KARACHI: The first formal literary session of the four-day 17th International Urdu Conference, hosted by the Arts Council, on Friday was on the nazm writing produced by Karachi’s poets.

It was moderated by Salman Sarwat, who briefly traced the history of nazms, beginning from Nazir Akbarabadi. He said after the 1857 war of independence, Maulana Hali and M Husain Azad practised the form followed by Iqbal.

Rukhsana Saba said a good nazm should have three attributes: one, it should be connected with contemporary issues; two, it should be timeless; and three, it should have universal values. In the 1950s, migration from India to Karachi took place. The poets at the time had read Iqbal and were familiar with modern literary trends, so their poetry was reflective of all of that.

Fahim Shanas Kazmi said the 1960s were marked by psychological and political turmoil. Every individual was grappling with those problems. In such a scenario, poets like Aziz Hamid Madani, Anjum Azmi and Muhib Arfi came to the fore [in Karachi]. The poets from Karachi carried two elements in their poetry: one, hope; two, the pangs of migration. In order to overcome the latter, they needed time which they didn’t get. As a result, there was restlessness in them.

At a session on the second day of Urdu Conference, actor Humayun Saeed hopes Karachi will regain its beauty

Tanveer Anjum spoke about prose poetry in Karachi. She said the post-independence period contained the effects of the two World Wars and partition of the subcontinent. It brought about social changes. Prose poetry was a result of it. She mentioned the names of Qamar Jamil and Zeeshan Sahil, among others, in that regard.

Harris Khalique said nazm writing is an expression that emerged as the convergence point of Vedic and Perso-Arabic literary traditions.

He said while there aren’t a huge number of novels written in the Urdu language, the number of nazms is bigger. He argued at the time of independence, Lahore was already an established cultural centre, so Karachi was the city where experimentation could happen.

Fazil Jamili talked about female poets. Focusing on Fehmida Riaz, he said her poetry opened a window for the first time from which one could know about the inner feelings of women.

Session on KMC history

An important post-lunch session was on the history of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) from 1843 to 2024, which was moderated by Ali Hasan Sajid, who gave an account of the genesis of the corporation.

Former KMC official Shah Mahmood Husain said when he headed the body they tried to achieve small goals first. He mentioned his visit to London where he got to observe a few things in that connection.

Another retired KMC official, Bashir Sadozai, said the corporation is no more like what it used to be. It came into existence in 1844 as conservancy board and then in 1851 turned into Karachi Municipal Committee with more participation of citizens. After 1947, things began to change and today it’s not worth writing home about.

Former Karachi administrator Fahim Zaman, in response to a question about the future of the KMC and the city, said the city’s future is bright if citizens are given authority of making decisions, otherwise it’ll be as bad as the city’s transport situation.

Former deputy mayor of Karachi and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s leader Nasreen Jalil talked about the importance of empowering local governments.

Celebrity sessions

Actors Mahira Khan, Humayun Saeed and singer Asim Azhar appeared on the YMCA stage in the evening.

Humayun Saeed said Karachi was once a beautiful town but not anymore. However, he hoped it will regain its beauty.

He also spoke about his role in the Netflix series The Crown.

Asim Azhar, in response to whether he’s interested in acting said he doesn’t want to enter any field without acquiring education on it.

He added he wants to build his career as a singer and then move to acting.

Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2024