KARACHI, May 1: A `Pak-India Friendship Mushaira’ was held at the Annu Bhai Park on Monday night. Poets from different parts of the country and those settled in Western countries joined their contemporaries from India to recite their verses.

The Mushaira, presided over by Aqil Barelvi, was organised by Gehwara-i-Adab and attended by a sizeable number of people from across the metropolis.

Mumtaz Siddiqui Bhopali, Naushad Momin, Nuzhat Anjum, Anwer Jalalpuri, Munawwar Rana and Mairaj Faizabadi represented India. Prof Sehar Ansari, Inayat Ali Khan, Raghib Muradabadi, Saleem Kausar, Ahmed Naveed, Athar Shah Khan, Perveen Haider, Maqbool Abidi, Sajid Rizvi, Gulnar Aafreen, Khwaja Rafiq Anjum, Qamar Akbarabadi, Syedain Rizvi, Khurshid Iqbal Haider and Feroze Burhanpuri, Taimur Hasan, Saima Ali and others represent Pakistan.

The Mushaira continued till dawn. The poets enthralled the audience, who in turn piled huge appreciation on them. The sequence of recitals was arranged meticulously to avoid anything unpleasant.

MPA Faisal Sabzwari, Naeem Kamali, Saba Ayub and Sharmeen Qizilbash conducted the proceedings. Several MQM stalwarts, including Altaf Hussain’s sister Saira Khatoon, Dr Farooq Sattar, Anwar Alam, City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal, and several ministers, advisers and legislators attended the event.

On the occasion, deputy convener of the MQM’s coordination committee Dr Farooq Sattar said the journey of the India-Pakistan friendship had become an irreversible process and no future government could turn it around.

He said the process of dialogue between the two neighbouring countries was reaching its logical conclusion and soon the people of the two countries would reap its benefits.

He appreciated the arrangements for the programme and said it was the rare Aalmi Mushaira which was holistically organised from the entry points to the stage.