PESHAWAR: Noted Pashto poets from parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata gathered on the grassy cricket ground of the historic Islamia College University to praise the splendour of moon beauty after a gap of two years.

The event ‘Da Spogmai Mushaira’ (moon poetry session) was conducted under the auspices of student societies of the university here on Tuesday evening.

Two young poets — Afsar Afghan and Zaryab Yusafzai — moderated the event by sprinkling popular Pashto tapas while Zafar Khan, a noted Pashto haiku poet, entertained the audience through his satiric couplets.

Besides a large number of students, teachers and poetry buffs, the annual event was attended by Salim Bangash, Prof Iqbal Shakir, Fitrat Buneri, Tariq Danish, Nasir Amin, Shahid Ali, Zar Mohammad Sangar, Shakir Orakzai, Abdul Latif Seemaab and Ilyas Talwaal.

Prof Abaseen Yousafzai says girl students to be invited to the session next year

Around 40 poets participated in the event. Bakhtzada Danish, a young poet from Dir, stole the show by winning huge applause from the audience. He read out his celebrated poem, also viral on the social media titled ‘Dozakhee’ (hellish).

The gist of his poem was that although he was a good practicing Muslim, believing in the very spirit of religion yet his cynic opponents considered him to be worthy of hell.

Shaukat Swati, Aslam Salik, Habib Abid and popular singer Fayyaz Kheshgi, rendered their poems in their beautiful voices and garnered round of claps from the tasteful participants.

Apostrophising the moon, a few poets apologised for not being able to compose poems in her praise because a pall of terrorism had blurred their vision for the last over few decades.

Prof Abaseen Yousafzai, chief organiser of the event, told the participants that the moon poetry session was being conducted after a gap of two years owing to some unavoidable reasons. He said that Islamia College had launched the moon poetry session some 20 years ago and had been celebrating the event as a regular annual feature except for the last two years.

He said that spring seasons, full moon and many such things inspired poets to craft beautiful images. He said that next year, girl students would also be invited to participate in the moon poetry session.

Senior poet Prof Hanif Qais, who chaired the function, said that poets around the world had always praised the enchanting beauty of moon as a face of the nature. He said that full moon fascinated everybody but poets painted the image of its splendour in such a creative manner that made the moon come down on the earth.

Shahab Ali, a student from Dir Lower, said that despite his BS examinations, he enjoyed the expressions of the poets regarding the full moon, beauty, peace and current issues at the event. He said that it gave him a new insight and inspiration to view things in a different light. “I went poetic to see the full moon on sky-lit night after listening to the poets. Such events instill a spirit of aestheticism and love for nature among young students,” he added.

Speaking as chief guest at the event, Prof Aseer Mangal said that ICU should keep up its golden tradition of celebrating full moon through poetry session. He said that it should serve as a source of inspiration for budding poets.

Earlier, Prof Noorul Amin Yousafzai shed light on the event and urged students to learn from poets, who had deep knowledge of social issues. He said that poets could give them hope and strength to enjoy life and face its challenges.

Published in Dawn, May 11th, 2017