KARACHI: The 9th International Urdu Conference organised by the Art Council of Karachi concluded on Sunday evening.

An emotionally fraught session titled Yaad-i-Raftagan saw quite a few writers teary-eyed. The segment was dedicated to those who had passed away in the last 12 months.

Writer Anwar Maqsood read out a paper on his sister Fatima Surraya Bajia. He said she was the eldest of 10 siblings. At the age of 17 she got married and two years later she separated and started living with her parents. When she was 40, her father died. Her mother and Bajia had an age gap of 15 years; after her father’s death, the mother and daughter became the best of friends.

Bajia was an extremely caring person who addressed everyone by calling them ‘beta’. Once columnist Ardeshir Cowasjee came to see her and Bajia called him beta, to which he replied, ‘tum sala pope kion bunn jata hai’ (Why do you act like the pope?). But that was the kind of person she was; she liked every one and the door to her home was never found closed because anyone could come and meet her.

Four-day international Urdu conference ends

While Mr Maqsood was reading out his paper, his eyes welled-up, as did poet Zehra Nigah’s, who was presiding over the segment.

S. K. Nagpal spoke on the life and work of Agha Saleem. He shed light on his variety of accomplishments, including the work that he did on Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai.

Akhtar Waqar Azeem presented a paper on Aslam Azhar. He said he never compromised on his principles.

Dr Asif Farrukhi talked about his father, Dr Aslam Farrukhi. He first focused on his work saying although he wrote poetry, especially ghazals, complying with Shahid Ahmed Dehalvi’s advice, he turned to writing prose and wrote (individuals’) sketches which reflected his personality best. He said Dr Aslam was a hard-working man and got nothing on a plate in his life. Dr Asif, like Mr Maqsood, had a lump in his throat while speaking into the microphone and found it difficult to complete his speech.

Safwanullah informed the audience on the late Azhar Abbas Hashmi. He said he was an efficient and diligent man.

Prof Sahar Ansari shared his thoughts on poet Jamiluddin Aali. He said Aali ji helped progress the Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu. He said he wrote an epic poem, Insaan, and in doha-writing he developed a style of his own.

Zehra Nigah, in her presidential address, recited a few verses on the subject of death, one of which was Jigar’s:

Ahbab mujh se qat-i-taa’luq karein Jigar
Ab aftaab-i-zeest lab-i-baam aa gaya

[Friends, it’s time to say goodbye to me Now the sun has descended on my balcony]

The launch of a book on Intizar Husain, titled ‘Charagh-i-Shab-i-Afsana’ by Dr Asif Farrukhi generated a great deal of interest among book lovers. Critic Nasir Abbas Nayyar said the book was Dr Farrukhi’s magnum opus in which he hadn’t tried to show Intizar Husain as a man of the 20th century but portrayed him as a genius. He said it was a work of high degree of scholarship. He said Dr Farrukhi’s respect and fondness (aqeedat) for the writer did not cloud the content of the book.

Dr Farrukhi read a small excerpt from an essay penned by Prof Shamim Hanafi on the book. Prof Hanafi likened the narrative to an art gallery (of Intizar Husain’s life and creative pursuits).

The book launch was preceded by a session on film, stage and television in contemporary times.

The penultimate segment of the conference was an evening with writer Anwar Maqsood. He tickled the audience as well as the literary luminaries who were on stage to preside over the event. He said the invite to the moot mentioned that visitors may bring their children to the sessions on hard core literary subjects. He said the next time there should be a session on the foundation (bunyad) of Urdu literature and who could be a better person to know about bunyand than Malik Riaz. He said Punjabi literature had produced to shers (a play on the word verse which also sounds like a word meaning lion): Shahbaz Sharif and Nawaz Sharif.

Shifting his attention to the city of Lahore, he said it was no longer the city associated with Manto, Nasir Kazmi and Munir Niazi. Quoting Patras (who he said inspired him to write humour), he said Punjab would soon become the capital of Lahore. Using an imaginary letter that Patras had written to him (in which Iqbal, Sufi Tabassum, Mahmood and Ayaz feature), he suggested to the organisers of the conference that on the pattern of Faiz Mela, they should hold an Iqbal Mela.

The last session had more than a dozen men of letters on stage who spoke briefly.

A resolution was also passed in which, among other things, it was highlighted that efforts should be made to bring about peace in the region and communication between poets and writers of different parts of the world was ensured.

Earlier, the day began with a session on the modern world and literary requirements followed by a segment on children’s literature.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2016