KARACHI, Jan 13: To highlight the similarities in the works of Allama Iqbal, the national poet of Pakistan, and Mihai Eminescu, national poet of Romania, the Pakistan Post Office will unveil a set of two postage stamps on Friday.
The set is titled "Allama Iqbal and Mihai Eminescu: Dialogue between civilizations".
The stamps, each having a denomination of Rs5, bear the portraits of the two poets and also the flags of Pakistan and Romania. On one of the stamps, the 20-feet-high monument is depicted, which was built in 2004 in Islamabad to mark the resemblance in the two poets' works.
According to a PPO press release, the first day of issue cover and leaflet, priced at Rs5 and Rs10, respectively, will be available at all the important post offices in the country. The price of the two items will be recovered in cash, in addition to the value of the stamps to be affixed.
A special postmark will be used to service the first day of issue covers at the Philatelic Bureaux in Karachi, Lahore, Multan, Bahawalpur, Khairpur, Faisalabad, Hyderabad, Rawalpindi and Peshawar. This facility would also be available at Postmall, F-7 Markaz, Islamabad, National Philatelic Bureau, Islamabad GPO and Quetta GPO, said the press release.
Another handout released by the PPO said: "People in Pakistan were not familiar with Eminescu's work just as people in Romania might not have heard of the literary work of Iqbal.
But by making a comparative study of these great poets, Prof Dr Emil Ghitulescu, the ambassador of Romania to Pakistan, has initiated a dialogue, if not between two civilizations then at least between Pakistan and Romania. His efforts materialized in two books written and published in Pakistan.
"It is particularly interesting that the resemblance discovered by the Romanian diplomat involves two poets from different generations and cultural areas so far away from each other. This is perhaps why their common message is so relevant today, when mankind faces so many differences, paradoxes and contradictions," the handout added.
- PROF AHMED ALI
KARACHI, Jan 13: The Pakistan Post Office will issue a commemorative postage stamp of Rs5 denomination on 10th death anniversary of noted scholar Prof Ahmed Ali (1910-94), as part of its men of letters series, says a press release.
According to the press release, Delhi-born Prof Ahmed Ali taught at leading universities, including those in Lucknow and Allahabad, from 1932-46. He also worked as BBC's representative and director in India from 1942 to 1944.
He learnt Chinese during a stint at the National Central University, Nanking, and translated from Chinese poets. He also gathered material for his book 'Muslim China' during his stay in the country.
Upon his return to Karachi in 1948, Prof Ahmed Ali joined the Pakistan Foreign Service. Prof Ahmed Ali was one of the founders of the All-India Progressive Writers' Movement, under whose influence a controversial collection of short stories, Angare, was published in 1932. The book was banned by the British government in India a year later.
"Shortly afterwards Prof Ahmed Ali and Mahmud-uz-Zaffar announced the formation of a 'League of Progressive Authors' which was later to expand and become the All-India Progressive Writers' Association.
Prof Ahmed Ali presented his paper, Art Ka Taraqqi Pasand Nazariya, in its inaugural conference in 1936. A pioneer of the Urdu short story, Ahmed Ali's works include collections of short stories, Sholay (1934), Hamari gali (1940), Qaid khana (1942) and Maut Se Pahle (1945)", says the press release.
It was Ahmed Ali's novel, Twilight in Delhi, which enabled him to achieve international fame. His other works include two novels, 'Ocean of Night and Of Rats' and 'Diplomacy; The Prison-House'; Purple gold mountain; Selected poems; Mr Eliot's penny-world of dreams; Ghalib: selected poems; The problem of style and technique in Ghalib; The flaming earth; and The Golden Tradition. Al-Quran, a contemporary translation is regarded as Ahmed Ali's most outstanding contribution to the field of translation. Prof Ahmed Ali, who was awarded the Sitara-i-Imtiaz in 1980, died on Jan 14, 1994.
