KARACHI: Shaukat Abidi is a senior poet who grew up under the shadow of the Progressive Writers Movement and has been actively engaged in writing poetry and participating in literary activities, despite the limitations of being a government servant.

A book, Rukh-e-Farda, containing the ghazals of Mr Abidi along with critical articles, some of them based on life-long friendly association of the writers with the poet, has appeared. Compiled by Muslim Shamim, the articles come from Hemayat Ali Shaer, Mohsin Bhopali, Afaq Siddiqui, Riaz Siddiqui, Saba Ikram, Nikhat Barelvi and others.

The book was launched under the aegis of Adabistan and with active participation of the editor of Talu-e-Afkar, Mr Hussain Anjum, whose journal has published most of the articles contained in the book. He was one of the presidents at the ceremony, the others being Khaleeq Ibrahim, Ahmad Hamdani and Dr Hanif Fauq.

Mr Shamim introduced the poet who comes from a religious family of Bihar. “Despite being subjective in nature, his poetry reflects the outer world of nature”, Saba Ikram opined.

Dr Hanif Fauq, quoting a couple of lines from the book, admired the poet for his optimism. Khaleeq Ibrahim said he felt as if Shaukat had written all that was in his own heart. Ahmad Zainuddin, who compered the proceedings, also read out an article and praised the poet’s perfection in ghazal. Ishahaq Hashmi was also among the speakers. He and some others praised Muslim Shamim for his compilation.—Hasan Abidi