ISLAMABAD: There is something profoundly moving about an evening when the living voices of scholars and academics from Pakistan and Uzbekistan converged at the residence of Zafar Bakhtawari in Islamabad’s F-8 sector.

Separated though they are by mountains and modern geopolitics, they discovered themselves to be, in fact, neighbours, bound by a common rootedness.

Hosted by the Pakistan Cultural Forum, the guests of honour were two Uzbek scholars: Dr Toshmirza Kholmirzaev and Dr Mokhayyova Abdur Rahmanova.

Dr Kholmirzaev or popularly known as Tashmirza to those who know him, has devoted a lifetime to the promotion of Urdu. He did his PhD in Urdu from Moscow University in 1961. But it is his most recent labour that draws attention: the Dictionary of Common Urdu-Uzbek Words, a meticulous compilation of some four thousand linguistic cognates.

The dictionary was launched on May 21 at Pakistan’s National Language Promotion Department, with Federal Minister Aurangzeb Khichi calling for its digitisation.

It is worth noting that his connection to Pakistan spans on 50 years. He served as the Director of the Soviet Culture Centre in Karachi from 1983 to 1987. In recognition of his work, the government of Pakistan awarded him the Sitara-i-Imtiaz in 2011 for promoting Urdu literature in Central Asia.

He translated several poems by the celebrated 15th-century poet Ali Sher Navoi into Urdu. In 2012, he compiled and launched the world’s first Urdu-Russian dictionary to foster stronger linguistic connections.

Dr Rahmanova, who was awarded the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz in 2024, said she felt pride in devoting her life and becoming associated with Urdu. She recalled that her mother chose not to send her and her five siblings to the English-medium school just around the corner. Instead, she enrolled them in a distant institution where Urdu was being taught. “Everyone in my home knows and speaks Urdu,” Dr Rahmanova said. “But when guests come, we welcome them with one sentence: ‘We love you.’”

It is impossible to overstate the tenderness of this image: a mother in Tashkent, decades ago, making a quiet gamble on a language far from her borders, and an entire family becoming, as a result, accidental ambassadors of affection. This is how cultures truly endure not through summit meetings or memoranda of understanding, but through mothers, classrooms, and the love of words.

She serves as professor of Urdu language, literature and history at the Tashkent State University of Oriental Studies.

Dr Rakhmonova’s body of work reflects a deep engagement with both classical and contemporary aspects of Urdu studies. She is the co-author of a foundational monograph titled “The Poetry of Urdu”. This joint effort with Dr Hoja Ikromiddin, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, details the formation and gradual development of Urdu poetry from the 13th century to the present day.

Her scholarly work delves into specific areas of classical literature, such as her article on the Dakhni poet Mohammad Sharif Ajiz’s masnavi “Laila Majnun”. This research explores the linguistic influences and thematic depth of ancient Urdu poetry.

Zafar Bakhtawari, the evening’s host, called Dr Tashmirza and Dr Rahmanova Pakistan’s “real heroes.” He added: “I love those anywhere in the world who contribute to the promotion of Pakistani nationalism, culture and the Urdu language.”

Professor Fateh Mohammad Malik, and Dr Salim Azhar of the PLDD, noted that Bakhtawari himself has carried “the banner of literature and culture” for decades, a reminder that cultural diplomacy is rarely the work of governments, and almost always the work of passionate individuals.

Dr Najeeba Arif, Chairperson of the Pakistan Academy of Letters, traced the civilisational lineage further back, reminding the audience that “whatever good things including architects, artisans and artists we cherish now in our country have their origin in Tashkent and Bukhara.” The very grammar of Pakistani aesthetics, the curve of a mosque’s dome, the inlay of a marble screen, owes a debt to the great cities of Samarkand and Bukhara.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2026