LARKANA: Speakers paid glowing tribute to Nawaz Ali Niaz Jafferi, who was recognised today as pioneer of modern Sindhi poetry, at a ceremony held to mark the poet’s 59th death anniversary here recently.

Prominent writer and poet Moh­ammad Ali Pathan, who presided over the gathering organised by Sachal Adabi Markaz, said that poets were more enlightened class of society who through their poetic creation transferred their wisdom to people and represented their subtle feelings as well.

He said that poet was like a bee who sucked nectar of a flower and created honey in the shape of poetry. Jafferi’s poetry was beautified with the colours of life covering a variety of topics selected from society, he said.

He was a poet of higher calibre and his disciples were now recognised as representatives of modern Sindhi poetry which included Hari Dariyani Dilgeer and Pirbho Wafa, he said.

Prof Mukhtiar Samo, writer and founder of Knowledge Centre Larkana, said that Jafferi was the most recognised poet during his lifetime in the first half of 20th century. He was among pioneers who initiated tradition of mushaira in Larkana, he said.

He was conferred with title of Umdat-ul-shuaraa (best of the poets) during All Sindh 9th Adabi Conference held in 1948 in Mehar (Dadu) in recognition of his tremendous contribution to poetry, he said.

It was not only his verses which inspired poetry lovers but his lifestyle and successful career as a teacher, jailer and revenue officer were also a source of inspiration for the people who knew him, he said.

He said that Mohammad Ayoub Khuhro, who remai­ned Sindh chief minister, and highly acclaimed educationist Allama Mohammad Umar bin Daudpoto were Jafferi’s students when he was a teacher in Madressah High School Larkana in 1909. He was a leader in true sense of the word who inspired people in various spheres of life through his words and deeds.

Senior poet and writer Dr Bashir Ahmed Shaad said that Jafferi was a good human being and an influential poet who ruled the realm of poetry for many decades. “I happened to see him when I was young,” he said.

Jawad Jafferi, a poet and grandson of Jafferi, said that the legacy of his grandfather had always strengthened his poetic pursuits. Jafferi wrote so much that if it were published it would make many voluminous books but due to financial constraints only three of his anthologies had been published so far.

He said that Jafferi’s diwan and work in other poetic genres needed to be published as he was well-versed with art of poetry and strongly followed the rules of versification.

Dr Ahsan Danish said that Jafferi’s poetry was a conglomeration of classical and modern traditions. He was king of lyrical poetry and knew perfectly well the art of urooz as well, he said.

He said that historian Pir Husam­uddin Rashdi had once written that “sudden and sad news of demise of Jafferi had inspired him to write his famous book Hu dothi hu deenh (Those were the people and those were the days) when he was in Manila during late sixties”.

He said that though Jafferi had followed prevalent traditions of his era which came from Persian poetry, he had a true flavour of Sindhi poetic trends in his creations as well.

Rizwan Gul, Sajjad Jafferi, Mumtaz Lohar, Jahangir Abbasi, Bhao Dur Mohammad Buriro and others said that Jafferi’s poetry was a source of history of his days. Readers never felt during reading his poetry that the poet had died about six decades ago as it appeared as fresh as it was composed recently, they said.

They said that Jafferi bravely painted ups and downs of his days and most of his poetry was on reformation of society and guidance for living a good life. He had a very melodious voice and he used to recite Loli (genre of Sindhi poetry) during 10th Muharram and was most prominent among his contemporaries.

Khawar Qaboolai and Mumtaz Lohar sang Jafferi’s poetry to pay homage to the poet and a large number of people from various walks of life attended the programme.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2019