EVER since her thunderous entry into the world of letters at the age of 22, Qurrat-ul-Ain Hyder, probably the greatest of the 20th century fiction writers of Urdu, has been a topic of animated discussions, though sometimes for the wrong reasons.

Some writers criticised her for a peculiar milieu depicted in her works, saying that it was an endeavour to glorify the bourgeoisie, others thought she was nauseatingly attached to the past and nostalgia took the better of her. Also, there has been no dearth of the critics who acknowledged the real worth of her works and gave her the praise she deserved.

But evaluation and re-evaluation of her work had been done incessantly during her lifetime. And even now, two years after her death (she died on August 21, 2007), there is no let-up in the number of research papers and critical articles written on her life and art. Some magazines have published special issues on her. Roshnai, a literary journal published from Karachi, is one of them. It has recently brought out a voluminous special issue on her.

The latest critical article written on her is 'Qurrat-ul-Ain Hyder ki novel nigari ka fikri tanazur'. Written by Dr Naheed Qamar and published in the latest issue of Almas, the article discusses at length the philosophical and ideological perspectives of Qurrat-ul-Ain Hyder's novels. Dr Qamar feels that partition was deeply rooted in Qurrat-ul-Ain Hyder's psyche and even while she wrote on themes other than that, it seemed to be at the back of her mind. It is only Ms Hyder, she says, who has used 'time' in its broadest possible perspective. This article surveys Ms Hyder's novels with a keen eye on the philosophical and literary background of her works.

Though Khairpur's Shah Abdul Latif University (SALU) is one of the country's nascent universities, it has performed some commendable feats in its brief lifespan. The holding of a truly international conference in 2008 on 'Literature and national consciousness' was one of them. A university is known and evaluated by its research activities and its research publications. Prominent among SALU's research publications is Almas, a research journal that its Urdu department has been publishing regularly since 1999.

Recognised by the Higher Education Commission as a quality research journal, Almas has published in the recent past many research articles of lasting significance written by scholars from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Turkey, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, Egypt and elsewhere.

In addition to Dr Qamar's article, Almas's just published issue (No 10, 2008) carries some other worthwhile articles, too. Some of them deserve a special mention.

A paper co-authored by Dr Rubina Tareen and Qaiser Imtiaz Gurmani, for instance, highlights the contributions of writers and journalists during the 1857 war of freedom; Dr Aatish Durrani's paper, criticising the towering figures of Urdu research, emphasises the use of Urdu informatics for collating rare manuscripts; Dr Tanzim-ul-Firdaus has come up with quite a scholarly paper, highlighting the efforts of freedom fighters of 1857 with a special reference to Ahmedullah Shah Madrasi.

Almas also carries a very interesting paper titled 'Nisai mehsoosaat ki tajseem' (the embodiment of feminine feelings) Rikhti.

Prof Dr Muhammad Yousuf Khushk, the chairman of SALU's Urdu department, has stated in his editorial quite unassumingly that Almas is Urdu's first research journal that may be completely read online. Though Peshawar University's Urdu department's research journal Khayabaan is also available online, it gives only selected portions. But Almas offers the entire text at SALU's website (www.salu.edu.pk).

It is a matter of pride for all concerned that a university situated in the interior of Sindh is producing a quality research journal in Urdu and has made it available to the entire world.

drraufparekh@yahoo.com