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Dear Rafi,
This morning I received an unexpected call from Norway. My Darvesh poet
friend Masood Munawar was on the phone, a pleasant surprise. We talked
about our creative projects. He offered to join us in our Peace Project
and translate one of the Peace Lectures (he jokingly called then khutbas).
During the dialogue he praised your letters and writings and asked me a
number of questions:
Who
is Rafi Aamer?
Where was he born?
What is his family background?
What is his profession?
Where does he live?
What are his passions?
I
could not answer his questions but promised to become a bridge between
two wonderful friends. I hope you are comfortable answering those
questions as it is not only Masood, there are many others, alongside
myself, who are curious about you alongside your creations.
Let me briefly introduce Masood Munawar. He is a genuine friend and a
wonderful poet of Punjabi and Urdu. When he was in Afghanistan in Zia’s
time he criticized Army rule in his writings. He was blacklisted and
could not go back to Pakistan. He went to India, stayed for a while with
famous Punjabi poet Amrita Pritam and then Norway offered him asylum. He
has been living in Norway for a number of years. Whenever I visit Norway
I go to see him. He is an outspoken man. I love his honesty. Although
his honesty got him in trouble many times but he never stopped sharing
his truth. I think if you ever meet him, you would like him. I am
sending you a ghazal he read on the phone and I asked him to send it to
me so that we can put it on our DERA. Masood mentioned that we can read
some his Punjabi writings on
www.wichaar.com
I
will visit it when I have some free time.
Affectionately
Sohail
May
17, 2006
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