KARACHI, April 10: The people of Karachi flocked to the National Stadium in their thousands on Saturday night to attend the Aalmi Mushaira. The Mushaira, organized by Sakinan-i-Shaher-i-Quaid Karachi, saw poets from different cities of Pakistan and from other countries, including India, recite their poetry amid great acclaim. Much to the surprise of the organizers, the audience this year not only behaved comparatively well but was also responsive to good poetry.

The Mushaira, which Sakinaan-i-Shaher-i-Quaid-i-Karachi has been organizing since 1989, began an hour late, but the delay was not as prolonged as it used to be in the past when the organizers refused to start the programme before the arrival of the Sindh governor, who is not known for being punctual. Last night, he came over two hours late. He announced a grant of Rs500,000 for the Sakinan-i-Shahar-i-Quaid Trust.

While there was tight security at the venue, law-enforcement personnel kept a low profile. For a change, visitors were not even frisked.

Azhar Abbas Hashmi of Sakinan-i-Shaher-i-Quaid read out the welcome address. He spoke about the response the Sakinan-i-Shaher-i-Quaid Trust had received from men of letters and others. He announced that his literary organization would hold a three-day Urdu conference and exhibition of books in August.

The poets who took part in the Mushaira included Rahat Indori, Adil Lucknawi, Manzar Bhopali, Mumtaz Naseem, Saman Dobay, Rehana Nawab, Khushbeer Singh, Afzal Minglori, Pervez Roshan, Anwar Bari, Ashfaq Hussain, Masroor Javed, Ishrat Afreen, Rehana Qamar, Umar Salim al-Udoos, Zahoorul Islam Javed, Saadia Roshan, Mohsin Ahsan, Iftikhar Arif, Zafar Iqbal, Shahzad Ahmad, Amjad Islam Amjad, Murtaza Barlas, Mahmooda Ghazia, Ghazanfar Hashmi, Mohsin Shakeel, Anwar Bareilli, Raghib Muradabadi, Himayat Ali Shaer, Mohsin Bhopali, Umeed Fazili, Sahar Ansari, Aqeel Ahmad Fiza Azami, Jazib Qureishi, Anwar Shaoor, Tariq Sabzwari, Gulnar Afreen, Sabir Zafar, Athar Shah Khan Jaidi, Shahida Hasan, Najma Khan, Zakia Ghazal, Saqib Anjan, Dr Iqbal Pirzada, Ali Imran, and Perveen Nazeer Soomro.

The Mushaira, which continued till 7.15am, was conducted by Naqash Kazimi and Rizwan Siddiqui.