October 29, 2008	Wednesday	Shawwal 29, 1429

HYDERABAD, Oct 28: Taj Joyo has said that Shah Abul Latif Bhitai was a scholar of Persian, Arabic, Punjabi, Sindhi and Seraiki languages and claimed the he had also composed verses in Persian language.

He was delivering a lecture on “Fountains of thoughtful poetry of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai” at Shaikh Ayaz auditorium of the faculty of arts of the University of Sindh. The lecture programme was organized by Shah Latif research cell and attended by a large number of scholars, teachers and students.

Mr Joyo said that Shah Latif was a follower of Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi and he also translated poetry of Maulana Rumi.

He said that Shah Latif was a real Sufi who preferred to live among common people. He said that Shah Latif inspired Sufi poets and promoted Sufi thought in Sindhi language.

Speaking on the occasion, the university’s vice-chancellor Mazharul Haq Siddiqui said that the poetry of Shah Latif was full of life. He advised the students to develop the habit of reading Shah Latif, saying that it would enhance their thinking facility.

He said that the poetry of Shah Latif had enriched Sindhi language and literature.

He said that new trends in media had created an unhealthy situation for Sindhi language and added that for the survival of original Sindhi language, the youth must read Shah Latif’s poetry.

He said that the basic objective of formation of the Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai Coordination Council was to promote his language and poetry among youth from early education to higher level.

Dean, faculty of arts, Dr Mohammad Qasim Bughio, said that the lecture series introduced by the department of Sindhi was aimed at enriching knowledge of students through lectures by learned scholars.

Dr Noor Afroze Khowaja, head of Sindhi department, highlighted objectives of the lecture series.

REASEARCH: A meeting of the Advanced Studies and Research Board of the University of Sindh on Tuesday approved award of MPhil degrees to Ms Nazish Nawaz in Information Technology and Munir Ahmed Abbasi in Environmental Sciences.

The meeting approved eight research proposals of candidates and names of their supervisors for MPhil in Islamic Culture, Education, Sociology, Pakistan Study, Public Administration and Pharmaceutical Chemistry.

The meeting approved the conversion of research work from MPhil to PhD projects of five candidates in Analytical Chemistry, Pharmaceutics, Political Science and Library and Information Sciences.

The meeting allowed registration of two candidates for PhD in Education, Pharmacognosy, International Relations and Pakistan Studies.

LLB ADMISSION: The University of Sindh has issued the first merit list of candidates selected for admissions to first batch of LLB (Honours) programme.

According to the announcement, last date for payment of admission fee through bank challan is November 11.