KARACHI, Nov 28: An evening dedicated to Faiz Ahmed Faiz attracted a large audience at the Karachi Gymkhana on Tuesday where eminent intellectuals reminisced the time they passed with the great poet and highlighted almost every track of his personality.
“I find Faiz on the thin fencing that separates art and ideology where he is too seemed to me inclined towards art,” Sindh Ombudsman Yousuf Jamal, who was chief guest at the evening, said.
The function had been jointly organised by the Academy of Letters, Sindh Chapter, Karachi Gymkhana’s literary committee and literary wing of the Sindh Ombudsman Secretariat to observe the 22nd death anniversary of the master poet.
Yousuf Jamal, a great admirer of Faiz, mesmerized the audience with his immense grip on the knowledge vis-à-vis personality of Faiz and his capability of memorizing most of his poetry.
He shared various candid incidents relating to the poet’s life and then started his views about the political inclination Faiz had adapted and for which he had struggled throughout his life.
Critics on the two sides of the fence that Mr Jamal pointed out during his speech, eulogise and criticise Faiz. The former said Faiz had stuck to socialism during his life yet created immortal poetry; the latter said the propaganda Faiz and other poets of ideology inclined to had devalued their art.
Mr Jamal said Faiz might be one of the few poets who were so powerful that they sided with some ideology yet did not compromise on their art. He said Faiz could not be branded as anything but a humanist. “In broader perspective we can call him a radical humanist,” he said.
Journalist Mehmood Sham, who presided the meeting, highlighted Faiz as a journalist who set the trends that became traditions later.
“He was such a great journalist that his editorials had also created a huge circle of journalist Faiz. People would then ask their children to read his editorials to improve their English but after Pakistan Times was made part of the National Press Trust the same parents would stop their kids from reading the newspaper as it would worsen their language,” Sham said.
Critic Mohammad Ali Siddiqui criticized those who had not yet stopped Faiz bashing. He said Faiz did not compromise on his artistic capabilities and nor he stopped his struggle for the poor and oppressed across the world.
Muslim Javed, Sarwer Jawed and Agha Noor Mohammad Pathan also spoke.
During the function, a website on Faiz designed by the Academy of Letters was also launched.
KARACHI, Nov 28: An evening dedicated to Faiz Ahmed Faiz attracted a large audience at the Karachi Gymkhana on Tuesday where eminent intellectuals reminisced the time they passed with the great poet and highlighted almost every track of his personality.
