Ahmed Saleem’s treasure of archives needs to be preserved: Jamal Shah

Islamabad:Caretaker Federal Minister for National Heritage and Culture Division Syed Jamal Shah eulogised the renowned Punjabi and Urdu poet, writer and researcher Ahmed Saleem for his invaluable services in the field of literature, research and human rights and proposed the preservation of late author’s biggest archives as a national asset for the future generations.

The Minister was speaking at the memorial reference jointly organised the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) to pay tribute to the great intellectual and active member of Progressive Literary Movement of the country here Tuesday.

The Minister mentioned that it was always the dream of Late Ahmed Saleem to preserve his archives which should be done through a collective effort of all stakeholders and well-wishers of the deceased.

Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri, Executive Director. Sustainable Development Policy Institute , read out the poem of Interim Minister for Information Murtaza Solangi as a tribute to Ahmed Salim. Dr Suleri mentioned that Ahmed Salim never had discrimination in his life for anyone, however, his literary stature was evident from the fact that the government of Pakistan on the one hand conferred the Pride of Performance for Arts on him and the President of Bangladesh awarded him Presidential Award for supporting Bengali language.

Dr Suleri informed the participants that Ahmed Salim became the introduction of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute globally and regionally as the institute gained huge respect in Bangladesh, India, or within the country be it Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Sindh or Balochistan.

Senator Farhatullah Babar of Pakistan People’s Party termed Ahmed Salim as a national asset as the wealth of his knowledge was not only belonging to his family members but also the entire nation. Senator he noted that Ahmed Saleem had the largest individual archives in the country and was a generous expert who always shared study and research material without any bias to all for free.

PPP Senator Taj Haider said Ahmed Saleem always advocated the rights of the marginalised and never compromised on his principles through his writings. Ahmed Saleem always compiled all the literature that was progressive in nature and banned by the dictators, he added.

Navsharan Singh from Chandigarh India also shared her thoughts via videolink. She said Ahmed Saleem was the poet of humanity, equality, rights, women empowerment and a genuine right defender.

She said the late Ahmed Salim was loved both in Indian and Pakistani Punjab whereas writer, authors and poets were writing special blogs and columns for the deceased in the local and national Punjabi dailies.

Dr Pritam Singh from UK through online participation shared his sincere regards for the deceased. He said after his first interaction with Ahmed Saleem at Oxford, UK, he had found him a loving soul.

He informed that Saleem was associated with Punjab Research Forum working on the East and West Punjab and the Punjabi diaspora, adding he was committed to Punjabi language and society without any sentiments of exploitation, inequality and malice.

Rana Fawad, CEO Lahore Qalanders, mentioned that Ahmed Salim convinced him to lay the foundation of the first ever street theater for the labourers. He said Ahmed Salim used to spent all his earnings on buying books and lived a contented life.

Harris Khalique, Secretary General, HRCP, said the entire ideology of knowledge prevailing in the society was based on capitalism, where it was needed to develop complete understanding of all subjects of social sciences.

Dr Humera Ashfaq, Zareena Salamat, Sultan Muhammad Nasir, DG, PAL Kulsum Zaib, Barrister Naseem Bajwa, UK, Nuzhat Abbass, from United Kingdom, Dr Anwaar Ahmed, Akhtar Usman and Brig (retd) Muhammad Yasin of Sustainable Development Policy Institute, also spoke on the occasion.