On behalf of Malik Muhammad Iqbal Khan
Prof. Ghazala Hayat
Prof. Samina Yasmeen
Ambassador Ghalib Iqbal Dr. Nadeem Iqbal
Arranged by Dr. Ghazanfar Mehdi
Remembering Begum Sarfraz Iqbal on
26th August 2015
Begum Sarfraz Iqbal Memorial Meeting
12th death anniversary
The Begum Sarfraz Iqbal Foundation will hold an event presided by:
Lt. Gen. (Ret) Abdul Qadir Baloch
Federal Minister for States and Frontier Regions to hear our Chief Guest:
Qaisra Shahraz
Internationally Renowned British Pakistani Novelist
with
Hon. Senator Farhatullah Babar Hon. Senator Shibli Faraz
Begum Shamim Ikram-ul-Haq
Abdal Bela
Muhammad Yusuf
Professor Samina Yasmeen
at
Islamabad Hotel, Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Begum Sarfraz Iqbal was born in 1939 and died in 2003. Her ambition from an early age was to become a medical doctor but the constraints of family traditions in Pakistan and the trauma of partition denied her access to medical school. Instead she devoted her energies to her husband, art and literature, and rearing four energetic (and occasionally naughty) children. She became friend, confidante, mentor and even mother to the leading poets, writers and artists of emerging Pakistan.
She is best known for her book, Damian-e-Yusuf from Mavara Press, presenting letters to her from the most famous Urdu poet of his generation, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, to whom she was confidante, mentor, supporter and shield from the persistent efforts of military regimes to silence him. The book tells of her friendship with him through turbulent formative years of Pakistan’s history. Her second book, Jo Bachay Hein Sang from Naqoosh Press is a treasury of Urdu literary biography.
She was patron of the Urdu Literature Society of Pakistan. She was friend and confidante to cabinet ministers, prime ministers yet at the same time spent most of her time and energy helping the poor and dispossessed in jails, orphanages and the poorest villages throughout Pakistan.
She wrote a regular Urdu column in the Urdu paper Daily Ausaf criticising the high and mighty with the most elegant and beautiful literary allegories. She had the courage to publicly criticise Oussama Bin Laden at the height of the American bombing campaign in Afghanistan. She wrote many articles for literary magazines through her writing career.
The most renowned poets used her as inspiration for their best poetry and she inspired painters like the great Saadeqain to paint her portrait time and again. She had the unique ability to make anyone immediately feel like a close friend of the family, no matter their background in the social system. Among many others she represents the truly liberated feminist, working constructively within her own social system.
After her untimely death in 2003, thousands came to her home over the next few months to mourn her passing, people whom she had silently helped, from many of the remotest parts of Pakistan.
She is deeply missed.