HYDERABAD, May 15: Rich tribute was paid to renowned Sindhi poet Faiz Bakhshapuri for his services to Sindhi language and literature at a literary conference held here on Sunday. The conference was organised to mark the poet’s 14th death anniversary.

Eminent scholar Dr Nabi Bux Baloch said that Sindhi language for quite some time had remained under the influence of Persian, Arabic and other languages.

He said that in pre-partition days, Sindhis did not know Urdu but today they were well-versed with it.

He said that the people of Sindh had a better reading culture than those of other provinces.

Sindh Minister for Auqaf, Zakat and Religious Affairs Manzoor Panhwar said that Bakhshapuri, also called the Ghalib of Sindh, had command over many languages and he had written poems in seven languages.

He said that the poet had adopted a unique style for “Ghazal”.

He said that a Faiz Bakhshapuri chair was being set up at the Shah Abdul Latif University.