GUJRAT: The maiden two-day Hayatians Literary Festival started at the University of Gujrat’s Hafiz Hayat campus on Tuesday.

A number of students and faculty members attended the opening ceremony at Video Conference Hall. Dr Khurshid Rizvi was the chief guest and UoG Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Zia Ul-Qayyum presided over the ceremony.

Among the guest speakers were Dr Tabassum Kashmiri, Dr Zahid Munir Amer, Dr Anwaar Ahmed, Dr Sughra Sadaf, Ms Sofia Bedar, Dr Saadat Saeed and Dr Mirza Hamid Baig.

The theme of the opening ceremony was revival of tradition in Pakistani literature and the event is meant to promote learning among the students through literature. Several sessions on a variety of themes will be organised during the two days.

Dr Khurshid Rizvi said tradition was the most vigorous part of a literary activity and a symbol of social progress. He said tradition in literature depicted the social values of life in a society. Literature, he said, was anchor of the real thoughts of people.

He said Pakistani literature was considered among the best literary traditions of the world. He suggested that the authors should adopt clarity and transparency of language while using it for a literary genre. He highlighted the importance of association of literature with cultural, lingual and social values of the country.

Dr Zia said societies were an outcome of traditions and decline in positive values of life destroyed the whole infrastructure of a society.

He expressed his concern over non-transferring of positive values to the new generation. He hoped that this literary festival would help the students discover new vistas of life.

Dr Tabassum Kashmiri said a book was closely associated with Muslim culture since its inception. He said reading and book collection was an important aspect of Islamic civilisation. Mentioning about scholar Maulana Muhammad Hussain Azad in detail, he suggested that there was a real need of revival of literary tradition in present Pakistani society for promotion of knowledge.

Dr Zahid Munir Amer said tradition and book were deeply related. He said tolerance, equality and patience were the landmarks of a book-loving society. No nation could survive without protecting its literary milieu and culture, he said while highlighting Allama Iqbal’s devotion for books.

Dr Anwaar Ahmed said custom and traditions of our own homeland were our true identity and “we can’t do justice to our language and literature without recognising those traditions in true sense.” He said Iqbal was a messenger of hope.

According to Dr Sughra Sadaf, each era is supporter of its own tradition. She said tradition was indeed our identity and trailblazer. “We can bring harmony, peace and tolerance in society by following Sufi traditions of our own land,” she added.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2015

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