KARACHI: The oath-taking ceremony of the office-bearers and members of the governing body of the Arts Council, Karachi, was held on Friday. Justice Haziqul Khairi, the Sindh Ombudsman, administered the oath.

Recalling the decade of the 1960s when the city’s coffee and tea houses used to be the centres of literary discourse and light discussion, Justice Khairi desired that the new office-bearers of the Arts Council should undertake the task of building the council a major centre of learning.

Referring to the establishment of Urdu University in Karachi, Justice Khairi expressed his intense desire to have a Darul Tarjuma in the city, saying that without which we will never be able to acquire modern knowledge in various sciences.

Praising the services rendered by the president and the outgoing office- bearers in building the council a popular place of cultural gatherings, he pointed out that the council should now consider the legal status of its president.

Earlier, the President of the Arts Council, Shafiqur Rahman Paracha, spoke about the commendable services of the fellow office-bearers and the resurgence of the council with the help of Justice Haziqul Khairi a couple of years back, when the council took a new leaf of life after a fresh membership drive.

Khushbakht Shujaat, the Vice President of the council, and Yawer Mehdi, the Honorary Secretary, also spoke and vowed to work with the joint efforts of all the members without any discrimination.—Hasan Abidi