KARACHI, March 28: Humour mixed with anger and satire was how one could define the 'Aalmi Tanzo Mazaah Conference-o-mushaira' held on Saturday night at the cool and airy lawns of the Faran Club, Gulshan-i-Iqbal.

Organized by Ziaul Haq Qasmi, himself a humorist, the mushaira concluded Sunday morning, although the known poets were small in number and there were no papers presented in the conference, except one humorous column by Ataul Haq Qasmi and a speech made by Dost Mohammad Faizi.

The credit, however, went to the chief organizer and compere of the evening Ziaul Haq, who arranged the show in memory of late Dilawer Figar and kept the audience 'spell bound' by his talk.

In fact, it was a 'one man conference' and those present enjoyed it. Among the speakers whose names were published on a glamorous invitation card, only two persons turned up Ataul Haq Qasmi and Mushtaq Ahmad Yusfi.

The later was persuaded to appear on the dias just for 'ziarat', the word he resented, but he did not speak. Even the president had not come. The reason was obvious. Six or seven mushairas were being held in the city at the same time, including a function at the Governor House. And by the way, mushairas also carry a small purse for the poet, in these hard times.

The persons who had come to listen to Indian poets -Meerathi, Aadil Lucknavi and Saghir Khayami - were dismayed to known that visas were denied to them by the Pakistan's Commission at New Delhi.

Mr Qasmi rightly lodged a note of strong protest from the stage. Only one Indian poet Rais Nizami could manage to come, to give the mushaira an 'international' colour. He was taken as 'the chief guest' while Amirul Islam Hashmi, Karachi's own poet and a very genuine one presided over the proceedings.

Inayat Ali Khan (from Hyderabad), Ather Shah Khan Jedi and Saeed Agha were much admired poets among the locals. Dr Inamul Haq Javed, a known researcher and writer in Urdu and Punjabi read out his verses in both languages and enthralled the audience. On the role of the 'Graduate assembly' he commented thus:

Ilm ka robe theek hai lekin
Digreon ka bhi kuchch aser dalo
Kar liya hai jo tum ney BA to
Saath hi matric bhi kar dalo

Sarfraz Shahid's parody was liked most when he recited Faakhra to paagal thi, faishanoan ke chakker mein, phir fareb kha baithi. etc. Inayat Ali Khan presented a verse in memory of Dilawar Figar: Vo kishte zafraan ka gul-e-naubahar tha

Among those who were targeted to create humour included American president Bush, Indian premier Vajpayee and Pakistani president General Musharraf. "Match fixing" in recent cricket events was also made target. But the level of satire was some what low, which most people seemed to enjoy. If mushairas reflect the level of social and cultural consciousness of people, this one, held Saturday night was not something to pride.