APROPOS the letter (July 1) on the plight of Urdu literature. I agree that Urdu literary magazines are finding it hard to survive for want of readership. The declining trend in readership is not limited to Urdu alone. The emergence of TV channels, internet and other forms of social media has had a drastic effect on readership.

Having said that, I also believe those successive governments’ policies towards the national language are one of the many other reasons for the death of Urdu literary magazines, while the lethargic attitude of our litterateurs cannot be ignored altogether.

Researchers, poets and prose-writers will have to play their respective roles for the revival of Urdu literary magazines like Naqoosh, Naya Daur, Savera, Seep, Saqi, Nigar and Nairang-e-Khayal.

The monthly magazine Naqqad has also disappeared because of a lack of readership. Another periodical, Mujalla Osmania, published under the banner of the Old Boys Association of Osmania University also met the same fate.

A. Siddiqui

Islamabad

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2015

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