ZABAAN-E-YAAR-E-MAN TURKEY (PICTORIAL EDITION)

The interpreter of the life that was raging in the prison

It was probably the first week of September 1970 that the students in prison raised a cry in the morning, “Raja is also coming.” They had read the news of his arrest in the newspaper. In the evening, he was also pushed into the narrowest cell of “C Class” with us. Now there was no room for suffering. Soon I felt that this man had a special heart and soul. He had the courage to smile even in the storm of grief, sorrow and poverty. With Raja’s arrival, the hardships of the prison yard began to seem very light. He was an expert in jokes, humor and phraseology. We five men slept in this small space. Raja would light a candle and record different aspects of his groaning life night after night. Many of the memoirs of this book were written in front of me and many such incidents where language cannot express them, he wrote them with his fingers dipped in the blood of his heart and perhaps this was part of it. He seems to be a Che Guevara and a hippie, sometimes a cleric and often a philosopher. He is also a student, a writer and a lecturer. A death sentence for enemies and a “lifeline” for friends, but very few people know that he is a very sensitive man. “Raja writes very well,” I will not say this. You have to decide that. If I said something, you might impose a fatwa of “friendship.” In any case, I know that your decision will be in Raja’s favor.

The reflection of the night of prison is not a disease for everyone because there are many places on this difficult path where the prevailing language cannot express feelings. However, Raja, due to his sensitive nature, has felt the suffering of this environment very closely. This book is a reflection of the life that is going on in the prison. Much has been written about prison before, but let me say that this painful work of Raja holds a unique place.

Meraj Muhammad Khan
(Noted socialist, intellectual and philosopher)