Ailing writer returns govt money
LARKANA: The ailing short story writer, playwright and poet Mohammad Ali Pathan, has said that he will return Rs50,000 cheque given to him by the Sindh culture department in protest against an insulting statement issued by the director-general of the department.
Mr Pathan said in a press statement that the director general Ramzan Awan had disgraced him by saying that he was a 19 grade officer even then the department had helped him and would continue to do so.
Mr Pathan said that for 21 years he was serving in 17-grade in education department and added: “I don`t need such assistance which hurts my feelings.”
He said he had been diagnosed as the patient of a dangerous skin disease which may take two years to heal. Mr Pathan said that he had returned home from Karachi after exhausting the money he had and would visit his doctors soon after collecting the amount required to continue the treatment.
Supporting the stand of Mr Pathan, the men of letters from all over Sindh – including Imdad Hussaini, Madad Ali Sindhi and Zeb Sindhi – and former secretary culture Mehtab Akbar Rashdi have phoned him and condemned the DG culture`s attitude.
Sobho Gianchandani`s plea
In a letter sent to Fakhur Zaman, the chairman of the Academy of Letters (AoL) on Tuesday, veteran activist-writer Comrade Sobho Gianchandani has appealed for providing financial assistance to Mr Pathan to enable him to continue his treatment.
“Apart from his own literary work, Mr Pathan had also helped me write two books,” the octogenarian Mr Gianchandani said. Tareekkh Ki Bhooli Bhatki Baatain Tareekh Bolti Hai
“Due to my frail health I have been unable to use pen and it is Mr Pathan who has penned down my two books – and – and most of the short stories translated by me from English into Sindhi on my dictation,” he said.
Mr Gianchandani urged the Academy to extend financial help to Mr Pathan as soon as possible to save his life.
Source: Dawn
Date:4/6/2011
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