LAHORE, Feb 12: Speakers on Saturday threw light on various aspects of Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s personality, his political creed and his literary stature at a seminar titled ‘Unchi Rakhna Lau’, held at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in connection with the poet’s centennial celebrations.

The event was jointly organised by Gurmani Literary Organisation of LUMS and the Faiz Foundation.

Speaking on the occasion, Saleema Hashmi threw light on objectives of the foundation and recollected some memories of her father.

Known humorist from Karachi Mushtaq Yusfi in a lighter vein discussed Faiz in his address. Talking about the poet’s personality traits, Mr Yusfi said Faiz had a big heart and would never turn down any proposal floated by his friends. A down to earth person, Faiz neither indulged in self-praise nor liked someone else to do it for him, he added. Some of Faiz’s poems could be considered the best in the world literature, Yusfi said, referring to his poem ‘Raqeeb Se’.

Poet Iftikhar Arif talked about the letters he published on the centennial of Faiz. These letters were written to Mr Arif by Faiz.

On this occasion, an interview of Faiz by Iftikhar Arif and Ahmad Faraz was also screened.

Canada-based writer Ashfaq Hussian, speaking on Faiz’s exile days, said Faiz had many reasons to be in exile which included the suffocating atmosphere in the country and the socio-political scenario. He said exile gave a new meaning to Faiz’s poetry.

A literary figure, Syed Naumanul Haq, said the universality of Faiz’s kalam made him a great poet. He read some of Faiz’s ghazlas and poems to prove his point.

Indian poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar threw light on Faiz and his association with the Progressive Writers Association (PWA). He said Faiz and PWA were not separate entities. He said the formation of PWA was an outcome of industrial revolution and a middle class emerged that later rubbed shoulders with the downtrodden. He said on 24 Nov, 1934, some young men in London wrote the PWA manifesto and on 13 April, 1936, Munshi Prem Chand presided over the fist meeting of the association.

He said though Hali and Azad were the forerunners of the PWA, they could not be called its founders as their poetry did not touch political issues of the time.

Akhtar criticised writer Anwar Sadeed for saying the PWA writers and poets over-played socio-political issues, ignoring the aesthetics of literature.

He said all PWA writers and poets had different colours when it came to their writing and poetry but all had common issues to discuss.

An Indian writer, Asghar Wajahat, said the Hindi-speaking people loved Faiz as much as the poet was loved in Pakistan. He said many of Faiz’s collections had been published in India and the number of his fans was growing there.

Poet and playwright Sarmad Sehbai read some of the Faiz’s poems.

Writer Asif Furrukhi said besides Faiz’s poetry his prose should also be kept in view, especially the criticism he wrote. He said Faiz had written the best article on Abdul Haleem Sharar’s Fitrdous-e-Bareen.

Poet Kishwar Naheed read Faiz’s poetry pertaining to different ups and downs in the poet’s life. She said when Faiz was arrested after his return from London, where he attended Afro-Asian conference, he wrote his famous poem ‘Hum Khasta Tanon Say Mohtasibo…”. She said Faiz had deep observation of international socio-political scene.

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Secretary General I A Rehman, dispelling the impression that Faiz was lazy and used to sit idle, said he was very active and worked in a way that everything seemed easy. He said Faiz’s poetry was true history of this country without a speck of lie.

Film writer Atul Tewari from India threw light on Faiz’s various visits to Lukhnow.

He talked of a Mushaira presided over by Josh Malih Abadi where Faiz was invited by All India Radio. The other literary figures present on this occasion were Sajjad Zaheer, Majaz, Jannisar Akhtar, Ali Sardar Jaffri and Jazbi. He said Begum Akhtar sang Faiz very well and whenever Faiz visited Lucknow he would visit Begum Akhtar.