ISLAMABAD, July 13: Hundreds of people attended the International Shah Latif Conference organized by Sindh Graduates Association (SGA) at Shah Abdul Latif Community Centre (SALCC) here on Saturday.

Federal Minister for Privatization Abdul Hafeez Sheikh was chief guest. Chairman Senate Mian Mohammad Soomro, who has been instrumental in providing a grant of Rs6 million for the building of the centre, sent a message expressing his homage for Shah Latif.

Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said there was a magnificent product in the message of Shah Abdul Latif that “we have failed to market well.” He gave a huge undertaking to the organisers of the conference that was to make Latif relevant to the life of the people.

“Recital of well-known stanzas of Shah’s poetical works was not enough to pay homage to the one who made Sindh the focal point of the world peace. The Shah would pray for the welfare of all the world’s people when he would bless his own homeland.”

He said the Sindh province was gifted with cash crops such as rice, wheat, and enormous deposits of coal and granite, minerals, oil and gas and yet some people were wallowing in hunger.

Comparing the situation in his province with that of Singapore, Mr Sheikh said both places enjoyed abundant reserves of water and possessed a deep seaport, yet there was a yawning difference in the earning of the two peoples.

He said Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai’s message was not only a few verses rather it was a complete code of life. He said Shah Latif was a universal poet who gave his message of peace and love to the entire humanity. He asked the young generation to profit from the message of Shah Abdul Latif. “We need devotion in spreading the message of universal love given by Shah Latif.”

Chairman Senate Mohammadmian Soomro in his message said Shah Latif was one of the greatest poets of the world. He said Shah’s poetry preached adoption of great values of love for the poor and was a reflection of the social and cultural values of Sindh. He said the themes of his poetry were poverty, humility, helplessness, love and contention. He also emphasized translation of Shah’s poetry in other languages of the world.

Pakistan Academy of Letters Chairman Iftikhar Arif spoke of the way in which Shah Latif had delineated women characters such as Sohni, Marvi, Saasi etc that he had done with great delicacy. He had shown them as courageous persons.

He said Shah Latif enjoyed a distinct place in the world literature and emphasized translation of his poetical works in all national languages. In this regard, he paid tributes to the scholarly treatise of Dr Nabi Bakhsh Baloch for compiling the compendium of words used by Shah Latif. The dictionary would help understand the poet’s works and needs translation in other principal languages.

The other speakers included Abdul Qudus Ranjan, Nazar Memon, Dr Sulaiman Sheikh, Iqbal Jatoi and Rukhsana Nazi.

A musical evening held after the symposium was compered by Khalida Mazhar and Zahid Jatoi. A number of TV and radio singers such as Sanam Marvi, Zukfiqar Ali, Imdad Lashari Tufail Sanjrani, Qadir Bukhsh Mitthu, Haneef, Anwar Hussain Barkat Bhat, Sadiq Faqeer performed on the stage.—Jonaid Iqbal