KARACHI: Scholars at a condolence reference held at the Urdu Dictionary Board on Thursday recalled the splendid literary works of famous Urdu poet Himayat Ali Shair and underlined the importance of organising a national conference to know perfectly well about the grand poet of recent times.

“Himayat Ali Shair worked on many literary fronts. He was famous not only for his profound ghazals, but also for his consummate lyrics for movies. He also performed as a broadcaster. He created many fabulous hit songs for some of the blockbuster films of the time. He was one of the top Pakistani lyricists. He received several national accolades. He was winner of two Nigar Awards for Best Song and the President’s Award for Pride of Performance from the government of Pakistan,” they said.

Urdu Dictionary Board and Muhibban-i-Bhopal Forum jointly organised the condolence meeting.

Former vice chancellor University of Karachi Prof Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui, poetess Fatima Hasan, lyricist and drama writer Asad Mohammad Khan, Rizwan Siddiqui, chief editor of Urdu Dictionary Board Aquil Abbas Jafari, Dr Rukhsana Saba, Dr Rana Iqbal, chairperson of Muhibban-i-Bhopal Forum Shugufta Farhat, Dr Iqbal Pirzada, Nadeem Hashmi, Shahana Muhsin, Dr Auje Kamal, Shafiquzza­man and others spoke on the occasion. Rashid Noor, a poet and journalist, conducted the meeting.

Prof Pirzada Qasim pointed out that the Progressive Writers’ Movement in Urdu literature had formed chains of writers and poets in the era of the war of independence in the subcontinent. The first row of these scholars was associated with Ali Sardar Jafari, Sajjad Zaheer, Faiz Ahmed Faiz and many others, while Himayat Ali Shair stands in the second line of the progressive movement, he said. The second row also owns distinguished poets and scholars, including Ahmed Faraz, but Himayat Ali Shair was senior to Faraz, he pointed out.

The deceased poet owns a big name in the world of Urdu literature, he said, adding that he had worked on many literary fronts but with a positive mindset.

Talking about the private life of the poet, Prof Pirzada said that Himayat lived most of his early life in difficulties. Himayat was very positive towards every human, and his positivity fuelled him to create conducive environment for higher education of his children, Prof Pirzada informed the meeting.

He urged participants to organise a national conference or a session in any national or international conference to know well the veiled aspects of the poet’s personality.

The dilemma of the recent time was that learned and cultured people are passing away hastily, and the society has failed to produce people of such calibre, Asad Mohammad Khan lamented.

Paying tribute to the poet, Fatima Hasan said that Himayat was not less than an age of Urdu poetry. She pointed out that Himayat produced creative works in all poetics genres, including ghazal, poems, lyrics, and rubaiyat, etc. He was an exemplary poet of his time, she said.

Rizwan Siddiqui said that Himayat was not only a famous poet, but also a good artist, broadcaster, translator and a good human being. Dr Rukhsana Saba talked about various poetic angles of the deceased scholar, and said that Himayat was like a poetic legacy for us.

Dr Rana Iqbal, who got a PhD degree on Himayat Ali Shair, said that when she started reading the poet’s versified autobiography Ayina der Ayina, she thought there was no need to have guidance from any book or person on the topic.

Aquil Abbas Jafari informed that Himayat always encouraged him, and diverted his attention towards improvement.

Shugufta Farhat said that she had a 30-year-old association with the family of Himayat. “I found him a great man, a loving father and a caring family member”, she said.

In the end, Owais Adeeb Ansari, the organiser of the meeting, presented a vote of thanks.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2019