KARACHI: Pas Manzer by Syed Mohammed Manzer Sadaatpuri, a trader/industrialist and a self-made person, his career as an entrepreneur spread over 40 fruitful years, was launched here on Thursday.
Dr Peerzada Qasim presided over the proceedings. He admired the writer as “a lovable person who deserved respect.” Coming from a family of divines, known for their piety, the success in the writer’s life, Dr Peerzada said, was due to the spiritual blessings of those saintly people. Since the autobiography contained most elements of human experience, i. e., the man, the time he was passing through and the events. Those were always found readable and Pas Manzer was one such book. It was a refreshing book from cover to cover and did not appear tired.
Noted writer Aslam Farrukhi termed the past five decades in Urdu literature “half a century of biographies,” which were the most reliable source for the understanding of man and his time. Historians would definitely derive facts from Mr Manzer’s book as he was witness to most events and happenings in South Asia, the partition and the trauma of the East Pakistan turning into Bangladesh. He had written the book with much ease and felicity and accuracy, though he was not a professional writer.
Shahid Jamal, an income tax executive, having a long association with the writer, found the book quite fascinating, lucid, fluent and spontaneous.”An honest person full of courage and self-confidence, he has transferred his knowledge to the next generation,” he said.
Former federal minister Javed Jabbar admired the writer for his remarkably exclusive charm and gentleness, “the through quintessential gentleman as he is.”
M. A. Bokhari, a banker, praised the book as “an absorbing, eyewitness account of major historical events. “He, being a man of culture, bore no ill- will to any body and conveyed his goodwill to the people wherever he went,” he said.
Ms Shahnaz Perveen, a short-story writer, was not short in her discourse and summed up most parts of the bulky book with quotations from it. Pas Manzer, she said, was the manzernama of Pakistan itself and the narrative of a common culture shared by the South Asians.” She lamented the “loss of East Pakistan” due to lack of vision in our leaders, showing contempt towards the majority of the people.
A brief and analytical paper came from Javed Saba and another from Ahmed Mubarak. Both had admiration for the writer and they described the book as full of knowledge and wisdom. Naqqash Kazmi did the compering. — Hasan Abidi
