Dear Editor
DEAR EDITOR NEMEROV AND HYMAN This is just a note in praise of Howard Nemerov's really splendid piece on Ben Belitt's poetry ("The Fascination of What's Difficult," NL, June 22). Nothing, as I...
...They are sure that it could be fulfilled if only the U.S...
...by which the right of any people to nationhood may be determined...
...All that Owen has said, in effect, is that the Pakistanis are totally unfit for self-rule...
...But it is only unbalanced, designing critics with axes to grind, and without any regard for either truth or fairness who can subscribe to views such as those that Owen holds...
...When a reviewer can accomplish this sort of double triumph, he deserves not just editorial commendation but a hearty round of applause from readers as well...
...Dacca, Pakistan Dr...
...The second article seeks to expose the sinister nature of his foreign policy...
...M. Kabir Head, Department of History, Dacca University M. Afsaruddin Head, Department of Sociology, Dacca University U. A. Hai Head, Department of Bengali, Dacca University Abdus Salam Editor, Pakistan Observer Kazi Md...
...There are no nations which are not plagued with problems of one kind or another...
...People in Southeast Asia do believe that President Johnson represents the innate, noble spirit of the American people, and that he was sincere in saying: "Any nation which wants to preserve its freedom to live its own life can count on our help...
...Los Altos, California Pung-Fai Tao PAKISTAN'S POLITICS The two articles by John E. Owen entitled, respectively, "The Dismal Province" (November 11, 1963) and "Pakistan's Ambiguous Politics" (March 2, 1964), which have appeared in The New Leader, represent an astonishing display of academic bad taste, ill will, malice and rancor...
...Nemerov's constantly illuminating remarks, however, not only help the reader find his way through Belitt but also chart out for him an altogether profitable approach to poetry itself...
...t suppose you are also snowed under with praise of Stanley Edgar Hyman...
...The world cannot be safe when less than half is free and more than half is not...
...They have not only annoyed and offended the general Pakistani reader but also seriously embarrassed those who knew Owen as a visiting professor at the University of Dacca...
...His purpose in writing on Pakistan has not been to offer fair, balanced assessments of the country and its inhabitants, but to malign them by picking out the worst possible things he claims to have noticed about them...
...would not consider it as Utopian...
...from helping them to achieve that end...
...S. Sajjad Head, Department of English Dacca University Syed Ali Ahsan Director, Bengali Academy Dr...
...Instances of this kind can be multiplied...
...Tribute is paid in the first article to President Ayub's statesmanship...
...The first article gives his impressions of the province of East Pakistan, and the second discusses trends in Pakistan's foreign policy...
...Undoubtedly he is free to hold whatever views he prefers, but we wish that as a sociologist he had explained more categorically why he considers the Pakistani Muslims to be unfit for self-rule...
...If the second statement is correct, the first obviously is not...
...New York City John Unterecker Department of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University "FOUR FREEDOMS" It is very sad to read Reinhold Niebuhr's assertion that FDR's "Four Freedoms" are mere "Utopian promise" ("Johnson and the Myths of Democracy," NL, May 25...
...He ought to know, in other words, that he has readers and that they appreciate his efforts...
...and finally, that it does not deserve any aid...
...What makes Owen's observations painful reading is that they seem inspired by motives which are palpably dishonest and malicious...
...They do not contain a single specific charge which is susceptible of careful scrutiny...
...In the next breath, however, he speaks of a considerable proportion of East Pakistanis looking to Calcutta in India as their Mecca...
...contradict each other...
...and vice versa...
...W. H. A. Shadani Head, Department of Urdu and Persian, Dacca University Dr...
...Maybe the "issues of democracy and Communism are indifferent" to many Far Eastern people, but the latter are not so ignorant and insensible as not to desire food when hungry and not to long for freedom when oppressed...
...People should not be abandoned to more oppressive Communist regimes just because at the moment they happen to live under undemocratic governments...
...They do not think that "to preserve its interests as an imperial power" is the U.S.'s main motive for fighting Communism there...
...To follow an unrealistic policy is dangerous...
...It is clear that Owen thoroughly dislikes Pakistan and the Pakistanis...
...The fact that "the Diem regime was not exactly an examplar of democracy" should not prevent the Vietnamese people from wanting to preserve their freedom to live...
...Why he brings Islam in is not clear, but on the basis of the premise that he has in mind, an Eastern non-Christian critic may say the same thing about Christianity as practiced in parts of the Western world...
...Also, it should not prevent the U.S...
...For instance, he maintains that resentment of India is one of the factors which keeps the people of Pakistan united...
...In his eagerness to give as dismal a picture as possible of Pakistan, Owen has not refrained from making some statements which The New Leader welcomes comment and criticism on any of its features, but letters should not exceed 300 words...
...We do not claim that we are perfect, but is Owen aware of any objective tests, applicable to all nations, including his own...
...than neutralist India...
...Both are characterized by misleading generalizations unsupported by facts, and sweeping assertions not backed up by proofs...
...Enamuel Huq Director, Bengali Development Board...
...that despite its commitments to the SEATO and CENTO organizations, it is less reliable as an ally from the point of view of the U.S...
...But it is even more dangerous to follow a policy which regards moral and idealistic principles and standards as unrealistic and mythical...
...Those who enjoy "freedom from want and fear" may not understand, and even less feel, what the lack of them actually means...
...We notice that he has said more than once in the course of the articles that Islam as practiced in Pakistan does not teach people how to live together...
...Otherwise they would not risk their lives to escape Communist tyranny...
...that East Pakistanis are an uncivilized group who live by a "jungle code," and many of whom are not even loyal to their country...
...You certainly should be...
...What Owen obviously questions is our right to exist as an independent nation...
...for he manages always to be lively and almost always he manages to be right—a very neat trick...
...A fair assessment, such as one would expect from an academic person, might have contained a few references at least to less "dismal" aspects of their life and politics, but the picture Owen draws is unrelievedly dark...
...Nothing, as I know from sad experience, is harder to do than to write sensible things about difficult poems...
...Many less privileged people everywhere are still struggling and praying that this "promise" one day would be fulfilled...
...As a person who visited Pakistan as an academic representative of the U.S., he is not doing his country any service by his diatribes against Pakistan...
...Idris Editor, Purba Desh Dr...
...Serajul Huq Head, Department of Islamic Studies, Dacca University Dr...
...Therefore the struggle for "freedom from want and fear" for everyone should not be considered as merely Utopian...
...that Pakistan is not to be trusted as a nation...
Vol. 47 • July 1964 • No. 14
