ISLAMABAD, July 29: A new book Jadid Sindhi Adab: Milanaat, Rujhanaat, Imkanaat (Modern Sindhi literature and its trends, direction and possibilities), was launched at the Halqa-i-Arbab-i-Zauq here on Friday.

Speakers lauded the book, published in October last year, as trend-setter in literary criticism.

The book running over to 1,500 pages is a study of the history of Sindh in relation to its literature of the present and preceding years. It has been written in Urdu by Syed Mazhar Jameel, and will be translated by the Sindh Adabi Board as well as in Hindi in India by Sahitya Academy.

National Language Authority chairman Prof Fateh Mohammad Malik said that the writer had performed a national service by writing the book. It was a worthy sequel to similar books on Sindhi literature written by the German scholar late Prof Anna Marie-Schimmel. “It links the connection between traditions of Mansur Hallaj and mystic writings of Khwaja Mir Dard, Shah Latif Bhitai and Jalaluddin Rumi”, he said. Prof Malik said the book is a convincing study of the fact that Pakistani languages unite the people and in writing this book Mazhar Jameel has performed a national service.

Pakistan Academy of Letters chairman Iftikhar Arif described it a unique book. “A study of this kind has not been made for any of the Pakistan languages. It is a book of valuable reference which should be incorporated in the curriculum of every education, because the book written in Urdu, has received endorsement and commendation by Sindhi readers.

“This reflects the author’s love for Sindhi language though he has learnt and mastered the Sindhi language as all residents of the province ought to”, he added.

Mazhar Jameel belongs to the progressive writers group but he has written the book without partiality and animosity to any section of authors of Sindhi or Urdu, and chapters on resistance literature was particularly fascinating because we discover it a new kind of religious establishment which opposed Sufi saints who were expressing the yearnings of common folks. The book is also a social study of early times and modern era.

Mobin Mirza who had come from Karachi to attend the ceremony, said the present study described the exploitation of the people in different eras as well as the emotional evocations of those who migrated to India after partition. In his paper noted fiction writer Dr Rasheed Amjad said that Sindhi was the most developed among Pakistan languages and the Sindhi writers had kept themselves abreast of new techniques and literary trends. The Sindhi writers were far ahead of other Pakistani languages, including Urdu.

Short-story writer Shahed Hammed referred to Rig Veda in which River Indus has been described as a horse galloping with plentiful water to bless the land with all kinds of harvest. He made this reference to show the plentifulness of this province not only as granary of food, fruits, but the expansiveness in accepting and producing new ideas.

The book mirrored the rich cultural heritage, ancient civilization, social consciousness and the strata of meaning which influenced the writers, as best expressed in the writings of Mirza Qaleech Beg.

Shahed Hammed also referred to Jameel’s earlier book Ashob Sindh aur Urdu Fiction published in 2002 as literary study of Urdu short-stories.

Mansur Aqil, editor of a literary magazine published from Islamabad, spoke on his close relationship with Mazhar Jameel extending over 45 years. He described his formative years in Sukkur, Karachi and said Jameel was a cynosure of literary personalities at both places. He called the present book as a book of reference that writers and historians would love to consult for long time.

The pluralism and cosmopolitan character of Sindh comes out vividly from a chapter in which Mazhar Jameel says: “I read Sindhi as a compulsory language at the high school and I grew t love it because I lived in a locality which close to the River and where my companions were sons of fishermen, and the stone cutters and shoe menders. From them I learnt the nuances and vocabulary of the common people.”