Eminent women’s letters to Dr Jamil Jalibi published in book form

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi 

 (Pakistan News & Features Services)

Letters written to and from famous personalities to their contemporaries have often been most sought after ones and the publication of its collection in book form is welcomed warmly by the literary circles. 

‘Khutoot-e-Ghalib’ which is a collection of letters written by Mirza Asadullah Ghalib, arguably the greatest-over poet of Urdu language, remains a precious gift for literary minded people in particular. 

Prof Dr Nasim Fatima, a renowned scholar and library scientist, has undertaken the arduous task of arranging the most significant letters written to Prof Dr Jamil Jalibi, one of the literary legends to have emerged from Pakistan, who passed away in April 2019 at the age of 90.

The 184-page hardbound book is titled ‘Doctor Jamil Jalibi Kay Naam Namwar Khawateen Kay Khutoot’ with his son Dr Khawar Jamil being its co-compiler. It’s priced PKR 500 per copy. 

Amna Abul Hasan, Ada Jafri, Altaf Fatima, Saqiba Rahimuddin, Surayya Hussain, Samina Raja, Samina Shoukat, Jamila Hashmi, Jilani Bano, Humaira Khatoon, Khadija Mastoor, Rabia Nehan, Rukhsana Seham Mirza, Rubina Shaheen, Razia Fasih Ahmed, Zahida Baqai, Zahida Hina, Zehra Nigah, Sultana Bakhsh, Sultana Mehar, Syeda Jaffar, Shaila Akhtar, Siddiqa Arman, Ayesha Siddiqa, Ismat Chughtai, Iffat Mohani, Saira Hashmi, Farkhanda Lodhi, Fahmida Riaz, Qurrat-ul-Ain Haider, Kishwar Naheed, Muazzama Tabassum, Mumtaz Shirin, Nasim Fatima, Nasima Binte Siraj, Wajida Tabassum and Hajira Masroor are the 38 eminent women whose letters to Dr Jamil Jalibi have been published in the fifth book of the series brought out by the Dr Jamil Jalibi Research Library.

The book has been dedicated to Dr Jamil Jalibi's daughter Sumaira Jamil, son-in-law Muhammad Abdullah and their children Shafaq Abdullah, Bilal Abdullah, Farooq Abdullah and Rafay Abdullah.

Co-authors Prof Dr Nasim Fatima and Dr Khawar Jamil have written a detailed foreword of the book.

"A lot of books have been written on Dr Jamil Jalibi but none of them have covered the aspects of his letter-writing and his correspondence with various learned ladies. The basic reason was the inaccessibility to the heaps of letters which were there  to be seen," they noted.

"We have carried out a research and we have found out that he had exchanged letters with no less than 200 ladies, some of whom were famous and a few of them were not so much known," they disclosed.

"The highest number of letters (286)  were from Jamila Hashmi, follow by Qurrat-ul-Ain Haider (124) and Nasim Fatima (70). Among others he had regular correspondence with Jilani Bano, Razia Fasih Ahmed, Shakila Akhtar, Sultana Bakhsh, Amber Hashmi, Mumtaz Shirin, Wajida Tabassum and Hajra Masroor," they revealed.