Karachi : The first literary work, an Algerian novel published in the Urdu language in Pakistan (When Life Desires You) by the great Algerian writer Dr. Fadila Melhaq, is a historical precedent and a pioneering step in establishing a bridge of cultural communication between two great brotherly countries, Algeria in North Africa and Pakistan in South Asia, and the entire Indian subcontinent.
The novel was published by the Karachi Editor’s Club, in Urdu language, translated by Dr. Lubna Farah, Head of the Translation Department at the National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad (NUML), and in the English language by Professor Siham Hamouda from the Republic of Tunisia, after it was published in Arabic in Egypt in 2021 and French and Spanish in 2022.
The Karachi Editor’s Club also issued for the first time in Pakistan two collections of short stories from Algeria in Urdu language by Dr. Fadila Melhaq (Outside the Field of Literacy) and (For display…Unpaintable) translated by Dr. Lubna Farah.
-Fadila Melhaq, a brilliant academic career and abundant diverse literary production:
A distinguished literary talent, a brilliant academic researcher, excellent academic career, and a rich and diverse literary and scientific production. Melhaq holds many certificates: a certificate from the Higher School of the Judiciary – Algeria, a doctorate in law – specializing in human rights and international humanitarian law, a certificate of professional competence as a lawyer, a diploma in postgraduate studies specializing in diplomacy, a European university certificate from France in the field of cyberspace, international certificates. In training experts in the fields of international humanitarian law and cybercrime, and certificates in various fields, including foreign languages.
Fadila Melhaq published several literary works in Algeria, Lebanon, Egypt, and France: three novels, eight books of poetry, three short story collections, and several books on law: “Protecting human rights during armed conflicts – reality and stakes”, “Protecting the Algerian banking system from money laundering.” “International Negotiation and Crisis Management,” “Problems of Criminalization and Punishment in the Statute of the International Criminal Court,” “Restrictions on Follow-up and Investigation Before the International Criminal Court,” “Obstacles to Implementing the Rules of International Protection of Human Rights.”
– The novel “When Life Desires You”, the experience of secret migration from the south to the north:
The novel dealt with issues of clandestine immigration, through the experience of a long journey between the south and the north, from a miserable neighborhood in the cities of the southern bank of the Mediterranean.
Young people migrated across the sea on a simple boat carrying big dreams. They found themselves in a strange world. They arrived in Europe, where they embarked on a journey that reveals the suffering of African and Asian people and the third world in general, due to the complicity of major interests in the West, who run the world from behind the curtain.
The novel dealt with the problems of the four corners of the world, and in part it concerned the Indian subcontinent, through the character of the Bengali man (Talukder), who was exposed to plots planned in the Western world, was exploited, and changed the course of his quiet life into a painful and violent context.
Suspense, excitement, and strangeness are distinctive features in Fadela Melhaq’s novel, in which realistic romance is accompanied in an attractive manner. It addresses the topic of clandestine immigration from a perspective that goes beyond the stereotype of a secret boat. It interrogates the intrigues of distant history and the aspirations of the geography of the present. It is a beautiful, exciting novel worthy of discovery, reading and study.
by Dr. Fadila Melhaq.
