KHAIRPUR: Collaborative efforts need to be made by scholars worldwide on literary research projects. It is important that the underprivileged raise their voice and articulate their identity in the form of literature. Hindko writers are focusing on writing about day-to-day affairs in their literature. Traditional societies do not give women the freedom to write and for a long time women’s contribution to Urdu literature had been negligible.

These disporate thoughts were articulated on the first day of the third international conference on ‘Literature, society and reconstruction – past, present and future’ at the Shah Abdul Latif University (Salu) on Tuesday.

Dr Yusuf Khushk, dean of the faculty of social sciences, in his opening remarks at the inaugural session said that 63 scholars from three continents had been invited to discuss the literatures of their respective regions at this third conference.

“The role of a prose writer or a poet is twofold. One is frame his fiction or poetic verses in the catastrophes that occur around him and the other is to highlight everyday affairs that reflect the thought process of an individual and hence that of a society.” He placed emphasis on scholars from different countries interacting with each other to know their literary trends and research methods which can in turn positively influence their own writings. “They can collaborate with each other on literary projects.”

Salu vice chancellor Dr Perveen Shah warmly welcomed the guests and said the word ‘universe’ is part of university, hence anyone associatd with a university has to be cognizant of the universe’s problems.

Dr Satyapal Anand, the keynote speaker, focused his paper on protest literature in Europe and the US. “Anti-war literature during the Vietnam war resulting in multiple deaths of US soldiers led to a lot of discontent in the literary class, which went on to produce hundreds of poems, short stories and plays.” His paper also briefly discussed the tone and tenor of protest literature in Urdu in Pakistan during and after military regimes.

Prof Dr Heinz Werner Wessler of the department of linguisitics and philology at Uppsala University in Sweden, read out an insightful paper on underprivileged groups and their literatures in South Asia.

“In South Asian countries, the so-called tribals, untouchables and other underprivileged minorities form a huge part of the population. In recent decades, their plight has been taken up not only by those who write from the mainstream but also from writers representing these groups themselves. On the one hand, this often leads to a deepening of the rifts between the mainstream and the minorities and on the other, the self-representation of the marginalised has an important impact on the construction of a modern and egalitarian society.”

Dr Fatema Hassan’s paper focused on women’s contribution to literature. “Traditional societies did not grant women the freedom to write and for a long time Urdu literature had been devoid of women’s contribution. Those women who did manage to write could not make their work accessible to society. It was under the Progressive Writers Movement that women started writing while establishing their own identity and thus began a new phase in Urdu literature.”

The final session of the day saw scholars reading papers on Punjabi Sufi literature, Hindko literature and Seraiki literature.

Dr Naveed Shahzad spoke about Punjabi Sufi literature and the modern Punjabi prose poem. According to him, what he understood about Sufism was that it was to be practised on an individual level and not on a societal one whereas modern Punjabi prose poem talks about an ideal society and presents a manifesto of sorts.

“Literature demands concentration but in a cyber society that is also a global village, concentration is severely lacking,” said Dr Zahid Munir Amir in his paper titled ‘Literature, society and possibilities of future’.

Dr Maqbook Hussain Gilani’s paper on ‘The past, present and future of Seraiki literature’ was highly appreciated by the participants.

Dr Raza Bhatti, a member of the Higher Education Commission, promised to give funding to the conference organisers for holding a children’s literature festival next year in Khairpur.

The day’s proceedings came to an end with columnist and writer Zahida Hina, also heading the session, gently reminding everyone that her written instructions to keep the reading of their papers under 10 minutes was not to be taken personally as there were too many speakers and less time. She felt that the papers on Hindko and Seraiki writing were informative especially for those who were unaware of the languages.

The session was followed by a mushaira later in the evening at the historic Faiz Mahal, an 18th century palace of the Talpurs.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2015

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