LARKANA: Speakers at the launching ceremony of a biography of former ambassador and PPP’s founder member Abdul Razzak Soomro have urged important personalities to pen down their memories to provide raw material to historians to compile history. Recurring events, personal experiences and trends of the time in writing would help assist in bridging the missing links of history they asid.

Former Supreme Court Justice Syed Deedar Hussain Shah presided over the ceremony of the book titled ‘Widow to Memoirs’ attended by Sindh’s Senior Minister for Education Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, Muslim Shamim, Manzoor Kohyar, MPA Khursheed Junejo and Rakhiyal Morai held here in Sir Shahnawaz Bhutto Memorial Library on Sunday.

Syed Deedar Hussain Shah described the author as a good lawyer, successful ambassador and nice person who according to him had written facts in the biography. It would prove to be a big contribution towards literature.

He read out excerpts from the book which, according to him, spoke of his (author’s) straightforwardness towards telling all ups and downs of his life. The man who began his life as teacher in Karachi did his law graduation and travelled to Larkana with one neck tie, a lawyer’s dress and a suitcase and started law practice at Abdul Fatah Memon’s firm.

The speakers said the author did not conceal the fact of his association with communist leaders Jamaluddain Bukhari, Sobho Gianchandani and Nazeer Jatoi, and his relations with Allam Mashraqi and late Z.A Bhutto. Being the founder member of the PPP, he had been an eyewitness to the chain of events which he had penned down in his biography, they said.

Sikandar Abbasi called the contents of the biography as the reflection of his personality. He said the book pointed towards the degree of religious tolerance and accommodation in Sindh, adding that the events had been compiled in a fashion of history.

Calling the author a man of holistic approach, Monis Ayaz, son of famous poet Shaikh Ayaz, said he had successfully encompassed reality and history in his biography. It was a kind of magical realism, he said and referred to the Rousseau’s ‘Confessions’ and Bertrand Russell’s autobiography.

Manzoor Kohyar, an anthropologist, stressed writers to record their memories with the element of contemporary assessment of values.

Anjuman Musannefeen Pakistan president Muslim Shamim said the book was an authenticated document of history which Mr Khalid Chandio had transcribed and played the role like Kabir who had transcribed the memories of Abul Kalam Azad in the shape of ‘India Wins Freedom’.

Inayat Memon, Rakiyal Morai and Dr Bashir Shad said it was a political biography punctuated with literary glimpses and truth. Referring to Quratul Ain Haidar’s biography, they said these biographies were the important part of fiction and major contribution to literature. It was the document of time which simultaneously reflected the author, Z.A Bhutto and politics. He had honestly written his views about G.M Syed and Nawab Akbar Bugti despite his association with Z.A Bhutto, they said.

Education Minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro described the book as a continuous chain of events which Abdul Razzak Soomro had authored in his biography.

The author admitted about ‘omissions’ regarding some events and personalities which he said was not deliberate.

He said Benazir Bhutto, Muslim Shamim and a few of his friends had constantly been demanding him to write down a biography. He appreciated the efforts of Khalid Chandio for successfully completing the task of transcribing 102 audio cassettes of the biography recorded from December 2007 to 2009.