| My aunt Begum Jahanara Salimuddin is not only a senior member of our Fakir family but she has been associated with the world of letters and literature – as a reader and as a writer. Her first novel Ghungat was published in 1958, and since then she has been an informed contributor to various newspapers and journals. |
| Someone once asked me how I felt about my books. I told them that one’s books are like children that never grow old. |
| Phupo Jani’s book Siskian is dedicated as you will see from the cover to a child of hers – her son Khurram - who never had the chance to grow old. None of us can question or reverse God’s decisions in such matters, but I hope over the years her four daughters, her sons-in-law, her grandchildren and her great-grand children have collectively provided her the love Khurram alone could have provided. |
| Their presence in her life and your presence today is a testament to the enormous love and affection that we all have for her. |
| She asked me to say a few words today. I am honoured to do so, because I want to pay tribute to her as a person and as a symbol of a generation of Pakistanis who grew up in one generation, experienced the traumas of another in 1947, and are now witnessing another generation of change. |
| The fact that she remains optimistic about the future is the quality that has sustained her and many of her generation, for without that optimism we in our generation would not have survived. |
| I cannot comment on what she has written. That is for every reader to appreciate and to savour. What I can say is that what she has written will always be relevant as a window into her heart and into our times. |
