09 January 2005	Sunday	27 Ziqa'ad 1425

KARACHI, Jan 8: Speakers at a seminar on Saturday stressed for more research on Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai so that more aspects of his life and poetry could be highlighted.

They were speaking at the seminar on "Shah Abdul Latif and Research" organized by the Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai Chair at the University of Karachi.

Three books, "Sindhi Classikee Shairee Ji Lughat" compiled by Dr Fahmida Hassain; "Latif Zaheni Chitabheti" written by Kamal Jamro and "Shah ji Shairee mein Ista'ara and Tashbeeh Nigaree" written by Dr Um-i-Kulsoom Shah, were also launched on the occasion.

Ghulam Ali Allana, who presided over the function, after the scheduled chief guest, Dr Pirzada Qasim, the KU vice-chancellor failed to show up, said the dictionary, which was being launched, would help understand the poetry of at least 10 leading poets including Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, Saami, and others.

He said that earlier dictionaries explained the meanings of words used by one or two poets, but this dictionary contained the words used by 10 poets.

He said the significant thing about the dictionary was that if more than one meanings of a word were given, the source of each meaning was also given with the meaning.

Other speakers including Mohammad Ibrahim Joyo, Dr Abdul Jabbar Junejo, Inam Shaikh, Agha Saleem, Ghulam Hussain Lakho, Dr Abdul Ghafoor Memon, Dr Fahmida Hussain, Prof Saleem Memon on the occasion brought to light that Bhitai's entire poetry was in Sindhi, though the official language in his time was Persian.

They said that Bhitai refused to be a court poet, and instead preferred to be a people's poet. He highlighted the real issues that were faced by the masses of this time.

This was the main reason that his (Shah) poetry was relevant even today, even though it was centuries old. And, it was increasing with the passage of time, they observed.

They said that Bhitai - keeping his time and means of travelling in mind -travelled widely and met many a people, which had enriched his experience and widened his understanding of issues faced by different people living in different regions. Shah used, in this poetry, words and phrases of the people and regions he had visited.