By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: The National Language Promotion Department (NLPD) on Friday held the eight session of ‘Muqalma’ with distinguished poet, writer and translator Sarfaraz Baig who lives in France.
The event was presided over by Dr. Muhammad Saleem Mazhar, Director General of the NLPD.
While expressing gratitude to the esteemed guests, he provided a brief introduction to the department and stated, “Anyone who has written even a few words has engaged in a form of intellectual struggle. It is now our duty to pass these words on to the next generation.”
He further mentioned that the department is currently working on IT-based projects, including machine translation, OCR (Optical Character Recognition), and speech-to-text technology.
The chief guest of the event, renowned poet, fiction writer, and PTV producer Farakhunda Shamim, highlighted the significance of digital technology, stating, “It has become an integral part of our lives and cannot be ignored.”
She emphasized that technology could be effectively integrated with literature.
Professor Nusrat Bukhari remarked that individuals like Sarfaraz Baig served as cultural ambassadors for Pakistan abroad, and it was our duty to appreciate their work so they could continue to represent the country in a distinguished manner.
Baig’s childhood friend, Ansari, praised his novels, saying that “The imagery in his works transports me to the past. A great novelist carries history with them, and Sarfaraz Baig possesses this remarkable ability.”
During the event, Sarfaraz Baig shared insights about his six novels and his journey as a writer.
He revealed that he initially started with poetry, but soon realized that it was not his true calling, he then turned to short stories, and eventually found his passion in novel writing, to which he was now fully dedicated.
The session concluded with a Q&A segment, where attendees asked Sarfaraz Baig questions about his literary work and life as a writer living abroad.
