Mushtaq Ahmed Yousafi Los Angeles 2008 Part 1

This presentation was held on October 18, 2008 at The Momin Lodge, Los Angeles, under the auspices of Urdu Markaz, International, Los Angeles--- an organization of high esteem in the annals of world literature.

The progarm was chaired by Mrs. Nayyar Jehan Begum, ( Nayyar Apa) who is the founder president of this great organization.

Musthtaq Ahmed Yousafi, Hilal e Imtiaz, Sitara e Pakistan, is indeed the greatest writer of Urdu prose, next to the letters in prose written by Mirza Ghalib.

A banker by profession, he rose to become the President of five different Banks during his Banking career, including United Bank Limited and BCCI. A patriot and a a staunch believer in the liberal Islamic ideology of Mohammed Ali Jinnah and Allama Iqbal, Yousafi is noted for his inimitable style of writing Urdu prose. He has rendered the same service to the Urdu language what Oscar Wilde and Bernard Shaw have to the English.

He is notable for his very humble and down to earth nature and is deeply loved as a human being by his friends and family. As a man of letters, he has been a conscientious critic of hypocrisy. He has been a voice against the dictatorial regimes of Pakistan and a strong proponent of the ideology of Pakistan...Justice and equality based on the law of God.

A few days before his recent visit to Los Angeles in October of 2008, he had undergone a severe personal tragedy, the loss of his son in law, who he loved intensely and to whom he was very close. He maintained his composure throughout this session though it was perceptible to those who knew him. This was the second visit of Mr. Yousafi to Los Angeles, the previous being in August of 2007.

Asarul' Islam Syed MD
Neurologist & Psychiatrist
Bakersfield, California