IRNA � Renowned Pakistani poet and director general of Language Promotion Department says reading poetry in the Persian language is a pleasure and treat for him.


n an interview with Dawn, Iftikhar Arif revealed that he will be traveling to Iran to attend a conference on Persian poet Bidal Dehlavi and will be presenting a research paper over there.

Bidal Dehlavi (1642�1720) was a famous representative of Persian poetry and Sufism in Indian sub-continent.

He added that Persian was the language of elites, officials and commoners in South Asia for many years but when the British came to the area, English replaced Persian and people forgot past.

He added that about 60 percent of the works of Pakistan�s national poet and philosopher Iqbal Lahori is in the Persian language and they are masterpieces.

He said that in coming days he will be reading Persian books that he recently brought from Iran. �There are more that 26 boxes full of books which I bought from Iran,� he said.