KARACHI, April 21: The Khana-i-Farhang Jumhoori Islami Iran on Saturday night conferred gold medals upon seven illustrious teachers of the Persian language and literature belonging to various universities of Sindh in recognition for their services and erudition.

At a function, which was reverently titled “Ever-lasting faces of Persian language and literature in Sindh”, Prof Dr Abid Ali Khan, Prof Dr Nabi Bakhsh Qazi, Prof Dr Tahira Siddiqui, Dr Roshan Ara Begum, Prof Dr Sajidullah Tafhimi, Hazoor Ahmed Saleem and Dr Syed Hussain Jafar Haleem received their well-deserved gold medals.

The director-general of the Khana-i-Farhang Jumhoori Islami Iran, Mohammad Reza Zainali, paid tribute to the learned teachers, saying that they had rendered an invaluable service by protecting and preserving the Persian language in the region.

ural ties between Pakistan and Iran.

The chief of the Islamabad-based Iran-Pakistan Institute of Persian Studies, Dr Saied Bozorg Bigdelie, speaking in Urdu, observed that “Islam came first to Pakistan through the Mehran valley; hence the title ‘Bab-ul-Islam’. Interestingly, the Quran was first translated in the same region.”

Prof Dr Abid Ali Khan was born in 1918 in Utter Pradesh, India. He graduated from Aligarh University and subsequently received his MA in Persian from the same university. Dr Khan received his PhD in Persian from Tehran University in Iran .

Prof Dr Nabi Bakhsh Qazi was born in Rohri in 1923. He graduated from Bombay University in India and subsequently received his MA from the same university in 1946. He did his DrPhil from the University of Gottingen, Germany.

Dr Qazi did DrPhil research at the Universities of Hamburg and Gottingen and post-doctoral research at the University of Cambridge.

Prof Dr Tahira Siddiqui was born in Lucknow, India. She graduated from the University of Karachi and subsequently received her MA in Persian from the same university. In 1968, she received another MA in Persian from the University of Tehran.

Dr Roshan Ara Begum was born in Calcutta, India. She graduated from the Lady Brabourne College in Calcutta. She received her MA in Persian from Calcutta University. In 1968 she received another MA in Persian literature from Tehran University. She did her PhD in Persian literature from the same university.

Prof Dr Sajidullah Tafhimi was born in 1941 in Panipat, India. He graduated from the University of the Punjab, Lahore. He received his MA in Persian from the University of Karachi. He did his PhD from the same university in 1976.

Hazoor Ahmed Saleem was born in Naranval in 1924. He graduated from the University of the Punjab, Lahore, and received his MA in Persian from Sindh University.

Dr Syed Hussain Jafar Haleem was born in 1937 in Jaunpur, India. He graduated from Karachi University and received his MA in Persian from the same university. He did his PhD from Tehran University in 1974.