KARACHI: A book on the tradition of the Urdu nazm titled Urdu nazm ki azeem riwaet by Sarwar Jawaid was launched at the Arts Council on Wednesday evening.

Poet Dr Pirzada Qasim presided over the programme. He said Mr Jawaid was an important individual who’s known as a poet. But in prose writing too he had made his mark, the primary feature of which was his ‘shikoh-i-izhar’ (blunt or bold expression). His prose was based on his realistic approach to life, and the noteworthy aspect of it was that he did it in a way that the reader could disagree with him. It meant that a question raised by him could give birth to another question which furthered the cause of criticism. When he (Jawaid) criticised a poet or poem, he did it with reasoning, which was why the reader had the option not to go with his point of view. As a result, he’s counted among those who were known for their critical faculty.

Dr Qasim said the tradition of Urdu nazm started 150 years back. In the book, Mr Jawaid had given the impression that the growth of the genre happened at a sluggish pace. However, it would hold the author in good stead if he came up with another part of the book that carried the name of Nazir Akbarabadi, the first nazm writer in Urdu poetry, and carried on his arguments to include the likes of Satyapal Anand, Fiza Azmi and Ahfazur Rehman. Mr Jawaid had spent a year and a half in compiling the book, so if he decided to write the tradition of ghazal writing, efforts should be made to make it a properly funded a project.

Dr Qasim said the book analysed 21 poets (19 men and two women — Fahmida Riaz and Parveen Shakir) starting with Iqbal and Josh. A lot had already been written about Iqbal, Josh and Faiz; but Mr Jawaid had seen Iqbal in a different light. In the collective analysis, he termed the wealth of nazm writing in Urdu as ‘social genius’. But the writer was pessimistic about the present and future of the Urdu nazm.

Sarwar Jawaid in his speech responded to the issue of omission of certain important names from the book, saying he did take into account poets like Ali Sardar Jaffery, Akhtarul Iman and Makhdoom Mohiuddin. The problem was that he didn’t find enough material on Jaffery and Mohiuddin in Pakistan.

Prof Anwaar Ahmed Zai lauded the fact that Mr Jawaid’s criticism was not fraught with references borrowed from western literature or abstruse terminologies. He, however, did touch upon a few omissions such as that of Nazir Akbarabadi.

Anees Zaidi highlighting the importance of the nazm said Ghalib was inclined towards writing nazm and Iqbal came to know the significance of the form when he visited the West. He said that after Iqbal and Josh, a lot of people ignored Majaz.

Saeeduz Zafar Siddiqui, Ahmed Shah, Arif Sheikh, Noor Mohammad Sheik and Anees Baqar also spoke.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2014