LAHORE: At the launch of his novel, Pureland, Zarrar Said, a New York-based finance professional, said he was inspired by the life of the first Pakistani Nobel laureate, Dr Abdus Salam because he was praised in the world for his work but people of his native country distorted his grave.

Said was having a conversation with moderator Jahanzeb Aslam at the Lahore Literary Festival (LLF) on Sunday.

Right after the session, Mr Zarrar told Dawn in a chit-chat he was born in Lahore and his interest in the life of Dr Salam grew from his passion for science.

“I came to know that it was a story that was waiting to be told,” he said.

He said Pureland was a true story about a young boy who was born in a remote village but went on to win the Nobel Prize in Physics.

“I feel it’s important to tell this story, especially in the current situation. It is narrated from the perspective of an assassin who murdered Dr Salim Agha, the character inspired by Dr Salam. The assassin explains his motive for killing Dr Salim by tracing his life. Like the real life of Salam, Salim is a genius who becomes a Nobel Prize laureate from the forgotten country known as Pureland. He gave more to the country and wanted to serve in the field of science.”

Quoting an example, Mr Zarrar said Germany had lost Einstein to anti-Semitism, MF Hussain spent the last years of his life in exile because of Hindu fundamentalists who wanted to slay him and in the same way Pakistan had lost Dr Abdus Salam.

He said he had not seen a single street named after Dr Abdus Salam in Pakistan and issue was made of his tombstone.

With Pureland, Zarrar wanted to make sure his writing was relevant and easy to comprehend for the average reader because it had an important message for humanity.

Replying to the question that why did he not make it a non-fiction book on the life of Dr Abdus Salam, Mr Zarrar said it started as a non-fiction but because there were mystical and magical elements in the life of his subject, he could not make it a non-fiction, expressing apprehension that the people would not have taken it seriously.

“I hope this novel would start a much-needed dialogue on the Nobel laureate physicist in Pakistan.”

No one could imagine what shape Pakistan would have taken had Dr Abdus Salam been allowed to live as a regular citizen with the ability to inspire other scientists, Zarrar Said concluded.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2019