KARACHI: At the monthly literary sitting, Mehfil-i-Naqd-o-Nazar, held at the Arts Council on Friday, verses were presented by senior poets Anwaar Azmi, Anwer Kaif and a budding talent Ms Fauzia Mushtaq.

The proceeding were conducted by poet Naqqash Kazmi, chairman Adbi Committee of the council who has been running the show for the last 12 years.

Yusuf Jamal, adviser to the provincial ombudsman and a popular literary figure, presided over the meeting. Evaluating his judgement on the literary pieces presented earlier and the critical opinions of the speakers, YJ said the poets were futuristic in their expression like Ghalib who had said:

Main andaleeb-i-gulshan-i-na afreeda hoon

He quoted verses from Saroor Bara Bankvi and also Faiz to prove his point. The role of literature was to promote the level of human consciousness as Faiz in one of his verses said: Dard bechain gay geet gaen gay. This faith in humanity and optimism led the poets to the community of property, YJ asserted.

Commenting on feminist poetry in the context of Ms Fauzia Mushtaq's ghazal, YJ said feminist literature since 1924, when Niaz Fatehpuri had published such a piece, had made long strides. The first name in this regard was that of Ada Jafri and later many good poets emerged - Fahmeeda Riaz, Kishwar Naheed, Parvin Shakir, Shaheda Hasan and Fatema Hasan to quote a few.

The women in literature, especially in poetry were no less creative than their male counterpart and will soon reach the level of ghair nesaai meaning thereby male literature. He further said that the gender conflict may have given new impetus to poetry.

YJ highly admired the literary activities carried out at the Arts Council, unique in their form and content, never seen anywhere else. Among those who spoke on the contribution of the poets included Anis Zaidi, Sarwer Javed, Inaam Nadir, Ghaus Mathravi and Yaaver Amaan.

Ghulam Ali Wafa, known for his songs and verses, at present placed in Kuwait, was the guest of the council. He read out his ghazal. Ikram Tabassum was the other guest poet. Ms Razia Hikmat, a teacher at Ibn-i-Rushd college Mirpurkhas was also a guest and presented her short story.