KARACHI, Dec 31: The centennial celebrations of the Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu will commence from Jan 3 with a series of events, which have been planned to mark the Anjuman’s 100th anniversary, newsmen were told on Tuesday during a press conference.

The first event in this regard would be held on Friday morning in the campus of the Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology.

The speakers — Maj Gen (Retd) Ghulam Umar, Jamiluddin Aali and Dr Aftab Ahmed Khan — said that a two-part event would be organized on Saturday during which renowned writers, poets and critics would present their papers.

The papers would deal with the following issues:

— Urdu: historical perspective;

— Urdu: regional perspective;

— Urdu: Sir Syed’s literary and national legacy;

— Urdu as medium of instruction, and;

— Urdu and the computer.

In the coming months, events are also expected to be held in Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta, they said.

The spokesmen for the organizers of Karachi’s events, comprising officials of the Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu, Pakistan, the Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology and the Aligarh Old Boys’ Association of Pakistan, said that the events would help survey the progress Urdu had made during the past 100 years, which they described as being the Urdu Century.

Jamiluddin Aali and Aftab A. Khan, in response to a question, said that the Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu had produced about 300 books during the lifetime of the Baba-i-Urdu, Maulvi Abdul Haq.

Since his demise, they said, 270 books, including bibliographies and reference works, had been published.