KARACHI: In the chain of events held to eulogise the masters at Arts Council, it was the 10th event, in which noted researcher, poet and writer Prof Afaq Siddiqui was the guest of the evening.

Chaired by well-known Ghalibian, Urdu and Persian poet Iftikhar Ahmad Adni, the assembly was attended by Tasnim Ahmad Siddiqui, famous for his engagement with the dwellers of ‘Kachi Abadi’ Prof Anis Zaidi, Agha Noor Mohammad Pathan, Prof Razia Syed, principal at a local college and many others. Writer Shakila Rafique had arrived from Canada to attend the function while many disciples of Prof Afaq had come from Sukkur, Mirpurkhas and other districts of Sindh.

I.A. Adni, enamoured in ‘Soofiana’ poetry and a great admirer of Meer, Dard and Baba Shah Taji, happened to meet Mr Afaq at naatia sittings, read his Urdu rendering of Shah Latif’s verses and was inspired by his translations. His speech carried all praise for Afaq Siddiqui.

When Afaq Siddiqui took charge of a school in Sukkur just after the partition, Tasnim Ahmad Siddiqui was among the first batch of his students. He recalled Mr Afaq’s activism in the promotion of literary sittings and mushairas and when the same school became college, Tasnim saw Prof Afaq spending his many hours in learning Shah Latif’s message and translating the same in Urdu. Tasnim’s taste for poetry and literature owed a great deal to Afaq Siddiqui’s teachings in classroom.

Prof Anis Zaidi, who conducted the proceedings, spoke about Mr Afaq’s contribution as a college teacher and his services to the profession at large. Mr Yawer Mehdi, Agha Noor Mohammad Pathan and Prof Razia Syed also spoke about Afaq Siddiqui as a dedicated teacher and a poet.

Mr Siddiqui thanked the members of Arts Council for introducing the writers and poets at their forum and said that the council was the greatest cultural body in the country.

Referring to his auto-biography ‘Subeh Karna Shaam Ka’, he described the event of his arrival in Karachi soon after the partition, and his appointment as a teacher in Sukkur at a time when there was hardly any school in the area. In the promotion of education, he rightly claimed to have done the spade work.

At the end, Afaq Siddiqui recited some of his verses.