Because of my column published in the September 20 issue, I find myself between two fires. I had talked about a young poet Salman Saeed.

Of course, I had quoted a few couplets from his collection. But the poet phoned me and said 'the ghazal quoted by you and attributed to me is not mine'. How could it be I thought. And yet when I cast a glance on my column, I found out to my amazement that what had been inserted in place of Salman's couplets was Iftikhar Arif's famous ghazal.

I wondered how this ghazal, which I had quoted in a column months before, crept into the present column and that too under the name of Salman. I also received a call from Iftikhar Arif, who politely pointed out to this howler. But Zafar Iqbal, as expected, bluntly said 'you have been true to the Urdu proverb of “putting Hamid's cap on the head of Mahmood”.'
Zafar Iqbal has aptly quoted the proverb and therein is a consolation for Iftikhar Arif. The cap doesn't fit well on the skull of Mahmood. It must go back to the original head. However, I apologise to both poets for this unintended interpolation.
Now let us talk about something else. I should thank our old Lahori comrade Abdur Rauf Malik for sending me his latest book, wherein he has recorded his remembrances about Syed Sajjad Zaheer.

Abdur Rauf Malik was known to me as the younger brother of Abdullah Malik and as the manager of People's Publishing House of Lahore. But I did not know much about his activism as a member of the Pakistan Communist Party and his close links with Sajjad Zaheer during his stay in Pakistan.

The book tells us that Sajjad Zaheer after being appointed the secretary general of the Pakistan Communist Party had arrived in Lahore under the fictitious name of Mubeen Ahmed in April, 1948 and lived underground till the day he was arrested on the charge of involvement in the Pindi Conspiracy.

During this whole period, Rauf Malik remained in close contact with him and performed several duties entrusted to him.
Whatever happened during that crucial time is now history and Rauf Malik has chosen to record all that he knows and the part he played during those years. He, in the foreword, assures us that he has tried to be extremely honest and objective in recording his remembrances.

No doubt here is an absorbing story of how a leading figure of India's communist party came to Pakistan and chose to live underground while performing his duty as the secretary general of Pakistan's communist party.

Rauf Malik tells us of the arrival of Zaheer also called Bannay bhai in Karachi, from where he travelled by train to Lahore. Mr Rauf was instructed by the party office in Lahore to proceed to Montgomery and join him in his travels to Lahore, also informing him about the fictitious name he was traveling under.

Mr Rauf also talks about Bannnay bhai's secret visits to his house where he was warmly received by him and his brother Abdullah Malik. With the arrival of some selected fellow travellers these visits generally turned into a sort of get together.
Rauf Malik has availed this opportunity also to talk about some other leading figures of the movement like Syed Sibt-i-Hasan, Razia Sajjad Zaheer, Faiz Mirza, Ashfaq Baig and Mian Iftikharuddin.

After the conclusion of the trial, Sajjad Zaheer, as told by Rauf, was released and reached Lahore on July 12, 1995. However he was not allowed to stay in Pakistan, so he hurriedly returned to India.

Rauf Malik has talked about his warm reception in the city of Lucknow, but doesn't say anything about the cold reception by the party on his arrival in Delhi. Here I am reminded of a statement by Comrade Syed Mehdi in Sajjad Zaheer's seminar held under the auspices of Sahity Academy in Delhi.

It was in that seminar, which I too attended, that Syed Mehdi regretfully talked about the cold behaviour of the party on the eve of Sajjad Zaheer's arrival in Delhi from Pakistan. None from the party officials cared to go receive him after he arrived in Delhi. Is it not something enigmatic?