KARACHI, April 21: Awaz-i-Shikastagi, a long poem by Feza Azmi, was launched at the Karachi Press Club on Tuesday. Dr Farman Fatehpuri chaired the session and Dr Manzoor Ahmed was the chief guest. Prof Saher Ansari, Prof Afaq Siddiqui, Naqqash Kazmi, Syed Inaam Nadir and Anwer Kaif spoke at the ceremony. Rashid Noor did the compering.

Feza Azmi also spoke and dilated on the background of his poem. What inspired him to compose it was Samael Huntington's book on clash of civilization, which was a conspiracy to instigate the Western power to wage war against Islam.

The author and his like-minded "intellectuals" consider Islam as the most powerful ideology. "Islam is a religion of peaceful existence and there is no reason to invite clash between Islam and other forces," he said.

Dr Manzoor Ahmad, in his speech, posed a question regarding the war being waged between various forces - the US attacks on Iraq or Afghanistan for example; was it a war between "Kufer and Islam? Certainly not. This and the other were fought to grab material resources of other nations. It was nothing but a lust for wealth," he added.

He said history revealed that European for centuries had been fighting against each other to grab more land and wealth by using the slogans of religious beliefs and culture.

Dr Manzoor said that at present, religion, ideology, culture, civilization and every other thing was saleable. The Quraanic verses meant to enlighten our hearts were being used in advertisements and slogans.

"What is needed from us is to acquire knowledge, live peacefully with the neighbours and influence others with the Islamic way of life - peace, tolerance, enlightenment and dignity as its virtues," he added.

Dr Farman Fatehpuri spoke on the poetic qualities. Though he refused to accept the poem as a masnavi, he admired it as a long poem, a beautiful narration of the history and culture of our times.

Prof Saher Ansari was happy that a poet was writing long poems while the ghazal was dominating the literary scene. He praised Azmi's long verses - Kursinaama Pakistan, Marsia Marq-i-Zamir, and Azaab-i-Hamsaigi - the last one published in India as well.

He said that Azaab-i-Hamsaigi was much admired by noted intellectual Khushwant Singh and also quoted by the Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in his election speech. Prof Ansari briefly narrated the history of long poems in Urdu quoting Allama Iqbal, Sardar Jafri, Kaifi Azmi and some others. However, he said that he had some reservations on the usage of some words.

Speaking on the poetic qualities of Awaz-i-Shikastagi, Prof Afaq Siddiqui said that despite its merits, he did not accept it as a masnavi. However, he praised the poem as it was meant to enlighten people.

"We are hoping for a new philosophy of peace to emerge from the present chaos," Prof Siddiqui said and posed a question, "Will there be a united Muslim Ummah in the future?" Earlier, Shugufta Farhat on behalf of the host Mohabban-i-Bhopal Forum welcomed the guests.