LAHORE: The two-day Mir Punjabi Festival opened at Open Air Theatre Bagh-i-Jinnah on Saturday.

Organised in the memory of Punjabi poet Ali Arshad Mir, speakers on the first day of the festival explored various aspects of Punjabi language, the history of Punjab and the current scenario of the language, emphasising on its promotion through social media, educational institutions and research works.

Researcher and writer Prof Saeed Bhutta while speaking about his book Raj Dhaara Te Lok Takknisaid the several invaders that came to Punjab, including Greeks, Iranians, Pathans and others, distorted its image because that’s what invaders always do.

There was a need to explore the perspective that the invaders looked at Punjab from, how upper middle class looked at it and, most importantly, how common people looked at the circumstances in which they were living in Punjab.

Mr Bhutta said that while writing the book, he talked to storytellers and historians about how the people of Punjab reacted to the invaders, what was the thought process of the common people. He also discussed colonisation and how the East India Company damaged the economic fabric of Punjab by banning handmade soft cotton (mulmul) and later introducing a machine-produced cloth as well as damaging the province in various sectors.

The author said the British made the local population their slaves in all aspects, snatched the language and damaged the overall image of the province.Classical Punjabi literature was a great source of history and the oral tradition.In 30 years, a lot of work had been done on Punjabi,Punjabi intellectuals had awakened and many Punjabi language associations had been created in several towns and cities. Historians, he said,should document the present day Punjab for the upcoming generations.

Ilyas Ghumman said Ali Arshad Mir’s poetry was an eye-opener for Punjab is, rich and thought provoking. He recited and elaborated Mir’s poetry and also read a paper on it.

He lamented that Punjabi language was not being promoted as it should be. He regretted that the heroes of resistance in Punjabi history were not documented well, adding that Punjabi Sufi poets must be included in syllabi.

The Ali Arshad Mir Awards were also announced on the occasion. Asim Padhyar and Arifa Shehzad won the awards in the poem category, the children literature award went to Asmat Bano, Fauzia Rafiq was awarded for prose literature, Abdul Karim Qudsi for children’s poems, Zafar Awan for ghazal, Prof Saeed Bhutta for research, and Hameed Razi for Punjabi translation.

A session on All Punjab Poetry was attended by poets such as Sabir Ali Sabir, Ahmed Naeem Arshad, Tahir, Irshad Sindhu, Mushtaq Qamar and others.

The second day of the event on Sunday (today) will include discussions as well as a musical evening featuring Tauheed Ahmed Anas, Qamar Wattoo, Kalay Khan Bhaag, Azeem Zafar Qadri, Ali Bakhsh, Saeen Arshad Ali, Nauman Haider and Rajab Bilal, who will perform Sufi poetry.

Dr Parveen Malik will discuss the legal needs to implement Punjabi as a language, while there will be a discussion on writer Afzal Tauseef and one on Ali Arshad Mir and Punjab.

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2020