A new book on eminent short storywriter Masud Mufti, released at the Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) on Saturday again reminded the reading public of a sensitive writer who has continued to raise his voice against the exploitations of the oppressed class.
Scholars and writers reviewing the book also remembered that Mufti drew characters from real people. They congratulated the writer, Dr Maqsooda Hussain for coming out with this latest book on Mufti and calling it a review of Mufti's personality and art in naming it "Masood Mufti: Shakhsiyat Aur Fun". Media icon, Agha Nasir, praised this well written book which has been published by PAL, in the Adab Ke Meymar (Makers of literature) series.
Agha Nasir spoke on his art and said that Mufi wrote in simple and precise language, never attempting to impress readers in use of classical idioms and difficult language. This enabled the fiction writer to reach his reading public, who enjoy reading him as much as they enjoyed Manto.
Masud Mufti's stories also have the same quality and speak about ordinary men and women of the society that he sought out because of his close observation and also because Mufti, like Manto, was immersed in masses problems. In addition, Iftikhar Arif, Kishwar Naheed, Aftab Iqbal Shameem, Mansha Yad and Muhammad Hameed Shahid also spoke at the book launching ceremony.
Speaking about Mufti, Iftikhar Arif said, he was aware of the difficulties of common people as well as the environment and complication in the international environment. Masud Mufti's technique was pure realism, Iftikhar said. His main characters were studies of human personality as well as their paradoxes, and he dealt both with humanism and nationalism.
The chief guest of the evening, Masud Mufti, thanked the Pal for publishing the book as well as Dr Maqsooda Hussain. Kishwar Naheed said that Masud Mufti's pieces on the debacle of East Pakistan impressed and moved the public and his description of tragic events threw him up as one of the most prominent writers of Urdu fiction. Poet Aftab Iqbal Shameem said that Masood Mufti's stories have great literary worth but they also appeal and uplift our mental level.