ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) is striving to preserve rich literature contributed by renowned literary figures of the country. PAL has published a number of books under the project `Pakistani Adab Ke Memar’ for paying tribute to the great services of renowned literary personalities. PAL Chairman Iftikhar Arif told that the aim of the project was to highlight the literary services of those who have done worthy job not only in Urdu fiction but also in the field of travelogue, drama, novel and sketch writing. The series, he said, include `Mumtaz Mufti: Life and Work’ by Dr. Najiba Arif, `Zia Jalandhri: Life and Work’ by Ali Muhammad Farshi and `Ahmad Faraz: Life and Work’ by Mehboob Zafar have been published by the Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL).
Talking about Ahmad Faraz, Arif said Faraz was a man of commitment and he had been attached to the progressive movement all his life and also wrote poems on political and other issues related to exploitation, poverty etc. Iftikhar Arif appreciated Dr. Najiba Arif for doing a great job by covering all aspects Mufti’s personality in her book. Talking about Zia Jalandhry, Arif said Jalandhry was considered to be a poet of different style and a great poetic vision. “Zia is not only fully aware of our literary classic tradition, but he has also full command over modern sensibility,” he said adding that Zia had been actively involved in Halqa Arbab-e-Zauq - one of the most prestigious literary institution in the Subcontinent. He also lauded Ali Muhammad Farshi’s service for Urdu by writing a book on Zia Jalandhri. Muhammad Anwar Khan was the managing director of the Pakistan Adab Ke Memar project while Saeeda Durrani was responsible for editing and publishing. Renowned painter Ahmed Habib made the pencil sketches of the celebrities. Iftikhar Arif told that the literary personalities whose life and work had been published so far include Baqi Siddiqui, Ishfaq Ahmed, Qateel Shifai, Saghar Siddiqui, Hafeez Jalandhri, Zaheer Kashmiri, Ibne Insha, Rasheed Akhter Nadvi, Syed Imtiaz Ali Taj, Hakeem Muhammad Saeed, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Dr. Wazir Agha, Meera Ji, Muhammad Khalid Akhter, Pitras Bukhari, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Dr Waheed Qureshi, Abu Alfazal Siddiqui, Yousaf Zafar, Muneer Niazi, Intezar Hussain, Shoukat Siddiqui, Ada Jaffri, Ajmal Khattak and KaKa Ji Snober.—Agencies