KARACHI: Two collections of short-stories by Abdur Rasheed Havari were launched at the Pakistan Arts Council on Tuesday. Noted fiction-writer Shaukat Siddiqui was in the chair who spoke in general terms on fiction, present and past, and also admired the writer for his frank and forthright style in his prose.

Rukhsana Saba, a poet and a critic, who compered the proceedings, spoke with a zest on the historical development of Urdu fiction with brief references to the two collections — Petticoat and the other ‘Aurat ya reechch’.

Sarwer Javed, the lone speaker, praised Havari for his conversational style in prose and read out brief quotations from books in his support. Perveen Javed delivered her poem written for the occasion.—HA.