19 March 2004	Friday	27 Muharram 1425

KARACHI, March 18: The poetry has always been considered a civilized way of expressing emotions that leaves great impact on human lives in peace and war , reinforcing spiritual and moral values in the society, but unfortunately the traditional interest of people in poetry has declined and the youth looks concerned only about its career.

The private and public sectors, as well as civil society organizations, have also almost stopped patronizing literary activities resulting in diminishing interest of people in poetry.

Renowned poets at a seminar on "Reviving our Traditional Interest in Poetry" expressed these views on Thursday. The seminar was organized by the Pakistan Press Foundation in connection with the World Poetry Day being observed on March 21.

Dr Sahar Ansari, Professor, Urdu department, University of Karachi, said it was unfortunate that people in Pakistan were losing interest in poetry, while in Japan, where lifestyles were highly mechanized, an international centre had been established in a five-storey building to promote traditional Japanese Haiko poetry.

Renowned journalist, poet and writer Hassan Abidi said in his brief remarks that the poetry and music had always been instrumental in maintaining peace of mind and tranquillity.

He lamented that despite having great importance, no organized efforts had been made by any sector for revival of public interest in poetry. Ms Fatima Hassan viewed that all the great civilizations of the world were known for their treasure of literature that included the poetic works, but in present era the people were more preoccupied with computers, satellite channels and mobile phones etc.

"The priorities of the civil society have drastically changed and that is why the public interest in poetry has diminished despite the fact that literacy rate in Pakistan has increased a lot," she said.

She was of the view that decay of community libraries, high cost of books and lack of patronage of literary activities by the private and public sector organizations were also the major factors behind diminishing interest in poetry and literature.

Ms Saleha Kausar recited a poem on prevailing situation with regard to poetry and said the poets depicted true picture of the society in few words in their poetic works. Earlier, Mrs Samina Ishaque, PPF director, spoke on the importance of observing world Poetry Day. - PPI