KARACHI, June 5: Friends, colleagues and family members shared fond memories of the late Prof Syed Mohammed Naseer during the launch of a book — a collection of his articles and essays — titled ‘Prof S.M. Naseer Ke Mazameen’ at the Jinnah Medical and Dental College on Wednesday evening.

Commenting on the merits of the book, Prof Sahar Ansari, who presided over the event, said it was a gift for all knowledge-seekers, especially for those who believed in Prof Naseer’s ideology. The pieces included in the book — divided into four parts (politics, economics, education and literature) — were written at different times in the shape of columns or papers read out at seminars. He opined that since Prof Naseer was an ideologically strong person, the high quality of his articles and essays was consistent. The book had been written with such literary flair that the reader felt as if he’s going through a short story, he said.

Prof Ansari highlighted Prof Naseer’s grasp on the subjects on which he liked to write. He claimed his suggestions with regard to education and the economic growth of the country were taken note of by the authorities concerned. He said that such exemplary comprehension of the different topics he shed light on was the result of the fact that he had worked in the field. With respect to the fourth section in the book, Prof Ansari mentioned the article that Prof Naseer penned on Sheikh Ayaz echoing the poet’s concern that while people wrote on issues faced by far-off countries such as Vietnam, they did not care much about Sindh.

Dr Alia Imam articulated that a great man’s ideals ran in society’s veins like blood, and Prof Naseer was one great person. She drew the audience’s attention to three aspects of his life (1) he was a good teacher (2) he was someone who shied away from taking diplomatic stance in life, someone whose personal qualities and ideological moorings moved side by side (3) he showed tremendous strength when he had had to deal with his son’s death — he turned grief into strength because he had a bigger goal in sight: the betterment of humanity. She added that according to Prof Naseer, literature did not reflect life but looked at it with a critical eye.

Writer Zahida Hina likened Prof Naseer to Mahatama Buddha’s disciple who wished to spread wisdom in the world and achieve nirvana. She said he had to go through a lot in his life, including the time when he saw his (socialist) dream shatter; but unlike others he never disassociated or detached himself from socialism. He remained a staunch believer in ishtirakiat till he breathed his last, she said.

Today, she added, in an age when people were averse to reading, the publishing of his book was a beacon of light. The late professor was a soft-spoken and scholarly person. When he was young he had to spend four years in jail because of being a member of the Communist Party of India. His wife, Narjis, played an important role in making him believe in himself. He was fond of men of letters and his association with Sindhi writers was particularly praiseworthy, she said.

The compiler of the book, Dr Jaffer Ahmed, said he had found Marxist writers (Sibte-i-Hasan, Sobhu Gianchandani, Faiz etc) to be a decent or honest (shareef) group of people and had been collecting articles, essays, letters and other such material of eminent scholars for the past two decades. But it’s disheartening to know that there was no archive or archival system through which papers, essays and letters written by scholars could be preserved. He said some of the letters that he chanced upon while sorting out Hamza Alvi’s material (or Zameer Niazi’s) were high quality, precious stuff. He suggested a pressure group should be formed to establish a system whereby their papers could be collected and preserved.

Prof Naseer’s son, Asad Naseer, delivered a short but moving speech. He said the late professor was first and foremost his friend. He said the book had filled his family, especially his mother, with renewed strength.

Prof Naseer’s daughter, Huma Naseer, extended her gratitude to Dr Ahmed for publishing the book.

Rahat Saeed, Iqbal Alavi, Dr Badruddin, Saleem Sheikh, Afshan Suboohi, Dr Jamal Naqvi, Dr Tauseef Ahmed, Mohammed bin Ahmed, Naushaba Siddiqi and Muslim Shamim also spoke.

In the end Wahid Bashir thanked all those who had come to attend the event.

Muqatada Mansoor conducted the programme.