjab and the son of India, as said by your daughter Natasha. Tariq Fateh once wanted to know from me whether it is true that there are pictures of “Harappa and Mohenjodaro” on the original copy of the constitution of Bharat. I said that I have the original copy of the Constitution. Let me show you the painting of “Harappa and Mohenjo Daro” by Nand Lal Basu. When I showed him the original copy of the constitution, he got emotional and tears came out of his eyes.
Tariq Fateh used to talk about the history of Sindh, the history of Punjab, the existence of Pakistan and the Muslims of UP in any TV programme. He used to repeatedly say that Urdu was imposed on the Punjabis of Pakistan by the Muslims who went to Pakistan from India. Because of this, a section of India and Pakistan used to be angry with him. It is true that Urdu was imposed on Punjabis.
Since he was a fearless courageous writer and openly expressed his opinion, the enemies of his life were no less. He used to get death threats. He was also receiving threats like ‘Sar tan se juda’. Sometime back, Tariq Fateh shared a screen shot of a ‘Twitter Space’ on his Twitter account and wrote that a gentleman has formed a group who is planning to behead me. Today the world has lost a true writer in the absence of Tariq Fateh. Whenever we remember him, this poem by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, ‘Kar raha tha gum-e-jahan ka hisab aaj tum yaad be-hisab aaye’, will become the support of his fans.
(The author is a senior editor, columnist and former parliamentarian.)
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