TEHRAN – Iran’s Sadi Foundation honored three Indian scholars who have made contributions to the Persian language in India during a ceremony on Monday.

Professor Rehana Khatoon, the former head of the Persian Department at the University of Delhi, Qamar Ghaffar, an Indian Persian language and literature educator, and Syed Ahsanuzzafar, a former member of the Department of Persian at Lucknow University, received plaques of honor at the ceremony held at the Cultural Center of Iran in New Delhi.

The director of Sadi Foundation, Gholamali Haddad-Adel, and a number of cultural figures attended the ceremony, the foundation announced on Tuesday.

Pointing to the significant role of the scholars in promoting Persian culture in India, Haddad-Adel said, “A vast portion of Persian thought has been inscribed in Persian in India over a period of about a thousand years, and has actually formed the heritage and identity of this country.”

He added, “Whenever the people of India want to look at their past they need to wear Persian language glasses.”

“The more Persian language is promoted, the more the countries of Iran, India, Tajikistan and Afghanistan are brought closer to one another,” he remarked. 
In his brief remarks Professor Sharif Hossein Ghasemi, a Persian language scholar in India, said that Persian language and literature scholars have helped promote the language after the independence of India despite all the problems. 

Photo: Sadi Foundation director Gholamali Haddad-Adel (L) presents an Indian scholar a plaque of honor at the Cultural Center of Iran in New Delhi on February 27, 2017.

RM/YAW