CHAKWAL, Feb 25: Speakers at a seminar on Friday while paying tributes to Faiz Ahmad Faiz Faiz, emphasised the need of bringing about politicaland social change in the society as perceived by the poet.

The seminar was organised by Chakwal Press Club. Sajjad Hussain, an English professor at Government Postgraduate College, stressed the need of social and mental revolution to bury extremism forever.

“Faiz never advocated bloody revolution rather he talked about social and mental change,” Prof Sajjad Hussain said. He said today the society badly needed an open exchange of ideas and tolerance. Condemning the murder of Governor Salman Taseer, he said those who were caught in the clutches of fanaticism and ignorance must know the meaning of humanism.

Prof Naeem Shahid, Urdu professor at Government College, said for the first time Faiz had unanimously been accepted as a great poet by the people from all hue.

“When Faiz entered the literary world he was condemned by the writers. When he started journalism he was scorned by the media pundits but today Faiz has become a universal poet,” Prof Naeem Shahid observed.

He said that Faiz was a true patriot and a great humanist. “Faiz was a great journalist who never misused his pen. Therefore, he is a best role-model for mediapersons,” he maintained.

Commenting on Faiz’s poetry he said that realism and romanticism had been the hallmark of Faiz’s poetry. “His poetry has the Arabic seed, having English

water and was fertilised by the pains and sighs of the oppressed people,” he said.

“Time has come to act upon the philosophy of Faiz,” he concluded.

Prof Arshad Mehmood, who also teaches Urdu at Government Postgraduate College, introduced the timeless verses by Faiz which had been missed in Nuskha-e-Haaey Wafa to the participants.—A Correspondent